In a bid to make the life of government job seekers easier, the Central Government is working on an online recruitment plan, media reports suggest.
From buying the job application form until final selection, candidates have to stand in various queues, including the serpentine ones for making payment for the examination fee. Moreover, it is a common practice to pay ‘convenience fee’ to lower rung police officials for getting the process of police verification expedited.
Keeping these very hassles of government job aspirants in mind, the government is trying to put a system in place wherein candidates will be able to complete the entire recruitment process online, of course barring the exercise of appearing in a written test.
The move is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Digital India programme, though various states need to come onboard for the plan to become a successful model for hassle-free recruitment.
A group of secretaries, who came up with the proposal, term it a “faceless, paperless and cashless” experience for government recruitments, as the candidates will not be required to come face-to-face with any government official right from applying until joining the job.
According to the proposal, all government vacancies will be put up on a common portal and applications will be invited online. Applicants would be able to certify their applications with eSign, an online electronic signature service that enables an Aadhaar card holder to digitally sign a document.
This will do away with the need of physically signing application forms and queuing up at offices to submit them. The new system will also allow payment of exam fee online through a universal payment interface. The candidates will be able to upload their certificates into a digital locker, which will allow the government access these documents online.
The Secretaries in the Ministry of Personnel are doing a weekly review of the recommendations of the group of Secretaries to ensure the earliest possible implementation of the plan. This has been taken up with all secretaries at the Centre and Chief Secretaries of states, according to a Department of Personnel & Training spokesperson.