New Delhi, Sep 10 (IANS): The Minister of State for Department of Personnel and Training on Thursday said that Common Eligibility Test (CET), planned through the recently constituted National Recruitment Agency, will have one Centre each in the districts of Leh and Kargil respectively for screening and short listing candidates for jobs in the government sector.

For the convenience of the youth aspirants, he further said that Ladakh will have its own exclusive centre for holding of Civil Service Exam, which will be set up at Leh and will become functional next month with the holding of Civil Services (Preliminary) Exam.

Describing it as governance and social reform, Singh said that these examination centres in Ladakh will fulfill the job aspirant youth living in remote and far flung areas which will provide a level playing field to all the candidates, regardless of his or her background or socio-economic status. There will also be a huge benefit to women and 'Divyang' candidates and for those who find it financially unaffordable to appear for multiple tests by travelling to multiple Centres, he added.

Inaugurating a two-day workshop on Capacity Building for Ladakh Officials at Leh, he said that goals and targets set by the Prime Minister for the new Union Territory of Ladakh would be met in time to make it one of the best UTs in the country.

The Minister also said that the CET will be conducted across the country from early 2022 and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will, from this year, have an Examination Centre at Leh, which will operate for the first time for the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination 2021, scheduled to be held on October 10, 2021. He said that this will address a long pending demand of the youth from the Ladakh region whose grievance was that they found it difficult to reach Examination Centres in other parts of the country because of the constraints of affordability of air fare and uncertain weather conditions.

Singh also said, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has also been working on to set up a Night Sky Planetarium at the Indian Astronomical Observatory, located in Hanle near Leh.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's highest priority for Ladakh and other peripheral regions, he said that it was for the first time under the Modi government that Ladakh had been granted a university, Hotel management institute, a medical and an engineering college. He also underlined the action plan for "Carbon Neutral" Ladakh as announced by Modi.