NRA, An inclusive Initiative- Rajeev Ranjan Roy
Chandigarh / 20 September / New Super Bharat News
The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) is a great milestone crossed on the road to build an inclusive India, which will go a long way in ensuring equitable distribution of opportunities among all living in urban and rural areas. It gives job aspirants freedom from the rigmarole of multiplicity of examinations for government jobs, involving long travels, putting extra financial burden and certain other in-built risks to job aspirants. The worst sufferers among them used to be financially weaker section students in general and those from India’s 117 aspirational districts in particular. NRA is envisioned to be a specialist body bringing state-of-the-art technology and best practices to the field of Central government recruitment.
In fact, a radical reform in India’s recruitment process for government jobs was long overdue but didn’t get due attention from the government in the past. So, hats off to India’s visionary Prime Minister Narendra Modi for making NRA a reality. It will replace multiple examinations for recruitment to Central government jobs, thus heralding a remarkable paradigm shift. It comes as a huge relief for the government job seekers, who had to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts. According to an official estimate, nearly 1.25 lakh government jobs are advertised every year for which 2.5 crore aspirants appear in several examinations.
The NRA is armed with a number of features to ensure that the idea behind this great reform is not defeated in any respect. The common eligibility test (CET) will enable candidates to appear once and apply to any or all of these recruitment agencies for the higher level of examination. Those clearing CET will be considered for recruitment to non-gazetted posts in government and public sector banks. CET, the single online test, will be held twice a year in 12 major languages, not only in English and Hindi as was happening so far. There will be different CETs for graduate level, 12th pass level and 10th pass level to facilitate recruitment for vacancies at various levels.
To start with, CET will cover recruitments made by three agencies – Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS), and will be expanded in a phased manner. It is hoped that even the recruitment of teachers for Central Schools, Navodaya Vidyalayas, and lecturers or assistant professors for the Central government run institutions is soon brought under the ambit of CET, which is going to be held at 1,000 centres across the country. It will remove the currently prevalent urban bias. There will be an examination centre in every district of the country with a special thrust on creating examination infrastructure in 117 aspirational districts.
As a uniform transformative recruitment process, CET will be a first level test to shortlist candidates and the score will be valid for three years. There shall be no restriction on the number of attempts to be taken by a candidate to appear in the CET subject to the upper age limit. The age relaxation for SC, ST and OBC candidates will apply as per the existing rules. It will be hassle-free as applicants will be required to register on a single regional portal; there will be no worries about clashing of examination dates; single examination fee will reduce financial burden. Examination in their own district will also encourage more and more women candidates to apply for government jobs.
With a blend of ease and transparency, NRA as a reformative measure supplements Prime Minister Modi’s grand vision of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vishwas and Sabka Vikas.’ It is a win-win situation for institutions as well, since NRA removes the hassle of conducting preliminary and screening tests of candidates and drastically reduces the recruitment cycle and brings standardization in examination patterns. As per an official estimate, NRA will help different recruiting agencies to save around Rs 600 crore.
As CET is the computer based online test, the Central government has planned to provide outreach and awareness facility to assist candidates in rural and other remote areas to familiarize them with the online examination system. A round-the-clock helpline will also be set up for answering queries and addressing complaints. In order to ensure administrative efficacy, the NRA will be headed by a chairman of the rank of the Secretary to the Government of India and will have representatives of the Ministry of Railways, Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services, SSC, RRB and IBPS. The Central government has sanctioned a sum of Rs 1517.57 crore for the NRA. The expenditure will be undertaken over a period of three years.
Inclusivity remains but a great feature of the NRA. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has rightly pointed out that “NRA will provide equal opportunities to all sections of the society as each district will have an examination centre … Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji has given the due right to the job seeking youth of the country by ensuring transparency and ease in the recruitment process.” It will also ensure total transparency in the implementation of affirmative policy meant for OBC, SC, ST and EWS category applicants. If the robust use of information and communication technology (ICT) eradicates malpractices, examination centres in every district of the country will not only greatly enhance access to the candidates located in far-flung areas but will also take job opportunities closer to the people, a landmark step, which will go a long way in enhancing the ease of living for the youths.
The NRA also carries a lot of special hope for women. It is a well known fact that women candidates, especially from rural areas, face constraints in appearing in multiple examinations as they have to arrange for transportation and accommodation that are far away. They sometimes have to find suitable persons to accompany them to these centres that are located far away. Given the financial and other constraints, the candidates from rural backgrounds in general and women in particular have to make a choice as to which examination they want to appear in. Under the NRA, the candidates by appearing in one examination will get an opportunity to compete for many posts.
Last but not the least, the students from the Northeast region will amply be benefitted from the NRA. Given the geographical barriers, this initiative will help them to secure a career they truly deserve. Even States and Union Territories and PSUs can use CET score in recruiting candidates in concerned categories. Needless to say, NRA is a landmark initiative, which gives a new meaning and dimension to the country’s recruitment process.
