NABARD Grade A 2021: Eligibility and Exam Pattern

Naquiya Nadeem

3 years ago

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has released an official notification for a number of posts for Assistant Manager in Grade ‘A’. A total of 155 vacancies have been announced for Grade ‘A’ posts. The notification, released on July 16, 2021, outlines the number of vacancies for the posts and eligibility criteria for each.

In case you have not applied for the exam yet, it would be wise to take a look at the detailed eligibility criteria so that you are abreast with the requirements before you apply.

Important Points to Remember

Before we discuss more details about eligibility criteria for this exam, there are a few points you should make note of.

A new subject on “Decision Making” has been introduced in the Preliminary paper.
A new change has been introduced this year. The Prelims paper will be divided into 2 sections: Qualifying and Merit.
The qualifying sections will include the subjects Reasoning, English Language, Decision Making, Computer Knowledge, and Quantitative Aptitude.
The merit section will assess General Awareness, Economic & Social Issues and Agriculture & Rural Development with special emphasis on Rural India.

NABARD Grade A 2021 Eligibility Criteria

Age Criteria

Take a look at the table below to learn about the age and educational requirements for this exam.

	Assistant Manager (RDBS)	Assistant Manager (Rajbhasha Service)	Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security Service)
Age Criteria	The candidate must be between 21 and 30 years of age	The candidate must be between 21 and 30 years of age	Between 25 and 40 Years

Please note:

There is no age relaxation for any category for AM (Protocol & Security Services).
Candidates born on and after 02.07.1981 and on or before 01-07-1996 are eligible to apply.

Educational Requirements

Let us look at the educational requirements and work experience (if any) required for all the posts in detail in the table below.

	Post	Educational Requirement
I.	Assistant Manager (RDBS)	The educational criteria for each post (General and Specialist) has been given below.
i.	General	Bachelor’s Degree in any subject from a recognized University with minimum of aggregate of 60%
ii.	Agriculture	Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture with minimum aggregate of 60%
iii.	Agriculture Engineering	Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture Engineering with minimum aggregate of 60%
iv.	Animal Husbandry	Bachelor’s Degree in Veterinary Sciences / Animal Husbandry from any recognized University with minimum aggregate of 60%
v.	Fisheries	Bachelor’s degree in Fisheries Science from a recognized University/Institution with minimum aggregate of 60%
vi.	Forestry	Bachelor’s degree in Forestry from a recognized University/Institution with 60% marks
vii.	Plantation/ Horticulture	Bachelor’s Degree in Horticulture from any recognized University with minimum aggregate of 60%
viii.	Land Development-Soil Science	Bachelor’s Degree in Agriculture / Agriculture (Soil Science/Agronomy) with minimum aggregate of 60%
ix.	Water Resources	Bachelor’s degree in Hydrology/Applied Hydrology or Geology/Applied Geology with Page \| 8 Hydrogeology /Irrigation /Water Supply & sanitation as one of the subjects with minimum aggregate of 60%
x.	Finance	BBA (Finance/Banking) / BMS (Finance/Banking) with minimum aggregate of 60%
xi.	Computer and Information Technology	Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science/ Computer Technology/ Computer Applications/Information Technology with minimum aggregate of 60%
II.	Assistant Manager in Grade ‘A’ (RAJBHASHA)	Bachelor’s Degree from a recognized university in English or Hindi medium with Hindi and English as a compulsory or elective subject with a minimum of 60% marks. PG Diploma in Translation (minimum one year) in Hindi to English and vice-versa from any recognized University.Candidates must have studied English and Hindi as subjects in at least 02 years of bachelor’s degree course. OR Master’s Degree in HINDI with a minimum of 60% marks. OR, Master’s Degree in ENGLISH with a minimum of 60% marks. Candidates must have studied Hindi as a main/elective subject in at least 02 years of bachelor’s degree course. Candidates must be able to translate from English to Hindi and vice/versa.
III.	Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security Service)	Experience (as on 01-07-2021): He / She should be an Officer with a minimum of five years’ of Commissioned Service in the Army/Navy/Air Force holding a valid ExServiceman Identity Card.

You must read the entire NABARD Grade A 2021 Notification in detail to understand every minor requirement and to ensure you are eligible before you apply. Providing any misinformation or incorrectly filling up your form can cost you dearly.

NABARD Grade A 2021 Exam Pattern

The exam pattern for the NABARD Grade ‘A’ Assistant Manager (RDBS & Rajbhasha) 2021 has been provided below. However, before we begin you should take a look at the complete NABARD Grade A 2021 syllabus. The exam will be conducted in 3 phases as follows:

Prelims
Mains
Interview

Phase 1

The NABARD Grade A Preliminary Exam pattern is the same as NABARD Grade B Exam Pattern. There are 8 subjects assessed in the Preliminary examination. The entire paper will be for 200 marks and the total time allotted is 120 minutes. There is no sectional timing.

Name of Subject	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks
Reasoning	20	20
English Language	30	30
Computer Knowledge	20	20
Quantitative Aptitude	20	20
Decision Making	10	10
General Awareness	20	20
Economic & Social Issues (ESI)	40	40
Agriculture & Rural Development (ARD)	40	40
Total	200	200

Please note:

The test can be taken in either Hindi or English except for the English Language paper.
For ESI and ARD, the focus of the syllabus is on Rural India.
There will be a negative marking of 1/4^th mark for every wrong answer (applicable in Phase 2 as well).
The marks obtained in the sections of Reasoning, English Language, Computer Knowledge, Quantitative Aptitude, Decision Making are only qualifying in nature.
Candidates will be shortlisted for the next round based on their performance in the merit section. The subjects included in this section are General Awareness, ESI and ARD.

Phase 2

	NABARD Grade A	No. of Questions	Maximum Marks	Time allotted
Paper 1	For all posts/disciplines- Descriptive English (Writing Skills)	30	100	90 minutes
Paper 2 (AM RDBS Generalist)	Economic and Social Issues (ESI) and Agriculture and Rural Development (ARD)	Objective- 30 Descriptive- 6	Objective- 50 Descriptive- 50	Objective- 30 minutes Descriptive- 90 minutes

Phase 3

The Interview will be conducted for 50 marks.

Please note:

For all the Specialist posts for RDBS and Rajbhasha posts, Paper 2 in Phase 2 will be specific to the relevant field.
Earlier, the Interview was conducted for 25 marks. As of this year, more weightage has been allotted to the Interview Round.
The selection of candidates for provisional allotment will be based on their combined performance in the Phase-II Main Examination and Interview.
For the Assistant Manager (Protocol & Security Service) there is only 1 interview round for 100 marks. There is no written examination.

Now that the NABARD Grade A & B notifications 2021 have been announced, we hope you have begun your preparation in full swing. At ixamBee, you can find all the study material that you need to ace the exam in our NABARD Grade A Online Course. Moreover, we have separate courses for the specialist posts as well. Take a look at the image below or head on to our website to learn more. Aside from these courses, we have a range of NABARD Grade A free mock tests and previous years’ question papers that you can make use of at any time for free.

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