Union Minister Jitendra Singh on Tuesday said that a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for job aspirants will be conducted across the country from early 2022.
The unique initiative will be undertaken with the personal intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to screen and shortlist candidates for recruitment to Central Government jobs.
Though such test was scheduled to take off with the before the end of this year, but is likely to get delayed on account of COVID pandemic, said Singh.
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Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy further said that the Common Entrance Test is a path-breaking reform carried out by Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to bring about “Ease of Recruitment” for young job aspirants, a PIB report read.
Moreover, it will prove to be a major boon for youth, especially those living in far-flung and remote areas, said Singh while speaking after the launch of e-Book Civil List-2021 of IAS officers.
“This landmark reform is also a reflection of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s deep and sensitive concern for the youths and his keenness to provide level playing field and equal opportunity to youth across the country,” Singh added.
The Minister further informed that the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting Common Eligibility Test has been constituted with the approval of the Union Cabinet.
NRA will conduct CET to screen/shortlist candidates for jobs in Government sector for which recruitment is presently carried out through the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
NRA will be a multi-agency body which will conduct the common test to screen and shortlist candidates for Group-‘B’ and ‘C’ (non-technical) posts. T
he most significant feature of this reform is that every district in the country will have at least one Examination Centre which would greatly enhance access to the candidates living in far-flung areas, he added.
The Union Minister said that the historic reform will provide a level playing field to all the candidates, regardless of his or her background or socio-economic status.
There will also be a huge benefit to women and Divyang candidates and for those who find it financially unaffordable to appear for multiple tests by travelling to multiple Centres.
Singh said that the push given to DoPT in the last seven years by the Narendra Modi Government resulted in a number of innovations and reforms for the common public good.
Referring to a series of out of box decisions since May 2014, Singh said that the decision to do away with the time old practice of getting documents attested by a gazetted officer and replacing the same with self-attestation, three-month Central Government stint as Assistant Secretaries for IAS officers in the beginning of their career are far reaching in nature, the PIB report added.