Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has welcomed the Centre's decision to set up a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) that will conduct an online Common Eligibility Test for selecting candidates for the majority of central government jobs.
The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday approved the creation of NRA.
Hailing the decision, Khandu in a statement said that the Centre has taken another landmark decision to bring transparency in governance and providing equal opportunities to all.
"I congratulate our the Prime Minister for setting up the National Recruitment Agency. Arunachal Pradesh will greatly benefit from this reform," he said.
The multi-agency body NRA will conduct a separate CET each for the three levels of graduate, higher secondary (12th pass) and the matriculate (10th pass) candidates for those non-technical posts to which recruitment is currently carried out by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS).
To make it easier for candidates, examination centres would be set up in every district of the country.
A special focus will be on creating examination infrastructure in the 117 'Aspirational Districts'.
Khandu said the move would benefit poor candidates, as in the present system they have to appear in multiple examinations conducted by multiple agencies.
They have to incur expenditure on examination fees, travel, boarding, lodging and other things.
The single examination is expected to reduce the financial burden on such candidates.
"A single eligibility test would significantly reduce the recruitment cycle as recruitment would be now based on CET scores," the chief minister added in the statement.
On an average 2.5 crore to three crore aspirants appear for about 1.25 lakh vacancies in the central government every year.