20 Per Cent of Agricultural University Seats to Be Filled Through ICAR’s All-India Test

SRINAGAR: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday announced that 20 per cent of undergraduate seats in agricultural universities will be filled through an all-India competitive examination conducted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), resolving what he described as a long-standing concern for agriculture students.

The decision, effective from the 2025–26 academic session, will make admission criteria uniform across states, allowing Class 12 students from Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics or Agriculture backgrounds to apply through the CUET-ICAR national entrance examination. According to the minister, the reform is aimed at ensuring a “direct and transparent” process in line with the spirit of “One Nation–One Agriculture–One Team.”

Chouhan said students had faced hurdles for years due to differing eligibility rules across states and universities, often leaving many qualified candidates unable to secure admission. The issue, recently amplified on social media and raised by state representatives, prompted the minister to instruct ICAR Director General Mangi Lal Jat to coordinate with vice chancellors of agricultural universities for a resolution.

The new arrangement is expected to benefit nearly 3,000 students. Of the 50 agricultural universities providing ICAR quota seats for BSc Agriculture, 42 have already agreed to accept the Agriculture–Biology–Chemistry subject group as eligible, while three more have also recognised Physics–Chemistry–Agriculture as valid. This will open up about 2,700 seats, or 85 per cent of the 3,121 available under the ICAR quota, to agriculture stream students.

Chouhan said discussions with the remaining five universities were under way, with assurances that from 2026–27, they too would include Agriculture in Class 12 as an eligibility criterion, and efforts were being made to implement it even earlier.