ICAR AICE JRF/SRF 2025: Application Process, Exam Dates, Admit Card Eligibility, Syllabus & Preparation Tips

After completing Step 2 of Online Application Form, candidates may remit the examination fee  (Step 3) by choosing the following options:
1. Through Debit/Credit card – Candidates need to check the validity of the Debit/Credit Card,  while logging on to website for submitting Application Form. Candidate should enter the information asked for and make the required payment through Debit/Credit Card.
2. Through Net Banking - Check the balance in account and keep all credentials ready while logging on to website for submitting Application Form. Candidate should Login with his/her credentials of net banking and make payment through Net Banking.
3. Through UPI.

NTA reopened the application form of ICAR AICE JRF/SRF again and now applicants can register for the exam between May 21 to 23, 2024 again. 

Earlier NTA started the ICAR AICE JRF/SRF appliaction porcess on April 11, 2024. Interested candidates can visit the official website of ICAR JRF/SRF to do the basic regsitration in order to fill out the ICAR JRF/SRF application form 2024.  The last date for filling out the ICAR AICE JRF/SRF application form was May 11, 2024. ICAR JRF/SRF exam is being conducted to candidates admission in Doctoral Degree Programmes (PhD) and an award for JRF/SRF (PGS). 

ICAR applicants who have filled out the ICAR AICE JRF/SRF application form for the academic cycle 2024-2025 will be getting an oppurtunity to edit the deatisl filled in the appliaction form if they have committed any mistakes. NTA will be opening the ICAR JRF/SRF application for correction portal on May 13, 2024. The window will be opened for a period of two day the portal will be closed on May 15, 2024, upto 11:50 PM

Candidates can check out the ICAR AICE JRF/SRF application form fee details from here:

• General/Unreserved- 1900/-
• OBC-NCL/ UPS/EWS- INR1800/-
• SC/ ST/ PwBD / Third Gender- INR 975/-

Applicable Service/Processing charges& GST are to be paid by the candidate. Note: In case, the fee payment status is not ‘OK’ the candidates are advised asfollowing:
1. If the fee is paid through credit/debit card and status is not OK, it means the transaction is cancelled.
Therefore, such candidates have to pay the fee once again and ensure the OK fee status.
2. For cancelled transactions, the amount will, automatically, be refunded to concerned credit/debit card
within 15 days of last date of submission of Application Form.

Candidates can check the Minimum OGPA/Marks in the Eligibility Examination required to appear in AICEJRF/SRF 2024 from here:

Note:

1.       Where OGPA is awarded, equivalence between OGPA and % marks will not be acceptable.

2.        There will be no rounding-off of the OGPA/percentage of marks of qualifying examination while deciding the basic eligibility of any candidate for admission e.g. if a candidate obtains 49.99% marks in his/her qualifying examination, then it will not be rounded-off to 50%.

The candidate is not required to give any option for Agricultural Universities for admission at the time of filling up Online Application Form. The admission/allotment of seat will be made through online counselling on the basis of Subject opted by him/her at the time of filling Online Application and depending upon the availability of seat at his/her merit-rank in the
opted Subject and fulfillment of other eligibility requirements.

The candidates are advised to retain:
(i) Computer generated confirmation page of online application
(ii) 3 identical copies of recent passport size colour photographs (with name and date) same as uploaded on the Online Application Form
(iii) Copy of proof of payment of application fee

Candidates are required to fill in the online Application Form and note down the system generated Application Number. The second last step of ICAR JRF/SRF application form is upload of the scanned documents required.

Here appliacants need to Upload scanned images of Candidate’s Photograph (file size: 10 kb - 200 kb) Candidate’s Signature (file size: 4kb – 30kb)and candidate’s thumb impression (between 3 kb to 30 kb) in JPG format.

The final submission of Online Application Form will remain incomplete if Step-2 and Step-3 are not completed. Such forms will stand rejected and no correspondence on this account will be entertained. No request for refund of fee once remitted by the candidate will be entertained by NTA under any circumstances. There is no provision to upload any certificate/marks sheet etc., with the application.

Application Form may be submitted in three simple steps:
Step 1 Apply for Online Registration using unique Email ID and Mobile No.
Step 2 Fill in the Online Application Form and note down the system generated Application No. Upload scanned images of Candidate’s Photograph (file size: 10 kb - 200 kb) Candidate’s Signature (file size: 4kb – 30kb)and candidate’s thumb
impression(between 3 kb to 30 kb) in JPG format.
Step 3 Pay fee using SBI/ICICI Bank Payment Gateway through Debit Card/ Credit Card/ NetBanking/UPI(Annexure-V) and keep proof of fee paid. In case the Confirmation Page is not generated after payment of fee then the transaction is cancelled, and amount will be refunded to the candidate’s account. However, the candidate has to make another transaction, in case the Confirmation Page is not generated.

Instructionsto be followed while Applying
1. Candidates must be careful while entering their e-mail address and phone number in the Application Form, because this email address and phone number may be used by the NTA and ICAR for future communication.
2. A candidate can apply for writing the examination in only one Subject.
3. The candidate is required to give the option of degree programme (Subject) for admission at the time of filling Online Application Form as his/her merit will be drawn in the Subject opted by him/her. No change in the opted Subject would be allowed thereafter.
4. The candidate is not required to give any option for Agricultural Universities for admission at the time of filling up Online Application Form. The admission/allotment of seat will be madethrough online counselling on the basis of Subject opted by him/her at the time of filling Online Application and depending upon the availability of seat at his/her merit-rank in the
opted Subject and fulfillment of other eligibility requirements.
5. The reservation category being claimed by the candidate must be filled in correctly. Selection
should be made as under:
SC- for Scheduled Caste
ST- for Scheduled Tribe
PwBD - for Persons with Benchmark Disability
UPS - for Under Privileged States
EWS - for Economically Weaker Sections
OBC (NCL) - for Other Backward Classes having Central OBC certificate
GEN - for General/Unreserved category
In case of leaving the reservation category column blank, the candidate would be considered under General Category.

Candidates are not allowed to carry any textual material, Calculators, Docu Pen, Slide Rules, Log Tables and Electronic Watches with facilities of calculator, printed or written material, bitsof papers, mobile phone, Blue-tooth devices, pager or any other electronic gadget/ device etc.
• The candidates are prohibited to bring any kind of electronic gadgets/device in the examination room/hall.
• If any candidate is in possession of any of the above item, the same will be seized, his/her candidature treated as unfair means and this will lead to cancellation of his/her current examination besides debarring him/her from appearing in future examination (s).
• Smoking, chewing gutka, spitting etc. in the Examination Room/Hall is strictly prohibited.
• Instrument/Geometry/Pencil box, Handbag, Purse, Any kind of Paper/ Stationery,  Eatables/snacks and Tea/coffee/cold drinks/Water (loose or packed), Mobile Phone/ Ear Phone/Microphone/Pager, Calculator, Camera, Tape Recorder, any metallic item or electronic gadgets etc. are NOT allowed in the examination Room/Hall.

The candidate must show, on demand, the Admit Card downloaded/printed from the NTA website for admission in the examination room/hall. The Test Centre Staff on duty is authorized to verify the identity of candidates and may take steps to verify and confirm the identify credentials. Candidates are requested to extend their full cooperation. A candidate who does not possess the valid Admit Card shall not be permitted for the examination under any circumstances by the Centre Superintendent Candidates should find and sit on their allocated seat only. Any candidate found to have changed room/hall or the seat on his/her own other than allotted would be considered as a case of Unfair Means and the candidature shall be cancelled and no plea would be accepted.

Candidates MUST bring the following documents on the day of examination at the test centre. Candidates who will not bring these will not be allowed to appear in the examination.
I. Print copy of Admit Card downloaded from NTA website
II. One passportsize photograph (same as uploaded on the Online Application Form) for pasting on the specific space in the attendance sheet at the Centre during the Examination
III. Any one of the authorized Govt photo IDs (original, valid and non-expired), viz. PAN card/ Driving License/ Voter ID/ Passport/ Aadhaar Card (With photograph)/ Aadhaar Enrolment No/ Ration Card
IV. PwBD certificate issued by the Competent Authority, if claiming the relaxation under PwBD category

The exam conducting authority National Testing Agency (NTA) has not released the official notification yet. The dates releated to release of application form, admit card, exam date, answer key and result will be mentioned in the official brochure only. 

As per previous year trend the ICAR AICE JRF/SRF 2024, admit card can be released tentatively by first week of June 2024 in online mode. 

Candidate may please note that Admit Cards will not be sent by post. In no case, the duplicate Admit Card for AICE-JRF/SRF (Ph.D.)-2024 would be issued at the Examination Centres.
Candidate must not mutilate the Admit Card or change any entry made therein. Candidates are advised to preserve their Admit Cards in good condition for future reference and verification during Counseling.
No Admit Card shall be issued to the candidates whose Applications are found to be incomplete for any reasons (including indistinct/ doubtful photographs/unsigned Applications. Issue of Admit Cards, however, shall not necessarily mean acceptance of eligibility which shall be further scrutinized at subsequent stages of admission process

In case of any discrepancy in the particulars of the candidate or his/her photograph and signatures shown in the Admit Card and Confirmation Page, the candidate may immediately approach the Help Line between 10:00 am and 5:00 pm. In such cases, candidates would appear in the examination with the already downloaded Admit Card. However, NTA will take necessary
action to make correction in the record later

If the AICE-JRF/SRF (Ph.D.) is conducted in more than one Session Shifts, the following procedure will be followed in ensuring equivalency in the difficulty level : -
(i) Raw marks obtained by the candidates in different shifts/sessions will be converted to NTA Score (percentile).

(ii) In case a subject test is conducted in multi-shifts, NTA Score will be calculated corresponding to the raw marks obtained by a candidate. The calculated NTA Score for the Raw Marks for all the shifts/sessions will be merged for further processing for
deciding the allocation.

(iii) In the events of the percentilesforthe multi-shifts being dissimilar/ unequal, the lowest will be the eligibility cut-off for that category for all candidates (i.e. all shifts). For Example: In an the examination held in two shifts, if the 40% marks correspond to a
Percentile score of 78 in Shift 1 and 79 in Shift 2, then all those equal to or above 78 percentiles (Percentile score of 100 to 78) in both shifts will become eligible in General Category. Similar method will be adopted for the other categories to determine
eligibility cut-offs. In case the examination is held in more number of shifts the same principle shall apply.

Overall Merit/Rank List will be prepared by ICAR separately for every major Subject. In the event of candidates getting equal marks in the Entrance Examination, relative/inter se Merit will be determined in the following order:
(i) the candidate scoring less negative marks will be rated higher in merit.
(ii) the candidate higher in age would be rated higherin merit.
(iii) the candidate with higher score in Bachelor’s/UG examination would be rated higher in merit.

No representation for re-evaluation/re-checking of answer scripts shall be entertained after the declaration of results, as candidates are given opportunity to evaluate their own recorded responses and to submit challenge to discrepancy (if any), before the finalization of final answer keys and declaration of the result.