How to Prepare for NABARD Grade A and Grade B Examination 2019

logo Recruitment 2019

This Post is compilation and edited version of all my previous posts about NABARD Exam Preparation .

I will try to edit it again to make it more relevant for exam.

Pattern & Syllabus for NABARD Grade A

Pattern of Prelim Examination is as Follow :-

Objective Type: MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) carrying 200 marks.
Duration: 120 Minutes Composite Time
i) Test of Reasoning – – 20 questions – 20 marks
ii) English Language – – 40 questions – 40 marks
iii) Computer Knowledge – 20 questions – 20 marks
iv) General Awareness – 20 questions – 20 marks
v) Quantitative Aptitude – 20 questions – 20 marks
vi) Economic & Social Issues (with focus on Rural India) – 40 questions – 40 marks
vii) Agriculture & Rural Development (with focus on Rural India) – 40 questions- 40 marks
Total Marks : 200

Pattern of Mains Examination is as Follow :-

Phase II – Main Examination will be online and will be a mix of MCQ and descriptive
pattern.
Paper-I – General English: (Descriptive – online through key board)
The paper will have descriptive questions carrying 100 marks.
Duration: 1 ½ hrs
The analytical and drafting abilities of the candidate shall be assessed through the Descriptive
Paper on General English comprising essay writing, comprehension, report writing, paragraph 

writing & letter writing. Essay (40 Marks), Precis (20 Marks), Questions on the Precis para (20
Marks), Report / Letter Writing (20 Marks).
Paper–II (MCQ): i) for posts as at (i) in Table I – Economic & Social Issues and
Agriculture & Rural Development (with focus on rural India)
ii) for posts as at (ii) to (x) in Table I : Paper on related discipline
Duration: 1 ½ hrs. – 100 Marks

For Paper I of Mains which is common to both Generalist and Specialist English Syllabus is as Follow :-

Paper I – English: Essay, Précis writing, Comprehension and Business/Office
Correspondence. The paper on English shall be framed in a manner to assess the writing
skills including expressions and understanding the topic.

For Paper II of generalist in mains and 80 marks in Prelim following is the syllabus for Economy ,Social issues , Agriculture , Rural Development .

 Economic & Social Issues: Nature of Indian Economy – Structural and Institutional features –
Economic underdevelopment – Opening up the Indian Economy – Globalisation – Economic
Reforms in India – Privatisation. Inflation – Trends in Inflation & their Impact on National
Economy and Individual Income. Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation in India –
Rural and Urban – Measurement of Poverty – Poverty Alleviation Programmes of the
Government. Population Trends – Population Growth and Economic Development –
Population Policy in India. Agriculture – Characteristics / Status – Technical and Institutional
changes in Indian Agriculture – Agricultural performance – Issues in Food Security in India –
Non Institutional and Institutional Agencies in rural credit. Industry – Industrial and Labour
Policy – Industrial performance – Regional Imbalance in India’s Industrial Development – Public
Sector Enterprises. Rural banking and financial institutions in India – Reforms in Banking/
Financial sector. Globalisation of Economy – Role of International Funding Institutions – IMF &
World Bank – WTO – Regional Economic Co-operation. Social Structure in India –
Multiculturalism – Demographic trends – Urbanisation and Migration – Gender Issues Joint
family system – Social Infrastructure – Education – Health and Environment. Education – Status
& System of Education – Socio -Economic Problems associated with Illiteracy – Educational
relevance and educational wastage – Educational Policy for India. Social Justice: Problems of
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes – socio-economic programmes for scheduled castes
and scheduled tribes and other backward classes. Positive Discrimination in favour of the
under privileged – Social Movements – Indian Political Systems – Human Development.
Current Economic & Social Issues.

Agriculture & Rural Development:
Agriculture: definition, meaning and its branches, Agronomy: definition, meaning and scope
of agronomy. Classification of field crops. Factors affecting on crop production, Agro Climatic
Zones; Cropping Systems: Definition and types of cropping systems. Problems of dry land
agriculture; Seed production, seed processing, seed village; Meteorology: weather
parameters, crop-weather advisory; Precision Farming, System of Crop Intensification,
organic farming;
a) 
Soil and Water Conservation : Major soil types, soil fertility, fertilisers, soil erosion,
soil conservation, watershed management;

b) Water Resource: Irrigation Management: types of irrigation, sources of irrigation,
crop-water requirement, command area development, water conservation
techniques, micro-irrigation, irrigation pumps, major, medium and minor irrigation.
c) 
Farm and Agri Engineering : Farm Machinery and Power, Sources of power on the
farm- human, animal, mechanical, electrical, wind, solar and biomass, bio fuels,
water harvesting structures, farm ponds, watershed management, Agro Processing,
Controlled and modified storage, perishable food storage, godowns, bins and grain
silos.
d) 
Plantation & Horticulture: Definition, meaning and its branches. Agronomic
practices and production technology of various plantation and horticulture crops.
Post-harvest management, value and supply chain management of Plantation and
Horticulture crops.
e) 
Animal Husbandry: Farm animals and their role in Indian economy, Animal husbandry
methods in India, common terms pertaining to different species of livestock, Utility
classification of breeds of cattle. Introduction to common feeds and fodders, their
classification and utility.
Introduction to poultry industry in India (past, present and future status), Common
terms pertaining to poultry production and management. Concept of mixed farming
and its relevance to socio-economic conditions of farmers in India. Complimentary
and obligatory nature of livestock and poultry production with that of agricultural
farming.
f) 
Fisheries: Fisheries resources, management and exploitation – freshwater, brackish
water and marine; Aquaculture- Inland and marine; biotechnology; post-harvest
technology. Importance of fisheries in India. Common terms pertaining to fish
production.
g) 
ForestryBasic concepts of Forest and Forestry. Principles of silviculture, forest
mensuration, forest management and forest economics. Concepts of social forestry,
agroforestry, joint forest management. Forest policy and legislation in India, India
State of Forest Report 2015. Recent developments under Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change.
h) 
Agriculture Extensions: Its importance and role, methods of evaluation of extension
programmes, Role of Krishi Vigyan Kendra’s (KVK) in dissemination of Agricultural
technologies.
i) 
Ecology and Climate Change: Ecology and its relevance to man, natural resources,
their sustainable management and conservation. Causes of climate change, Green
House Gases (GHG), major GHG emitting countries, climate analysis, distinguish
between adaptation and mitigation, climate change impact to agriculture and rural
livelihood, carbon credit, IPCC, UNFCCC, CoP meetings, funding mechanisms for
climate change projects, initiatives by Govt of India, NAPCC, SAPCC, INDC.
j) Present Scenario of Indian Agriculture and Allied activities; recent trends, major
challenges in agriculture measures to enhance viability of agriculture. Factors of
Production in agriculture; Agricultural Finance and Marketing; Impact of
  Globalisation on Indian Agriculture and issues of Food Security; Concept and Types of Farm Management.
Rural Development: Concept of Rural Area, Structure of the Indian Rural Economy Importance and role of the rural sector in India- Economic, Social and Demographic
Characteristics of the Indian rural economy, causes of rural backwardness.
Rural population in India; Occupational structure, Farmers, Agricultural Labourers, Artisans,
Handicrafts, Traders, Forest dwellers/tribes and others in rural India- Trends of change in rural
population and rural work force; problems and conditions of rural labour; Issues and
challenges in Handlooms
Panchayati Raj Institutions – Functions and Working. MGNREGA, NRLM – Aajeevika, Rural
Drinking water Programmes, Swachh Bharat, Rural Housing, PURA and other rural
development programmes.

It covers almost 95% syllabus and 95% questions most probably will be covered from these sources :-
moreover these are basics you need to prepare it well to move further :-Save This Post will keep updating this 🙂 #NABARD
Topics or sources you must read/prepare .
1.Economic Survey 2018-19 Probably it will be available in by June end
2.Interim Budget 2019-20 and Full Budget if presented before prelim and mains
3.Social Economic Census 2011 Highlights (search google )
4.Mrunal Lectures on Economy Budget Series this year and previous year’s
note down factual data and terminology discussed by mrunal in videos .
5.NCERTs of economics class 11th and 12th
6.Govt Schemes related to agriculture,rural development and social welfare ( prepare from pib site yearwise review )
search gk today for this ( nothing is better then that )
7.NCERTs chapters of Agriculture class 7th to 10th
8.Basic of agriculture terminology like viticulture sericulture and others
9. Crops, their season , their indigenous varieties .
10. animal varieties and production center technologies related to this field .
11. NABARD flagship programs SHG, JLG , FPO E-Shakti etc
for more agriculture material go here
For Agriculture Specialist Prepare from ICAR Books for your respective stream for PG Admission .
I do not recommend to generalist to prepare agriculture too deeply as cost:benefit ratio is low .
You just need basic knowledge about agriculture .
In prelim there may be tough questions but those are common to all .
Even if you want to prepare agriculture . You may start from ICAR-UG admission help book by any publisher which covers Agriculture .
11. Chapters from India Year Book related to Economy ,Rural development ,welfare dept and agriculture dept .
12. For all other section like English ,maths ,reasoning ,computer and Gk. prepare as you will prepare for any bank PO level exam.
Just Join some Test Series Online or Purchase Offline
Some sources may help you .
computer

Now next question: How to prepare for Economic and Social issues for NABARD Grade A Exam .which books ,material or what strategy one needs to follow .

Factual knowledge which will help you in Paper II or Prelim Paper I .

Conceptual knowledge which will help you in English Paper . which is common to both for both generalist and specialist .

For Economics and Social issues :-

You must start from NCERTs Class 11th and 12th

Class 11th Indian Economic Development  

Class 12th Part I Micro Economics 

 Part II Macro Economics 

and    India People and Economy 

Then Read Chapters of India year Book related to Economy Social Sector as well as Agriculture

  India Year Book  2018

Government Schemes you may read from  GK Today

 GK Today Government Schemes 

Read all four Books then Follow Mrunal’s Previous year’s Budget and Economic Survey series . You may skip parts from this series those are not relevant .

Then Read Economic Survey  and Budget Speech( at least )

Economic Survey and Budget 

For Social Issues you may again start from NCERT

There are two books

1 . Indian Society 

2. Social Changes and development in India 

Then you may read Ram Ahuja Social Problem in India 

But here you need to keep one thing in mind both Economics and Social issues are dynamic issues .you need to read about changes our society and nation is going through .

So you need to read at least one national daily for general coverage and one other for Economic Coverage .

So you must read for  till examination Columns articles and news from these newspapers those are related to you Syllabus .

You may read

Either The Hindu / Indian Express

Economic Times / Business Standard ( here read only about general economics not details of share market etc )

read Socio-Economic census 2011 search Google for this

NABARD Annual report ( read conceptual about issues related to syllabus  not factual data )

 

If even then Time allows you may read

Yojna & Kurukshetra   ( 6 issues till examination )

You also need to prepare for Environment issues as mentioned in Syllabus for that you may read

Shankar IAS Environment  ( read only specific topics given )

Focus on Syllabus of 120 marks . Prepare Computer which is easiest section ( Try to score cent percent from here )

work on English Comprehension get used to language of  Economics terminology of Banking etc . You will probably two comprehensions these will be directly related to topics of syllabus .Other Topics to focus here should error identification and cloze Test .

This will be of about 30 marks .

In reasoning prepare Puzzles, blood relation , inequality ,syllogism and series .

In math prepare series ,quadratic equation   ,STD ,Profit Loss, Diagram based question .

in GK :- 9 month and factual type GK they used to ask in Banking Exam .

Try to get at least 90 marks from 120 .

As there is time and most part of paper is not time consuming I think you may solve full paper in 2 hours including all questions of Maths and reasoning .

Now come to Prelim ESI and Agriculture :-

In prelim both these section will be factual based questions .

Previous yeat question Papers are not available for NABARD as exam were online . Only memory based questions are available .

Type of Questions asked in previous prelim Exam of NABARD are as follow :-

  1. Institute (IRRI) as a part of the South Asia Regional Centre situated on the campus of National Seed Research and Training Centre (NSRTC) in – Varanasi
  2. China naval base in Africa is located at – Djibouti
  3. At present the authorised capital of NABARD is Rs 5,000 crore and there is a proposal to increase it to – Rs 30,000 crore
  4. Inter-governmental body responsible for promoting and protecting human rights around the world – United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)
  5. World Food Summit 2017 will be held in – New Delhi
  6. Full form of PLSS – Public Land Survey System
  7. Budget allocation amount for Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana is  – Rs 9000 crore
  8. India’s rank in 2017 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Index – 116
  9. Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana will benefit youth of India and make them the most employable and with better skill sets by the year  – 2022
  10. Indian Institute of Liver and Digestive Sciences – West Bengal
  11. India largest commodity exchange – MCX
  12. Function of IMF – To maintain Balance of Payments (BoP)
  13. FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization ) Headquarter – Rome, Italy
  14. NFSM Full Form – National Food Security Mission
  15. First Agricultural University in India- G. B. Pant University
  16. PM Mudra Yojana is associated with– MSME sector
  17. Which of the following is not a part of World Bank Group? – BIS(Bank for International Settlements)
  18. For Horticultural crops the  premium paid by farmers  – 5%
  19. The government linked how many wholesale mandis in India with the electronic national agriculture market (e-NAM) to ensure that farmers get better rates for their produce AM(National Agriculture Market) – 585
  20. SDG target year – 2030
  21. Base year was  changed in the year – 2011-2012
  22. As per Economic survey, The Indian economy is projected to grow  in 2017-18– 6.75 to 7.5 per cent
  23. In ‘ELSS’, ‘E’ stand for- Equity
  24. Agriculture growth in the year 2015-16 – 1.2%
  25. FDI in India in the year 2016 to touch – 46 billion USD
  26. UBI Full Form – Universal Basic Income
  27. ICAR founded in the year-1929
  28. Swaranjayanti Yojana renamed to NRLM in which year?-2011
  29. The premium rate for Rabi Crop for the year 2016-1.5%
  30. The optimum temperature for rice cultivation is between-  25°C and 35°C
  31. As per NABARD, Loan Repayment period for Poultry Broiler Farming is –6 to 8 years

In Agriculture Section of Prelim Question asked were tough ( as paper was same for Specialist and generalist )

Questions like Depth of Tiling , , Amount of N in Kg of Nitrogen 100kg . Similar question about Potassium .

these questions according to me were for Specialist you need to  answer here only question like Aurobindi is variety of which crop  ,Soil having highest clay %,Crops in different climate like tropics and subtropics . and above type of questions .

So here is Guide for these two sections :

Deep factual study for ESI from current and static portion .

Only Basic factual study of Agriculture

By this way you will be able to answer at least 60 questions out of 80 question of these two sections .

So you will able to attempt 150 out of 200 . which is good enough attempt to clear prelim out of 200 .

For Mains :-

In mains question will be paragraph based for ESI like this :-

Read the following passage and answer the given questions:
Data released earlier this year revealed a landmark event for the Indian economy that
went largely unnoticed: agricultural workers now comprise less than half the workforce
for the first time in the history of the Indian economy and its contribution to GDP is
less than 14 percent. However in recent years even as the non-agricultural economy
remains weak, overall growth has been propped up to the extent it has by the growth
of the overall rural economy. And while within the rural economy itself, non-farm
activities are becoming increasingly significant, close to two or three workers depend
on agriculture for an important part of their income. Lower production from earlier
years, higher cultivation costs and weaker yields bode ill for farm incomes and by
extension for the rural economy as a whole. If rural incomes are hit, there could be
bigger demand for work under the rural employment guarantee scheme. Though there
is a government proposal to restrict MGNREGA to tribal districts only, if farm incomes
remain weak this feeds into the rest of the economy and the intention of the
government to see this policy through could well be tested.
Q. 1. What do the statistics regarding the agricultural sector cited in the passage indicate?
(1) Farm incomes are likely to be hit by low global commodity prices and weak or
stagnant production
(2) Overall agricultural output will fall significantly this year despite sustained
government assistance
(3) Factors such as a weak monsoon have resulted in an agricultural deficit
(4) The agricultural sector is very important to the economy despite its falling
contribution to India’s GDP
(5) Agriculture must employ more workforce

. Which of the following is a welcome development?
(1) Bigger demand for work under rural employment guarantee scheme

(2) Non-agricultural economy remaining weak
(3) Agriculture workforce becoming less than half of the total workforce
(4) Higher cultivation costs
(5) Restricting MGNREGA to tribal district
Q.3. Which of the following best defines MGNREGA?
(1) Guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment to a rural household
(2) Guarantee for a minimum price for agriculture yields in rural areas
(3) Guaranteeing crop assurance and minimum price for agriculture yields in rural
areas
(4) Guaranteeing crop assurance and minimum price for agriculture yields in tribal
areas
(5) Guaranteed regular employment of one adult member in rural areas in a farm or
non-farm sector
Q.4-5. Read the following paragraph and answer the given questions.
The resettlement home, where Velayudhan’s mother was admitted, has limited
facilities with one physically challenged old doctor to attend around 200 inmates.
There are some nurses deputed by the People’s Council for Social Justice, a not-forprofit
organization. The care-home lacks proper provisions, medicines and
accessories like bed sheets and cleaning materials.
The condition of Velayudhan and his mother suggests a big gap in the muchacclaimed
decentralized anti-poverty programmes of the state and local selfgovernments
(LSG), said noted economist Prof K K George. “There is a need to go
beyond the BPL and APL categorization. What we need is a micro-level intervention
to identify the individual disabilities among the poor and the rich,” he said.
Q.4. What is meant by APL?
(1) After Poverty Limit (2) Above Poverty Line (3) Above Poverty Limit
(4) At Poverty Line (5) Other than those given as options
Q.5. Why do we need to ‘go beyond the BPL and APL categorization’?
(1) We need to provide benefits of anti-poverty programmes to all BPL and APL
population
(2) We need to identify only individual disabilities and categorise them to get the
benefit of anti-poverty programme
(3) We need to consider individual disabilities to categorise them to get the benefit
of anti-poverty programme
(4) Anti-poverty intervention is needed by both BPL and APL and rich
(5) Micro-level intervention is required by local self-governments

7. Read the following paragraph and answer the given questions.
The Eighth Five Year Plan (1992-97), was launched keeping in mind the necessity implementing measures for stabilization and structural adjustment subsequent to the
Balance of Payments (BOP) crisis of 1991. The Plan took into account the changes
that were to be expected in the economy on account of the adoption of these reform
measures, while keeping in mind the poor performance of the economy in the base
year,1991-92. In the base year the rate of inflation was in double digits, while the
overall growth rate of GDP for that year was negligible.
Q.6. What is the unit of measurement of GDP?
(1) Percentage or proportion
(2) Absolute numberof goods and services
(3) Monetary terms (Rupees, Dollars etc.)
(4) Absolute number per capita
(5) Other than those given as options
Q.7. What is the role of Five Year Plans in India?
(1) To control GDP and BOP only
(2) To plan for overall development of different production sectors
(3) To plan for overall development of different production sectors as well as
human development
(4) To plan for overall development of the country and approve budgetary allocation
(5) To plan for overall agricultural development of the country and allocate
resources
Q.8. According to Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) exercise that started in
2011 the total number of households in India are around _____.
(1) 17.39 crore
(2) 19.39 crore
(3) 21.39 crore
(4) 24.39 crore
(5) 27.39 crore
Q.9. Which of the following types of initiatives by the Government cannot be classified as
an anti poverty programme?
(1) Urban poverty alleviation programme
(2) Castes based reservation in jobs
(3) Self-employment programmes
(4) Social Security programmes
(5) Wage employment programme

Scheme of this Exam will be like this
scheme

One Mark Question will be similar to prelim but toughness and factual type here will be less .Agriculture Question will also be basic .

More info you may download From Here  

Last year in English were

Long Term Measure to tackle flood during monsoon .

How Crop Insurance would benefit farmers

Should summer vacation done away with ? what can be done to make it more productive ?

Are we losing moral and social values .

Challenges in providing healthcare in rural communities

Letter were to Bank Manager about lost of ATM Card ,

to newspaper / someone known about benefit of govt schemes like Fasal Bima Yojna etc

Paragraph and precis was on Foreign Policy

To prepare this paper write daily on one topic from newpaper/ economic survey / syllabus .

you may write alternatively an Essay / application/ letter .

try to write precis on any article given in newspaper .

 

in ESI

paragraphs on

Population Cycle like initially we had low high birth rate and hight death rate .

Paragraph on PM Aadarsh Gram Yojna

One paragraph on IMF

One Paragraph on WTO

for source of these topics you may read newspaper pib.nic.in and other reports like Eco Survey .

other questions those were asked

UNESCO education fair related like No of Countries participated .

Most abundant  type of Soil in India

Question on 2nd green revolution

Soil Health Card

Farmer’s Income Target year

Lead bank Launch year

Loan for machinery

HDI Indicator

Man can produce how much HP

Depth of ploughing for deep rooted crops .

read about BG of topic in news related to syllabus .

for e.g if you are reading about MGNREGA ( you must know about when it was started , how many days employment it provide , any recent change in it )

that is the best way to prepare this section .

along with static type of questions you prepared for prelims .

Anything else you want to know you may ask in Comment section .

or ask on channel on https://t.me/Ias_Aspirant007

or my website :- jagtarmalwa.com

or FB group https://www.facebook.com/groups/jagtar.malwa

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