Agencies
New Delhi, Jan 25: 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 Monday 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, 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.
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.
“It also eliminates the scope of allegations of nepotism or corruption in appointments to government jobs,” he added.
Interview for jobs abolished in 23 States, 8 UTs: Jitendra
