The SSC exam duration has been shortened from 45 Days to 21 days. The Staff Selection Commission recruitment cycle was of 15-18 months. To expedite the process, SSC has been making several reforms for a very long time, like reducing the stages, shortening exam duration, and shifting to computer-based examination. The collective measures have affected many exam recruitment cycles conducted by SSC, which have been shortened to 6-8 months. Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh gave a written reply.
According to Singh, the SSC has implemented various reforms to streamline the recruitment process. These include transitioning entirely from pen-and-paper exams to computer-based exams, reducing the number of exam tiers, and shortening the exam notice period from approximately 45 days to around 21 days.
Singh also added "removal of descriptive-type papers in all examinations (except the combined Hindi translators examination)," "document verification of selected candidates to be done by ministries/departments," "discontinuation of interview," and "introduction of e-documents and phasinging-out of physical document verification, thereby speeding up pre-appointment verification" as some of the reform measuresā. Singh added in a separate response that SSC has now developed an online centralised digital data system for secure, transparent, and tamper-proof handling of candidate e-documents of hiring examinations.
The key feature of this centralised digital data system is role-based access control to the data of candidates. The access will be provided only to the authorised people of SSC and ministries, and a unique tracking number will be used at every stage to maintain the security of the data of the candidates.
Several major examinations, like the graduate-level examination 2024, combined higher secondary level examination 2024, junior engineer examination 2024, and multi-tasking (non-technical) staff and havaldar examination 2024, among others, have already seen the successful implementation of this system, Singh said in his statement.
This digital data system has resulted in various benefits in the recruiting process, like faster validation of data and forwarding the documents for further processing with digital tracking, efficient coordination between the Staff Selection Commission and ministries, besides the reduction of physical documents, resulting in speeding up the pre-appointment verification and recommendation of candidates to ministries, Singh informed.
