NEW DELHI: On Wednesday, the Union cabinet approved a proposal to establish a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to conduct non-gazetted job exams in central government departments and public sector banks.
The agency will conduct a single entrance examination for tens of thousands of such positions falling
vacant each year.
The UPSC, however, will continue to conduct top administrative exams, including the civil services.
NRA will be a multi-agency body that will encompass the first-level test currently conducted by agencies such as Staff Selection Commission, the Railway Recruitment Boards, and the Institute of Banking Service Personnel. It is expected that other recruitment agencies in the central government will adopt the central eligibility test (CET), a cabinet statement said.
Further, it would be available for other agencies in the public as well as in private domains.
Currently, about 25 million aspirants apply annually for government jobs.
The cabinet said that CET would act as a screening test, and depending on the result, the final recruitment
selection will be rendered by separate specialized Tier-I and Tier-II tests, which will be carried out by the
respective recruitment agencies.
The cabinet said it will spend ₹1,517.57 crores over three years to set up NRA and examination infrastructure in 117 aspirational districts. The national entrance will be conducted in various languages, each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary, and matriculate candidates.
