SSC shortened exam notice duration from 45 days to around 21 days: Govt in RS

NEW DELHI: The Staff Selection Commission has introduced different reform measures to shorten the recruitment cycle, including reduction in the duration of exam notice from around 45 days to 21 days, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Due to the cumulative effect of these measures, there has been a reduction in the recruitment cycle of various examinations conducted by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) from 15-18 months to 6-10 months, Union Minister of State for Personnel, Jitendra Singh, said in a written reply.

Singh said the SSC has introduced several reform measures to shorten the recruitment cycle, including "complete transition from pen and paper-based examinations to computer-based examinations","reduction in the number of tiers/stages of examinations" and "duration of exam notice shortened from around 45 days to around 21 days".

Singh cited "removal of descriptive-type papers in all examinations (except combined Hindi translators examination)", "document verification of selected candidates to be done by ministries/departments", "discontinuation of interview" and "introduction of e-dossiers and phasing-out of physical dossiers, thereby speeding-up pre-appointment verification" as some of the reform measures. In a separate response, he said the SSC has developed an online centralised e-dossier system for secure, tamper-proof, and transparent handling of candidate dossiers of recruitment examinations.

E-dossier used in major exams

The key features of the system include controlled, role-based access to e-dossier system provided through authorised logins to users in SSC and ministries/departments and tracking mechanism at every stage with unique tracking number to ensure authenticity and data integrity, the minister said. The e-dossier system has been successfully implemented in several major examinations of SSC, which include combined graduate level examination 2024, combined higher secondary level examination 2024, junior engineer examination (JE) 2024, and multi-tasking (non-technical) staff and havaldar (CBIC and CBN) examination 2024, among others, he said.

Implementation of the e-dossier system for the pre-appointment process has resulted in several benefits, including faster validation and forwarding of dossiers with digital tracking, efficient coordination between SSC and ministries/departments, besides reduction in the use of physical dossiers, thereby speeding up the pre-appointment verification and recommendation of candidates to ministries/departments, Singh said.

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Civil services allows 22 languages

On promotion of regional languages in competitive examinations, Singh said since 2022, the SSC has been conducting three all-India competitive examinations -- multi-tasking (non-technical) staff and havaldar (CBIC and CBN) examination, combined higher secondary (10+2) level examination, and constable (GD) examination -- in 13 regional languages along with Hindi and English.

"As regards other competitive examinations, the civil services (mains) examination conducted by the UPSC allows candidates to write answers in any of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, besides Hindi or English (except in the case of language and literature papers)," Singh said. Other recruitment agencies such as Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) and Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) also conduct examinations in 13 regional languages along with Hindi and English, the minister added.