New Delhi: A one-stop recruitment exam for Group-C government jobs that has been in the pipeline for two years is unlikely to be rolled out soon despite a near-launch last year.
According to sources in the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the ambitious proposal has seen little movement over the last many months, with a consensus elusive despite multiple meetings and discussions with the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), which oversees several Group-C appointments.
Recruitment to Group-C jobs — the third level in the four-tier hierarchy of government jobs — takes place at three levels: Class X, Class XII, and upon graduation.
Appointment to these posts usually involves a two-stage examination, which comprises a preliminary test and the mains. It used to include an interview, but this stage was eliminated by the Narendra Modi government in 2016.
It was proposed by the DoPT two years ago that the SSC conduct a single preliminary examination or common entrance test at each of the three stages, instead of the separate screening tests currently conducted by other recruiting agencies like the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for banking vacancies and the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) for railways staff.
ThePrint tried to reach the DoPT and SSC for comment, but its queries were yet to elicit a response by the time the report was published. This report will be updated when they respond.
Also read: India’s rural employment plan has been giving fewer & fewer jobs to the most deprived
Hassle-free applications
On average, around four crore candidates across all levels apply for the screening exams conducted by the SSC, while 60 lakh apply for the IBPS exam and nearly 1.4 crore for the RRB test.
If implemented, the proposal would spare the crores of candidates the hassle of filling up multiple forms, paying fees for each of them, and taking several exams in far-flung centres.
The recruiting agencies, meanwhile, would only have to conduct the mains and recruit from a pool of candidates filtered by the SSC through the common entrance test.
“Effectively, the common entrance test was to replace multiple screening exams conducted by various recruiting bodies,” said a government official privy to the matter.
“Moreover, the number of candidates to be examined by them would come down significantly, thus saving resources, as well as effort and time,” the source added.
If successful, the pool of candidate who clear the SSC common entrance test could also be tapped by central PSUs and state governments, as well as private players, another senior government official said.
The first common test for at least one of the three levels, the official added, was slated for July last year, but the modalities could not be worked out.
It is understood that the SSC had sought more funds for carrying out the common test — while the SSC had a budget allocation of Rs 350 crore at the time (in 2017-18), its budget for the financial year 2019-20 was reduced to Rs 240 crore.
Meanwhile, as reported by ThePrint last month, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is working on a similar plan to cut the number of preliminary exams for Group-A government services.
According to highly-placed sources in the UPSC, the possibilities on the table include expanding the civil services preliminary test — which decides recruitment to around 24 services, including the prized Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) — to services like engineering and Central Armed Police Forces such as the BSF and the CRPF.
Also read: Why there has been no big social unrest in India to reflect inadequate job growth