CET for government jobs delayed by lack of IT, physical infrastructure, says ministry

NEW DELHI: The central government is yet to conduct the Common Eligibility Test (CET) for Group B and C posts even after three years of announcing the exam for government jobs recruitment. Announced in August 2020, CET was hailed as “boon” to government job – or ‘sarkari naukri’ – aspirants and “game-changer” by union ministers. However, CET is yet to be conducted by National Recruitment Agency (NRA) in the absence of “reliable IT and physical infrastructure”. The exam conducting authority, NRA, is also yet to get an official website.

In response to questions related to CET asked by Randeep Singh Surejwala, Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Haryana, union minister of state (MoS) for personnel, public grievances and pensions, Jitendra Singh, said that the CET for group B and C posts is represents a major shift “which require[s] availability of reliable IT and physical infrastructure, apart from norms and guidelines for various stages of CET, pan India”.

Explaining the reasons behind the delay, Singh said: “CET can be implemented only after IT and physical structure have been put in place and norms and guidelines for various stages for the same have been evolved.”

In March this year, Singh told Lok Sabha that NRA is in the final stages of designing the computer-based CET and hence “CET is yet to be conducted”. He also informed that a chairman and three officers have been appointed in the NRA.

Government Job Vacancies: NRA and CET

Acknowledging that government job aspirants have to appear for separate examinations conducted by multiple recruiting agencies for various posts with similar eligibility conditions, the union cabinet in August 2020 approved the CET. Once implemented, it will replace multiple examinations for recruitment to central government jobs and reduce the financial burden that multiple exams imposed.

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Approximately 1.25 lakh government jobs are advertised every year for which 2.5 crore aspirants appear in various examinations, according to the government. In August 2020 itself, the government announced that CET will be conducted twice in a year in 12 major Indian languages and it will be a first-level test to shortlist candidates and the score will be valid for three years. It was also announced that candidates can sit for CET multiple times to improve marks and there will be an examination centre in every district of the country. The CET scores will enable candidates to approach various recruitment agencies for taking the next level tests for final selection.

“To begin 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). This will be expanded in a phased manner,” ministry said.

‘Sarkari job’ and CET delay

The announcement of NRA-CET was hailed by union ministers as an “unprecedented step”, “win-win agreement” for candidates and recruiters.

Prime minister Narendra Modi had said: “The National Recruitment Agency 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.”

The union government also sanctioned Rs 1,517.57 crore for NRA and it was announced that NRA will conduct the first CET in 2021. However, union minister Singh proposed different dates for the first CET which hasn’t been organised yet.

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In March 2021, Singh called the CET a “major boon for the youth” and said it is likely to be held around September 2021. In July 2021, he said CET for recruitment to central government jobs will be conducted from 2022.

In March 2022, he informed Rajya Sabha that an expert advisory committee has been set up by NRA to recommend the common syllabus and scheme for the CET. During a ministerial meeting in May 2022, he said that NRA was gearing up to conduct computer-based online CET by the year-end.

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