The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the creation of the National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to eliminate multiple tests for government jobs and replace it with a Common Eligibility Test (CET).

NRA will carry out a national entrance exam for non-gazetted Group B and C posts in both central government departments, and public sector banks. It is expected to streamline the recruitment process for government jobs.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that it will be a boon for youngsters.

The #NationalRecruitmentAgency 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. https://t.co/FbCLAUrYmX

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 19, 2020

The move is likely to impact 2.5 crore job aspirants and will replace nearly 50 examinations which are held by different recruiting agencies.

‘There are more than 20 recruitment agencies in the Central government although we are making exams of just three agencies common as of now. In due course, we will be able to have a Common Eligibility Test for all the recruitment agencies,’ C Chandramouli, the secretary department of personnel and training (DoPT) said.

Common Entrance Test (CET) will work as a screening test and based on the CET score level, final selection for recruitment shall be made through separate specialised tier one and tier two exams, which will be conducted by the respective recruitment agencies, the union cabinet said.

The CET will be conducted in multiple languages and the examination centres are expected to be set up in every district of the country.

The plan to establish NRA was first mentioned in the Union Budget 2020.

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