Union Cabinet has approved setting up “National Recruitment Agency”

Common Eligibility Test will eliminate multiple tests and save precious time

• The Union Cabinet has approved to set up “National Recruitment Agency” in the
  country
• The agency is to conduct Common Eligibility Test for Public Sector Banks and
  Government Jobs
• The Common Eligibility Test (CET) is to be conducted for non – gazetted posts in
  public sector banks and central government

Salient features of the NRA

• It is to carry out a national entrance exam for non-gazetted vacancies in both
  central government departments, and public sector banks
• The agency will conduct a single entrance exam for tens of thousands of
  positions that the government advertises every year
• The current recruitment model comprises several exams by different
  recruitment agencies including some by Union Public Service Commission
  (UPSC)
• The UPSC, however, will continue to deal with top administrative exams,
  including the coveted the civil services exams
• NRA will be a multi-agency body to encompass the first level test currently
  conducted by agencies like Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway
  Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and the Institute of Banking Service Personnel
  (IBPS)
• Going forward it is expected that other recruitment agencies in the central
  government would adopt the central eligibility test (CET)

Cost and Time Efficiency

• It would be open for other agencies in the public as well as private domain to
  adopt it if they so choose
• Thus, in the long run, the CET score could be shared with other recruiting
  agencies in the Central Government, State Governments or Union Territories,
  Public Sector Undertaking and Private Sector
• This would help such organizations in saving costs and time spent on
  recruitment
• The establishment of NRA will streamline the recruitment process for
  government jobs, a huge draw among the youth for the security they offer
• The move will also help put in place a single national exam for all government
  jobs at a time, when employment or the rather the lack of it is a huge debate

Relevancy and Importance

• Indians have been struggling with massive job losses in the aftermath of the
  coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns which have hit economic
  activities
• The country may lose 6.1 million jobs in 2020 if the country fails to tackle the
  pandemic by the end of September, the International Labor Organization and
  the Asian Development Bank said in a report on 18 August
• The report has also underlined that unemployment rate among youngsters
  below the age of 25 may touch 32.5% in 2020
• The plan to establish a NRA was first mentioned in the 2020 Union Budget
• “The National Recruitment Agency will prove to be a boon for crores of
  youngsters
• Through the Common Eligibility Test, it will eliminate multiple tests and save
  precious time as well as resources and this will also be a big boost to
  transparency

Bulkiness of competition and management in competitive exams

• Currently, around 25 million aspirants sit for government jobs every year. And
  organizations like SSC, IBPS, RRBs take a lion share of this burden
• For example, in 2028-19, some 7 million aspirants registered with SSC for
  government job entrances
• The union cabinet said CET will work as a screening test, and based on the
  CET score level, final selection for recruitment shall be made through separate
  specialized tier one and tier two exams, which shall be conducted by the
  respective recruitment agencies.
• The cabinet said it will spend Rs. 1517.57 crore for the NRA over a three year
  period and apart from setting up the NRA, costs will be incurred for setting up
  examination infrastructure in the 117 aspirational districts

Pic courtesy : hindustantimes.com