Jammu, Feb 24 : According to the transformational changes in the recruitment procedure of Junior Commissioned Officers (JCOs)/Other Ranks (OR) all candidates will have to undergo a common entrance exam, the Army has said. Director Army Recruiting Office, Jammu addressed a press conference here on Friday to explain all aspects of the new recruitment procedure. "In stage I, all candidates who have registered and applied online on joinindianarmy.nic.in (JIA website) will undergo a common entrance exam. "In stage II, the shortlisted candidates will be called for recruitment rally at locations decided by respective AROs where they will undergo Physical Fitness Tests and physical Measurement Tests. "Finally in stage III, the selected candidates will undergo Medical Test at rally location online registration. "The online registration on JIA website is open from 16 Feb 2023 to 15 Mar 2023. The process of registration remains the same as earlier. Candidates can either register using their Aadhaar Card or their Class 10th certificate. "As part of continued automation, the Join Indian Army website has now been linked with Digilocker for greater transparency. "The Online CEE is being conducted at 176 locations across India. The candidates have the choices to select five Exam locations and they shall be allotted exam locations from within those choices. "For online CEE fee is Rs 500/- per candidate. 50 per cent of the cost is being borne by the Army. At the end of the registration process the candidates would be directed to a payment portal. "Candidates are required to pay Rs 250/- along with associated bank charges if any, by using Internet Banking, UPI/BHIM or credit or debit cards of all major banks to including Maestro, Master Card, VISA or RuPay cards. Candidates are advised to activate their debit cards for online transactions. "A candidate will be considered registered only once his payment is successful & a Roll No. generated at this stage, which shall be used at all stages of recruitment. Complete procedure on 'How to Apply' has been given in a video which is available on Join Indian Army website and on YouTube. "To appear in the Online Common Entrance Exam (CEE) admit cards would be available on the Join Indian Army website 10-14 days prior to commencement of the examination. "Intimation of the same shall be sent to candidates' mobiles through SMS and also on their regd. email IDs. Admit card will have the exact address for Exam Centre. The Online CEE is a computer based exam. The process to appear in the exam is very simple. To guide the candidates, a video on 'How to Appear in Online Common Entrance Exam' is available at Join Indian Army website and also on YouTube. It is clarified that there is no change in the syllabus & pattern of the exam. "To assist the candidates to prepare for the online CEE, practice tests for all categories have been developed & a link has been hosted on the Join Indian Army website. Candidates can thus practice appearing in the said exam from their homes. On accessing the same, candidates will be able to see the same screen on the computer as they will see during the actual Exam. These tests can be accessed on a mobile also. "Based on their performance in the Online CEE, shortlisted candidates will be called to nominated venues for Recruitment Rallies. The procedure of Recruitment Rallies remains unchanged. Final merit will be based on Online CEE result and physical test marks as hither-to-fore. "The changed procedure will focus on enhanced cognitive aspects during recruitment and will result in wider and better outreach across the country. It will also reduce large crowds assembling at Recruiting Rallies and reduce the administrative arrangements therein. The process will become more streamlined, simpler for candidates to appear and is in synchronised with current technological advancement of the country. "As the candidates will realize, the process has become completely automated with minimal human intervention. Candidates are advised not to fall prey to touts as they can not help them in any way. The recruitment into the IA remains completely unbiased, impartial and merit based,", director Army recruitment office told the media. /IANS