Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) Entrance Examination

Introduction
Conducted by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)- New Delhi, formerly known as Imperial Council of Agricultural Research, is an autonomous organisation under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India. The Council is the apex body for co-ordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in the entire country.

ICAR conducts an All India Entrance Examination for admission to Bachelors Degree Programmes (AIEEA-UG) and Masters Degree Programmes (AIEEA-PG) in agri and allied sciences for Indian nationals. The examination is for the programmes in agriculture and allied science subjects other than veterinary science for filling 15% of the total number of seats in Agricultural Universities comprising of State Agricultural Universities (SAU), Central Agricultural University (CAU), Imphal, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, Viswa Bharati (PSB), Sriniketan, Nagaland University (SASARD), Medziphema, Sam Higginbottom Institute of Agriculture, Technology & Sciences (formerly Allahabad Agricultural Institute) Allahabad (AAIDU), and 100% seats in Dairy Technology at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal. There will be no direct nomination of any candidate through the Council for admission in any under-graduate degree programme.

Eligibility

For Under Graduate Programme (ICAR AIEEA-UG)

Educational Qualification :
 •  Must have passed 10+2 Senior Secondary Examination of the Central Board of Secondary Education or any other equivalent examination with any one of the subjects : Biology/ Mathematics/ Agriculture/ Home Science; securing not less than 50% marks in aggregate for General, OBC and UPS categories. (40 % for SC/ST and Physically handicapped categories).
 •  Final year candidates are also eligible to apply but they have to produce 10+2 pass certificate with appropriate % marks during counseling.
 •  For admission in the Universities specifically located in non-Hindi speaking areas, candidate must have passed English as a core subject in 10+2 examination.
 •  Candidate with a compartment/ supplementary in any of the subjects will not be eligible.

Age Limit : Indian Nationals of at least 17 years of age but not more than 23 years are eligible to apply for the examination. No relaxation of age will be allowed to the candidate of any category.

For Post Graduate Programme (ICAR AIEEA-PG)

Educational Qualification :
 •  Indian nationals who have passed (or appear in the final examination) their Bachelor degree in the field of Agriculture, Veterinary, Agricultural Engineering, Fisheries, Horticulture, Home Science, Sericulture, Dairy Technology, Dairy Engineering, Forestry, Agri. Marketing Banking and Cooperation, Food Science & Technology, Biotechnology, Process & Food Engineering, Computer Science, Basic and allied sciences under 10+2+5, 10+2+4 Years degree programs are eligible.
 •  The candidates must have secured Overall Grade Point Average (OGPA) of at least 6.60/10.00 in ten-point scale, 3.25/5.00 in five-point scale, 2.60/4.00 in four-point scale for General, OBC and UPS categories whereas for SC/ST/Physically Handicapped (PH) candidates the said requirement is an OGPA of at least 5.60/10.00, 2.75/5.00, 2.20/4.00 respectively.
 •  In other cases, where grade-points are not awarded and only marks are awarded, the candidate must have secured at least 60% marks for General, OBC and UPS categories whereas for SC/ST/PH the requirement is 50% marks. (Please note that equivalence between OGPA and % marks will not be acceptable).
 •  For admission in the subject of Veterinary Sciences (M.V.Sc.) programmes, the candidate must have passed B.V.Sc. & A.H. with Internship before the date of registration in the Universities.

Age Limit : The minimum age limit shall be 19 years. No relaxation is admissible regarding the minimum age limit.

Examination Details

AIEEA UG

AIEEA UG examination shall comprise of only one paper consisting of Physics, Chemistry and Agriculture/ Biology for ‘STREAM-A’ and Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics for ‘STREAM-B’. The question paper will be in English and Hindi.

Stream A (Agriculture / Biology) : Candidates opting for Stream-A should have passed 10+2 with Physics, Chemistry and Biology/ Agriculture/ Home Science subjects. They can seek admission for undergraduate degree programmes in Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Fisheries, Home Science, Sericulture, Biotechnology and Food Science.

Stream B (Mathematics) : Candidates opting for Stream-A should have passed 10+2 with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subjects. They can seek admission in Agricultural Engineering, Dairy Technology, Biotechnology, Food Science, Agricultural Marketing, Banking & Cooperation. They can also opt for admission to Forestry in limited SAUs. However for Forestry and Food Science Technology, a candidate should have taken Biology also as one of the subject in 10 + 2 examination, as per conditions of some of the Universities.

Duration of Examination is 2½ hours. There will be 180 questions in all to be answered, 60 in Physics, 60 in Chemistry and 60 in Agriculture/ Biology/ Mathematics and shall carry a maximum of 720 marks. All questions will be of objective type with multiple choices and carries 4 marks. For each correct answer the candidate will get 4 marks. For each incorrect answer one mark will be deducted from the total score. No deduction from the total score will however, be made if no answer is indicated for a question in the answer sheet.

AIEEA PG

AIEEA PG examination shall have one question paper in the concerned major subject group consisting of 150 multiple-choice, objective type questions, each having four choices and also 10 cross-matching type questions, each having five sub-questions. Each of the correctly answered multiple-choice, objective type question carries four marks whereas each of the correctly answered cross-matching type sub-question carries 1 mark with a maximum of 650 marks for each paper. Duration is 2½ hours.

For each incorrectly answered multiple-choice, objective type question, one mark would be deducted from the total score whereas for each incorrectly answered cross-matching type sub-question, 0.2 marks would be deducted from the total score. No response to any question by leaving thecircles blank will not invite any negative marking whereas more than one answer/response to any question would be treated as incorrect answer and shall invite negative marking as described above.