The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has directed agricultural universities to include agriculture as a mandatory eligibility subject for admission to B.Sc. (Hons) in agriculture and allied undergraduate courses through online counselling based on candidates’ scores in Common University Entrance Test–Undergraduate (CUET-UG) 2025.
ICAR, which regulates education in agriculture and allied fields, has asked 74 agricultural universities (AUs) to take “corrective steps” after students raised concerns over the ICAR-UG counselling brochure for 2025. The document showed that 27 universities had excluded students from the Agriculture-Biology-Chemistry (ABC) stream from admission to B.Sc. (Hons) in agriculture, 19 had done so for horticulture, and 14 for forestry.
While most science students in Classes 11 and 12 opt for physics-chemistry-mathematics (PCM) or physics-chemistry-biology (PCB), lakhs of students across states such as Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra pursue the agriculture-biology-chemistry (ABC) stream with an aim to pursue UG courses in agriculture and allied sciences.
ICAR will begin the online counselling next week for 6,002 seats under the ICAR quota in 74 agriculture universities across 13 undergraduate courses of four-year durations, with the maximum 3,121 seats in B.Sc. (Hons) agriculture and the minimum 22 seats in B.Sc. (Hons) sericulture.
In a letter ahead of online counselling, ICAR deputy director general (education) JK Jena said many agricultural universities are not giving due importance to candidates with agriculture or inter-agriculture as a subject in Class 12.
{{/usCountry}}In a letter ahead of online counselling, ICAR deputy director general (education) JK Jena said many agricultural universities are not giving due importance to candidates with agriculture or inter-agriculture as a subject in Class 12.
{{/usCountry}}“The inclusiveness of candidates from the states offering agriculture or inter-agriculture in l2th standard needs to be considered in the larger national interest. Therefore, kindly take up the issue and ensure corrective steps in this direction without disturbing the state welfare and creating unnecessary legal hurdles,” he said in a letter dated September 23.
Jena in his letter expressed hope that universities will include agriculture and inter-agriculture as an eligibility subject from this academic session 2025-26.
Students seeking UG admissions have urged ICAR to issue an official notification confirming agriculture as an eligibility subject.
Amit Patel, an aspirant for B.Sc. (Hons) agriculture at PAU Ludhiana, said, “ICAR’s swift action is welcome, it shows they are listening to students’ concerns. However, a permanent notice is needed to safeguard future students.”
Jena told HT that after understanding students’ issues, ICAR asked universities to make Class 12 agriculture students eligible for UG courses.
“In a virtual meeting conducted on Wednesday, we also requested all vice chancellors of universities to send their approval for inclusion of agriculture as an essential subject and some universities have started responding positively,” he added.
Jena said the counselling process for admission will begin latest by Monday. “The payment gateway is being integrated by the bank which will take 2 to 3 days,” he said.
University officials said that they will allow students of ABC science stream to take admission in agricultural courses.
“There was some confusion regarding the eligibility subject but we have received a letter from ICAR and we will include agriculture as an eligible subject for admission to ICAR quota seats,” said Prof Rais Ullah Khan, dean of faculty of agricultural science at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU).