ICAR-SRF (PGS) Entrance for Ph.D.- Exam Structure, Participating Universities and Selection Procedure

Two premier research organizations in India, CSIR – ICAR are jointly offering Senior Research Fellowships for the candidates interested in pursuing research in Agriculture Sciences, Veterinary Sciences and Allied subjects. National Academy of Agricultural Research Management (NAARM – Hyderabad) will conduct All India Level Competitive Examination every year for the grant of ICAR- SRF (PGS). Those qualified in this examination can pursue Ph.D. with or without fellowship in reputed institutions and universities. Following are details of exam structure, participating universities and organizations.

Participating Universities / Institutes / Deemed Universities: ICAR-SRF (PGS) will be awarded to the candidates who will be joining / already pursuing Ph.D. in the following universities and institutions:

1. State Agricultural Universities (SAUs)
2. Deemed Universities such as IARI (New Delhi), IVRI (Izatnagar), NDRI (Karnal), CIFE (Mumbai), SHIATS (Allahabad)
3. Central Agricultural University (Imphal, Manipur)
4. Central Univerisities having faculty of agriculture such as Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), Viswa Bharti – Santhiniketan and Nagaland University.

Selection Procedure: Candidates for the fellowships will be selected based on the merit in all India Competitive Examination along with past academic performance. Weightage will be 75 percent for the marks in examination and 25 percent for academic performance. In case of a tie in marks, the candidate with higher marks in entrance examination will be ranked senior. Post Graduate candidates other than Veterinary Science subjects will get Rs. 12000/- p.m. (fixed) for 1st and 2nd years and Rs. 14000/- p.m. (fixed) for 3rd year. Post Graduates in Veterinary Science will receive Rs. 14000/- p.m. for 1st and 2nd years and Rs. 15000/- for 3rd year.

Examination Structure: The Entrance examination will have two papers. These are Paper – I and Paper – II. The medium of the question paper will be English.

Paper I: This will consist of General Knowledge questions in objective multiple choice nature. Questions will be from all the main subjects like Agriculture, Biotechnology, Veterinary Science, Biochemistry, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Fisheries and Allied Sciences, etc. Duration is one and a half hour (90 minutes). Total questions will be 100. The weightage for this paper will be 25 percent. There will be negative marking of –25 percentage for each wrong answer.

Paper II: This paper also will be objective type with a total of 200 questions. Duration is 150 minutes / two and a half hours. Questions will be from all main subjects like Plant Sciences, Bio Chemistry, Biotechnology, Agriculture and allied sciences. The weightage for this paper will be 50 percent.

Final ranking for the award of SRF will be drawn based on the marks obtained by a candidate in the written examination and past academic performance at Under Graduate and Post Graduate levels. Those not short listed for SRF but qualified in the examination are also eligible for Ph.D. Programs without SRF.