Hello Avishek,

Yes, you are eligible to sit in the UGC NET exam.

The eligibility criteria for UGC NET exam are:

1- Candidates who have secured at least 55% marks (without rounding off) in Master's Degree or ewuivalent examination from Universities / Institutions recognised be UGC in Humanities (including languages) and Social Science, Computer Science & Application, Electronic Science, etc. are eligible for this test. The Other Backward Classes (OBC) belonging to non-creamy layer/ Scheduled Caste (SC)/ Scheduled Tribe (ST)/ persons with disability category candidates who have secured at least 50% marks (without rounding off) in Master's Degree or equivalent examination are eligible for this Test.

2-Candidates who are pursuing their Master's degree or equivalent course or candidates who have appeared for their qualifying Master's degree(final year) examination and whose result is still awaited may also apply for this test.

3-Candidates belonging to the third gender would be eligible to draw the same relaxation in fee, age and qualifying criteria for NET as are available to SC/ST/PwD categories.

4-The Ph.D. degree holders whose Master's level examination had been completed by 19th September 1991 shall be eligible for a relaxation of 5% in aggregate marks for appearing in NET.

5-Candidates are advised to appear in the subject of their post graduation only. The candidates whose subject is not covered in the list of subjects may appear in a related subject.

6-Candidates having post-graduation diploma/certificate awarded by Indian University/ Institute or foreign degree/diploma/certificate awarded by foreign University/ Institute should in their own interest, ascertain the equivalence of their diploma/degree/certificatewith Master's degree of recognized universities from Association of Indian Universities, New Delhi.

So here you can clearly see that any Master's degree that is approved by UGC is a valid degree and all the degree's given by IGNOU are recognized by UGC. So you are eligible to sit in the exam of UGC NET provided you fulfill the other criterias.

Some of the good books that will help you in your preparation are:

1- Arihant

2-Trueman

3- K V S Madaan

Apart from preparing from these books prepare your own notes while studying which will help you lot when your exams are near. Please practice the last 10 years question paper and try to be updated with thw current affairs. Join some standard test series so that you are familiar with the exam pattern and have a good idea of the level of question that would be present in the exam. Always be positive while preparation and be focused. Finally what matters is your hard work and dedication which will lead you to the path of success.

Best of luck