National Recruitment Agency to Conduct Common Eligibility Test for Government Jobs from September 2021 Onwards

The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) may start conducting the computer-based online Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group 'B' Non-Gazetted and Gazetted posts as well as Group C posts from September 2021 onwards, Dr Jitendra Singh in a written reply in Lok Sabha. The Government of India recently set-up the National Recruitment Agency (NRA), which will conduct CET for non-technical posts, and will replace the Tier 1 examination, held by SSC, railway recruitment boards, and the Institute of Banking Personal Selection (IBPS).

NRA will only conduct the preliminary screening of candidates. The final recruitment will be done through domain-specific examinations or tests, which will be conducted by the respective agencies such as SSC, RRBs, and IBPS. Based on the score obtained in CET conducted by NRA, candidates may appear in domain-specific exam or tests to be conducted by respective recruitment agencies.

NRA will also identify language experts to translate the question bank or paper in all regional languages included in the eighth Schedule of the Constitution, as per requirement and subject to adequate number of candidates opting to take test in the regional language. National Recruitment Agency will conduct Common Eligibility Test (CET) twice a year, and it will be a multiple-choice question paper.

The Government of India says that through NRA, they hope to eliminate malpractices that take place due to infrastructural challenges and other issues such as examinations having different schedules, application processes and fees.