No, you need Masters degree with minimum 55% aggregate score for General Category, and 5% relaxation applicable for reserved category.

UGC NET certificate is valid for the lifetime, and for JRF it is 4 years (changed in 2022). If you appear for another UGC NET exam in the same subject, and you failed to qualify then your previous UGC NET certificate will remain valid. And if you crack the next UGC NET exam with better score than previous then again both will be valid. However, it will depend on you to use whichever UGC NET certificates at the time for application of assistant professor job.

Regarding the recent addition for PhD admission qualification, we can say that new rules often are not applied in retrospective manner. But there is no clarity on this, so it is better you take this up with UGC at ugcnet@nta.ac.in.

Also, according to the new changes in UGC NET rules, NET scores will be considered for PhD admission within one year only. Since I already qualified NET before these rules were changed, how does it apply to me? Could you give a brief overview?

Yes, as per the latest UGC NET June 2024 Notification new category has been introduced for PhD admissions only.

If anyone qualifies in one of the three categories then he/she will be eligible for PhD admissions. But the UGC NET scores for PhD will be valid for one year only. Moreover, for the PhD admissions you will still need to appear for interview or viva-voce.

It is not clearly mentioned that students who qualified in December or June last year will be eligible for PhD admissions. Moreover, it is unlikely that this new change may be applied retrospectively.

But for the final confirmation, you must email your concern to NTA UGC at ugcnet@nta.ac.in for more clarity on this.