National Recruitment Agency to Conduct Common Eligibility Test Instead of SSC, RRB and IBPS for Government Jobs

The Government of India today announced the setting up of a National Recruitment Agency (NRA), which will conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for non-technical posts, which will replace the Tier 1 examination held by SSC, railway recruitment boards, and Institute of Banking Personal Selection (IBPS). The decision has been taken to avoid malpractices that take place due to infrastructural challenges and other issues such as examinations having different schedules, application processes and fees.

“2.5 to 3 crore people appear for over 1.25 lakh Central Government vacancies in Group B and C every year through IBPS, SSC and RRB Now these multiple exams will be reduced to one,” said the Secretary, Department of Personnel & Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance and Pensions. The National Recruitment Agency will be an autonomous society registered under Societies Act with representatives from all SSC, IBPS, and RRB, and will be responsible for conducting Tier-1 examination, which will be held online. The scores will be made available immediately to candidates.

All You Need to Know About the National Recruitment Agency and Common Eligibility Test (CET)

• Separate CET to be conducted for graduate, higher secondary and matriculate.
• For non-technical posts, CET will replace the Tier 1 examination held by SSC, railway recruitment boards, and Institute of Banking Personal Selection (IBPS).
• CET will shortlist candidates for Group B and C posts in the central government.
• CET will be conducted in multiple Indian languages.
• Based on the CET score, the final selection will be made through specialised Tier 2 and 3 examinations, which will be conducted by the respective recruitment agency.
• Scores of CET will be valid for 3 years, and candidates can improve the score by appearing again and the best score will be considered.
• There will be no restriction in the number of attempts a candidate makes subject to the upper age limit. However, the upper age limit will be relaxable for SC, ST, OBC and PwD candidates.
• 1000 CET centers will be established with at least 1 center in each district.
• CET scores can be shared with Central and State Governments, PSUs, private sector thus reducing recruitment costs of these organisations.
• CET will be multiple choice objective type question paper.
• National Recruitment Agency will conduct Common Eligibility Test (CET) twice a year.