The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the setting up of a National Recruitment Agency to conduct a Common Eligibility Test (CET) for job hunters. The new decision will benefit job seekers of the country and help in selecting candidates for different sectors, Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar said at a briefing.

There are more than 20 recruitment agencies currently under the Central government. “Although we are taking exams of only three common agencies as of now, in course of time we will be able to have one Common Eligiblity Test for all recruitment agencies in the country,” Secretary C Chandramouli said.

Bringing in transformational reform in the recruitment process for central government jobs, the Cabinet has announced the creation of a National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to make the process of applying for such jobs easier for the youth.

The NRA will be a multi-agency body which will encompass the first-level test by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC), the Railway Recruitment Boards (RRBs) and the Institute of Banking Service Personnel (IBPS). A common eligibility test will be held to screen candidates at the first level for SSC, RRBs and IBPS. The CET will be held online for graduates, those students who have cleared the Higher Secondary and the Class X board examinations.

The Cabinet has also approved a proposal for leasing out of the Jaipur, Guwahati and Thiruvananthapuram airports, under the Airports Authority of India (AAI), through the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

One-time relaxation for the Power Finance Corporation and Rural Electrification Corporation for extending loans to DISCOMs above the limit of working capital of 25% of last year’s revenues, under the Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana, has also got a nod from the Union Cabinet, Javadekar said.