The Union Cabinet has decided to create National Recruitment Agency (NRA).
What is the NRA?
The NRA would be an independent, professional, specialist organisation.
It would conduct a screening examination for non-gazetted jobs.
This will eliminate the need for candidates to take separate examinations of the RRB, SSC and IBPS.
[RRB - Railway Recruitment Board, SSC - Staff Selection Commission, IBPS - Institute of Banking Personnel Selection.]
There would also be an emphasis on creating advanced online testing infrastructure in 117 aspirational districts.
Overall, the posts coming under the ambit of the proposed NRA would cover about 1.25 lakh jobs a year, which attract about 2.5 crore aspirants.
What are the benefits of NRA?
The single examination may be offered at the district level in the regional language.
The gains from a single examination, as opposed to a multiplicity of tests in far fewer locations are self-evident.
Candidates would no longer have to travel to urban centres at considerable expense and hardship to take an employment test.
Opportunities to improve performance, subject to age limits, and 3-year validity for scores are positive features.
What should the government concentrate on?
The long-term relevance of such reforms will depend on the governments’ commitment to raise the level of public employment and expand services to the public.
Both of this is low in India. The governments should work on this.
What are the concerns?
As a share of the organised workforce, the Central government employment appears to be declining.
New posts are sanctioned periodically, but a large number of vacancies remain unfilled.
With growing emphasis on transferring core railway services to the private sector, there may be fewer government jobs on offer in the future.
Moreover, jobs under the Centre, predominantly in the railways and defence sectors, constitute around 14% of public employment.
The rest of the jobs fall within the purview of States.
How should the reform be?
The reform must have a wider reach to achieve scale.
It must be marked by well-defined procedures, wide publicity and open competition, besides virtual elimination of discretion.
The NRA can potentially cut delays, boost transparency and enable wider access.
The entire process of candidate selection must be a model, raising the bar on speed, efficiency and integrity.
