National Recruitment Agency is a central recruitment agency established by the

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

, that will conduct a '' Common Eligibility Test (CET)'' for selection to all of the Group 'C' employee and Group 'D' employee posts under the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

in all of the central government establishments which also includes all of the central public sector undertakings and all of the central autonomous bodies. NRA has representatives of

Ministry of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...

Ministry of Finance A ministry of finance is a part of the government in most countries that is responsible for matters related to the finance. Lists of current ministries of finance Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Finance (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Finance and Ec ...

, SSC and RRB.

Background

Before the establishment of the National Recruitment Agency, the recruitment exams to all of the Group 'C' and Group 'D' post under government

which includes

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tot ...

, other departments, ministries, organisations and all central public sector units etc. which were done separately and most of these posts required similar education qualification. These multiple recruitment examinations were a burden to candidates as they have to pay fee to multiple recruiting agencies and also have to travel long distances for appearing in various exams. So in order to avoid these problems faced by the candidates, a proposal of creating a National Recruitment Agency was mentioned by the

Nirmala Sitharaman Nirmala Sitharaman (born 18 August 1959) is an Indian economist and politician serving as the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India since 2019. She is a member of the Rajya Sabha, upper house of the Indian Parliament, since 2014. S ...

, finance minister of India on her 2020-21 budget speech on 1 February 2020. And on 19 August 2020 the Union Cabinet decided to set up a National Recruitment Agency which will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) twice a year for the different posts. The Union Cabinet approved Rs 1,517-crore for this purpose, which the

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions The Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is a ministry of the Government of India in personnel matters specially issues concerning recruitment, training, career development, staff welfare as well as the post-retirement dispensati ...

Jitendra Singh described as “one of the most landmark reforms in the history of Independent India”.The Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted: “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. This will also be a big boost to transparency”.

Composition

The National Recruitment Agency will have representatives of: *

Ministry of Railways (India) The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the Government of India, responsible for the country's rail transport. The ministry operates the statutory body Indian Railways, an organisation that operates as a monopoly in rail transport and is ...

Minister of Finance (India) The Minister of Finance (Vitta Mantrī ) (or simply, the Finance Minister, short form FM) is the head of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India. One of the senior offices of the Union Cabinet, the finance minister is responsible fo ...

/Department of Financial Services *

Staff Selection Commission Staff Selection Commission is an organisation under Government of India to recruit staff for various posts in the various ministries and departments of the government of India and in subordinate offices. This commission is an attached office ...

(SSC) *

Railway Recruitment Board Railway Recruitment Control Board is a government recruitment agency for Group C and Group D non-gazetted civil service and engineering posts in Indian Railways under Ministry of Railways , Government of India . It was set up in 1998 in the M ...

s (RRBs) and *

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) is a central recruitment agency under the ownership of Ministry of Finance, Government of India that was started with an aim to encourage the recruitment and placement of young undergradu ...

(IBPS).

Features of Common Eligibility Test (CET)

The Common Eligibility Test (CET) will replace the current preliminary examinations held by SSC, IBPS, RRB, other departments, organisations, central public sector units and ministries under

central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or dele ...

for recruitment to Group C and Group D posts under union government civil services, union government defence services and also various other posts in all the union government services. Separate CETs will be conducted for matriculate level, higher secondary and graduate applicants . The scores received in these exams will be valid for 3 years

Medium of CET

The Common Eligibility Test (CET) will be conducted in 12 languages that are in the

Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India The Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India lists the official languages of the Republic of India. At the time when the Constitution was enacted, inclusion in this list meant that the language was entitled to representation on the Officia ...

.Explained: How the National Recruitment Agency will streamline the recruitment process
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Number of Attempts

The aspirant will be allowed unlimited attempts within a prescribed age limit to better his CET score, with the best being considered.

Venue of Exam

Applicants need not travel outside their respective district to access a test centre, with 1,000 centres proposed countrywide with at least one per district. Also, money spent on fees for multiple recruitment tests will be saved. The CET score, which will be generated immediately, shall be made available to the candidate as well as the individual recruitment agency and can be expected to improve transparency.

References

External links

{{Indian military academies and colleges Government agencies of India Employment agencies of India Government agencies established in 2020 2020 establishments in India Government recruitment in India