Context: The Union Cabinet approved the creation of a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) for conducting a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for various government jobs.

The National Recruitment Agency will be a multi-agency body that will conduct a common eligibility test, which will be a first-level test to screen candidates for SSC, RRBs, & IBPS

About Common Eligibility Test (CET):

• The Common Eligibility test will be held in an online mode.
• NRA will conduct single entrance examination for all non-gazetted posts — Group B and C posts and those candidates who qualify this CET will be able to apply to any recruitment agency like IBPS, SSC, and Railway Recruitment Boards for higher level of examination.
• The CET score of the candidate shall be valid for a period of three years from the date of declaration of the result.
• The CET would be held separately for three levels - graduate, 12th pass and 10th pass - for the non-technical posts of the three agencies. 
• The exam would be conducted in 12 languages to begin with and the attempt would be to expand it further to all languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The government sanctioned ₹1,517.57 crores for the NRA for a period of three years. 

Advantage:

• About 2.5 crores to 3 crores candidates applied for the 1.25 lakh Group B and C jobs advertised by three agencies every year, with separate schedules and fees. This exam will reduce the multiple fees paid by students.
• A common eligibility test would enable these candidates to appear once and apply to any or all of these recruitment agencies for the higher level of examination. This would indeed be a boon to all the candidates.

Reference: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cabinet-clears-national-recruitment-agency-to-conduct-common-test-for-government-jobs/article32393954.ece

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