Govt job interviews abolished in 23 states and 8 UTs

Union minister Jitendra Singh recently announced that government have abolished the interview for recruitment in government jobs in 23 states and 8 union territories.

Background

In 2015 Prime Minister had announced  while delivering the speech from Red Fort in New Delhi on August 15. He suggested to abolish the interview system and asked for the abolition of interview. He emphasised to make the job selection on the basis of written test totally. He cited the reason that when an interview call is received by a candidate, his entire family get disturbed with apprehension and anxiety.

Need of abolishing the system?

There had been complaints, grievances and allegations about marks being manipulated for favoured candidates in interviews. Written test would bring about the level playing field.

Highlights

• This is being done in continuation to the plan of abolition of interview for Group-B (non-gazetted) and Group-C posts in the Central government.
• This plan is in mission mode since 2016.
• The entire process is being done by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT).

Maharashtra and Gujarat are some states that quickly  implemented this rule while there are some states that were reluctant to abolish the conduct of interview for jobs. However, after reminding repeatedly to State governments, practice of conducting interview has been discontinued in all the 8 Union territories, including Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. Further, 23 out of 28 states have also abolished the system.