Explained: Common Eligibility Test Across India From Early 2022 To Shortlist Candidates For Central Govt Jobs

Dr Jitendra Singh, MoS Prime Minister's Office, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space yesterday said that a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for central government jobs will be conducted across the country from early 2022.

This unique initiative was reportedly undertaken with the personal intervention of Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi to screen and shortlist candidates for recruitment to Central Government jobs.

The CET was scheduled to take off with the first such test before the end of this year, but got delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Singh said.

He added that a common entrance test is a path-breaking reform by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) to bring about “Ease of Recruitment” for young job aspirants, and will prove to be a major boon for youth, especially those living in far-flung and remote areas.

Singh said that the step is a reflection of PM Modi’s deep and sensitive concern for the youths and his keenness to provide level playing field and equal opportunity to youth across the country. He was speaking after the launch of e-Book Civil List-2021 of IAS officers.

The CET

The National Recruitment Agency (NRA) will conduct the CET to screen/shortlist candidates for jobs in Government sector for which recruitment is presently carried out through the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).

NRA a multi-agency body, and has been constituted with the approval of the union cabinet. It will conduct CET to screen and shortlist candidates for Group-B and Group-C (non-technical) posts.

Most importantly, every district in the country will have at least one CET examination centre, thus helping the candidates living in remote areas, providing them a level playing field regardless of background or socio-economic status.

This will especially benefit women; physically disabled candidates; and those who find it financially unaffordable to travel to multiple centres for multiple tests, Singh said.

Singh also listed a number of reforms taken by by the Modi government in the last seven years, for example, the decision to do away with the age-old practice of getting documents attested by a gazetted officer and replacing the same with self-attestation; three-month central government stint as Assistant Secretaries for IAS officers in the beginning of their career; etc. He called these reforms "far-reaching".

Last year, the government also launched ‘Mission Karamyogi’ to streamline training and competency building of civil servants.

The mission, through an HR council comprising select union ministers, chief ministers, international leaders and civil servants, will choose the ‘right person for the right role’.

With this, civil servants training will become a ‘continuous process’ and a dashboard will monitor and audit the capacity building scheme, and a report will be submitted annually to ascertain its success.

The 66th edition of the e-Book IAS Civil List 2021 is an effort by the DoPT to contribute towards Digital India initiative of the Government of India, MoS Jitendra Singh said, informing that the department had done away with the printing of voluminous IAS Civil list.

It contains vital information in respect of officers’ batch, cadre, present posting, pay scale, qualification and date of superannuation along with their overall cadre-wise strength, number of IAS officers retiring in next five years including number of IAS officers appointed on the basis of Civil Services Examination from 1969 onwards, along with the photographs of IAS officers

The dynamic list is a vital source of information on the officers manning various posts for the general public; and will help in selecting the right officer for the right assignment based on available profile. This will also ensure economic utilization of resources by reducing the burden on government exchequer, Singh said.

This 2021 edition is the first edition of e-book in pdf with unique search facilities and hyperlinking of contents for ease of access of information at a click of button.