No interviews for junior govt posts

NEW DELHI: The Centre will end the practice of holding job interviews for selection to junior government posts from January 1 next year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Sunday.

The no-interview rule would apply to recruitment done by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) mandated to conduct exams to select candidates for Group C and non-gazetted Group B posts such as police sub-inspector, a junior engineer or a central excise inspector.

This means the recruitment would be made only on the basis of marks scored by candidates in written exams. Last year, the SSC recruited about 55,000 employees from 17 million applicants.

“It often crossed my mind as to why there was the need for an interview for small jobs. I have never heard of a psychologist who can evaluate a person during an interview of one to two minutes,” Modi said in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann Ki Baat’. But he added it would not apply where the recruitment process had started.

Government sources said that most state governments have agreed to move towards the no-interview regime.

At the Centre, the no-interview rule would largely benefit candidates for non-gazetted Group B posts. The SSC does not stipulate an interview for most Group C posts.

Many people within and outside the government have welcomed the initiative. Shekhar Singh, an academic who lectures senior civil servants, said the interview did not serve a purpose for junior posts, particularly when the government had never defined the attributes of a civil servant for a particular job.

In his Mann Ki Baat, Modi also urged people to donate organs. “The organs of people who die in accidents can be donated and fellow countrymen can benefit,” Modi said.