National Recruitment Agency (NRA)

News:A new National Recruitment Agency(NRA) will be set up to streamline recruitment process on subordinate-rank posts in the government.

Facts:

About the NRA:

• The proposal new agency is meant to streamline the recruitment process on subordinate-rank posts in the government.
• It will also reduce the burden of the Staff Selection Commission(SSC) and the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection(IBPS) from holding preliminary recruitment exams which is an extensive exercise. 
• Once set up, NRA will work as a preliminary single-window agency to shortlist qualifying candidates from the bulk of applicants and forward the list to SSC, IBPS to hold the mains.
• However, the proposed agency will not be in charge of recruitment of Probationary Officers(PO) in banks.

Additional information:

Staff Selection Commission(SSC)

• The Staff Selection Commission is an attached office of the Department of Personnel and Training.
• It was constituted as the Subordinate Services Commission in 1975 which was subsequently re-designated as Staff Selection Commission in 1977.
• SSC makes recruitment to various Group “B” and Group “C” posts in the various Ministries/Departments of the Government of India and in Subordinate Offices.

Institute of Banking Personnel Selection(IBPS)

• IBPS is an autonomous body that is mainly engaged in conducting competitive exams for recruitment to clerical and officers’ posts in the banking sector.