Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh today expressed satisfaction over the fact that following a revolutionary initiative taken by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT), interview for jobs has been abolished in 23 States and 8 Union Territories of India.
Exchanging updates with the newly appointed Union Secretary DoPT, Deepak Khandekar who called on him soon after assuming charge of office today at North Block, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, one of the responsibilities of the DoPT is also to persuade the different State and Union Territory governments to implement the path-breaking reforms initiated by the Union Ministry. He said, the call for abolition of interview was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address from the ramparts of Red Fort on 15th August, 2015 and DoPT promptly completed the entire exercise to issue orders abolishing interview for all Group-B (Non Gazetted) and Group-C posts in the Central Government from 1st Jan 2016 itself. However, some of the State Governments had initial reservations, but he said, he was glad to note that after continuous reasoning by the DoPT, most of the State and Union Territory governments have seen the logic in this decision and finally decided to implement it.
Even in Jammu & Kashmir, where the government had initially not introduced this rule, now after the taking over of the Lieutenant Governor regime, orders have been issued to make selection to these posts purely on the basis of the merit in the written test, he said.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said, discontinuation of the interview has proved to be in larger public interest and it also seeks to offer a level playing field for candidates coming from lower socio-economic strata. He said, it also eliminates the scope of allegations of nepotism or corruption in appointments to government jobs.
Wishing Dandekar a fruitful tenure as Secretary DoPT, Dr. Jitendra Singh hoped that the process of introducing one path-breaking reform after the other, will continue under the stewardship of the new Secretary. He said, some of such reforms which could never have been imagined till a few years ago, were possible for DoPT to introduce because of the support and personal intervention of Prime Minister Modi.
Referring to some of the other landmark reforms which will change the face of governance in India, Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned the constituting of National Recruitment Agency (NRA) to conduct Common Eligibility Test (CET) for appointment to jobs in different Ministries and Departments as well as the national programme for Civil Services Capacity Building called “Mission Karmayogi”. Similarly, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie had introduced Common Foundation Course for Civil Service probationers under the name “Aarambh”, he added.
