About
Minor Research Projects:
Grants are provided for small-scale, high-quality research in social sciences with theoretical, conceptual, or policy orientation.
1. INTRODUCTION
- The ICSSR-NWRC- NWRC promotes, sponsors and coordinates research in the various domains of Social and Human sciences to cultivate a dynamic ecosystem of advanced research in the country. In line with this, Minor Research Projects are awarded to Indian Social and Human Science researchers, with the aim of contributing to national development by offering evidence-based solutions to present and future challenges in diverse fields.
- The Award of Minor Research Projects for the Financial Year 2025-26 shall be awarded in the following areas of Social and Human Sciences:
Sr. No | Broad Domains | Priority Areas |
1 | Economics / Development Studies | a. Innovations in Agriculture and Rural Development |
2 | Management / Commerce | a. Financial Management |
3 | Sociology / Social Work / Social Anthropology | a. Artificial Intelligence: Socio Impact |
4 | Cultural Studies / Diaspora Studies | a. Digital Humanities |
5 | Socio-Philosophical Studies | a. Indian Philosophical Tradition |
6 | Health Studies | a. AYUSH & Community Medicine |
7 | Political Science | a. E-Governance |
8 | Public Administration | a. Ethical Governance |
9 | Education | a. Digital Learning Technology Integration |
10 | Modern Social History | a. History and Heritage |
11 | Library Science | a. Bibliometric/Scientometric/Webometric Studies |
12 | Language Studies | a. Knowledge Tradition in Indian Languages |
13 | Indian Knowledge Systems | a. Indian Textual and Oral Traditions |
14 | Rural Studies | a. Rural Economy |
15 | Environmental Studies | a. Human-Environment Relationship |
Research Proposals that span across disciplinary boundaries also fall within the areas of the Council’s interest.
2. ELIGIBILITY
- Researchers who are permanently employed or retired as faculty from UGC Recognized Indian Universities/Deemed to be Universities/ Affiliated Colleges/Institutions under (2) F or 12(B), ICSSR-NWRC Research Institutes, ICSSR-NWRC Recognised Institutes and Institutes of National Importance as defined by the Ministry of Education (MoE) are eligible to apply. The research project grant is meant for the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and Chandigarh. The applicants having substantial research experience demonstrable through publications of books / research papers / reports are eligible to apply. The Project Director and Co-Project Director must also hold a Ph.D. Degree.
- In exceptional cases, independent researchers with Ph. D. degrees who are not affiliated permanently with any institution mentioned in Clause 2.1 but have produced at least two sole-author books published by reputed publishers and/or 05 articles in peer-reviewed journals can also be considered as Co-Project Directors. Such scholars will be required to collaborate with a faculty from institutions given in 2.1 above.
- Further, those researchers with Ph.D degrees who are in contractual appointment in academic/research institutions mentioned in Clause 2.1 and have produced at least two sole-author books published by reputed publishers and/or 05 articles in peer-reviewed journals may also apply as Co-Project Directors. In the event of their contract expiry, they may continue as Co-Project Directors until the completion of the project.
- Senior and retired government and defence officers (having not less than 05 years of regular service) possessing a D. degree in any social science discipline and having produced at least two sole- author books published by reputed publishers and/or 05 articles in peer-reviewed journals can also apply as Co-Project Directors, in collaboration with a faculty from institutions given in 2.1 above.
- Non-academic participants/stakeholders/local community may also be part of the research team in the capacity of Key Informant.
3. HOW TO APPLY
- The applications shall be invited through an advertisement on ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre website and shall be promoted through social media platforms of ICSSR-NWRC.
- The applicants are required to submit an online application along with the research proposal, annexures, and other required documents in the prescribed format, duly forwarded by the competent authorities of the affiliating institution. If desired by ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre, hard copies of the same must be submitted within the prescribed date.
- Research proposals and final reports should either be in English or Arial/ Mangal Unicode (Devanagari) font should be used to fill Application form in Hindi.
- Researchers can apply for only one project at a For any ongoing or completed project with the ICSSR-NWRC, the cooling-off period for applying to another project will be one year for the Project Director. The date of cooling period will be calculated from the date of submission of the final report. However, this will not be applicable for minor projects/short-term empirical research projects of duration equal to or less than 12 months. For ICSSR-NWRC Research Institutes, the cooling period will not be applicable.
4. DURATION AND BUDGET
Project | Duration | Budget |
Minor Project | Up to 12 Months | Rs.1.00 lakh |
5. PROCEDURE FOR AWARDS
- The procedure for the award of the projects will be in multiple phases before the declaration of final All applications submitted to the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre will be screened and evaluated by the expert committee following a blind review process. Shortlisted applicants shall be invited for interaction/presentation at ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre (in person or online).
- The expert committee(s) shall make recommendation(s) for award of studies and also suggest the budget for the proposed studies after interaction with the shortlisted applicants.
- The merit list of selected candidates of Projects will be published on the ICSSR-NWRC website or shall be communicated in email.
- Only the selected candidates and their affiliating universities shall be informed individually through a provisional award letter clearly specifying the formalities and documents required for joining the Project.
6. BUDGET AND HEADS OF EXPENDITURE
- The amount will be disbursed in instalments, depending on the funds, phases and duration of the study, as indicated in the Award Letter.
- The detailed budget estimates along with the proportionate Heads of Expenditure for these proposals are to be prepared by the Institute / Project Director / group of Those Project Director(s) who would like to work without Research Personnel, especially under Minor Research Project would make the proportionate Heads of Expenditure for the proposed Budget.
- Allocation of Heads of Expenditure:
- The remuneration for the Research Staff must be according to the ICSSR-NWRC
- The proportionate allocation of expenditure for the budget heads such as Fieldwork (Travel / Logistics / Boarding, Survey Preparation or Consultancy etc.); Equipment and Study material (Computer, Printer, Source Material, Books, Journals, Software, Data Sets etc.), Workshop/Seminar/Publication and Contingency charges etc. shall be as per the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre guidelines given below;
Detailed budget breakup for the proposed allocation | ||
S. No. | Heads of Expenditure | Value (Rs.) |
1. | Field Investigator: Full time/part time/ Hired services | Not exceeding 40% of the total budget |
2. | Field work: Travel / Logistics / Boarding etc. | Not exceeding 35% |
3. | Study material | Not exceeding 10% |
4. | Contingency | Not exceeding 10% |
5. | Institutional overhead charges (Fixed) | 5% |
Grand Total | 100% | |
*The project director may with the permission of the institution re-appropriate expenditure from one sub-head to another subject to a maximum of 10% of the particular budget heads. If the study necessitates re-appropriation beyond 10% it may be done only after the approval of the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
- Affiliating Institutional Overhead Charges @ 5% over and above on the awarded grant of the Minor Project will be released by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre after successful completion of the project.
- Project Staff shall be engaged/appointed as per the rules by the affiliating institution of the Project Director on a full/ part-time basis during the research The duration may be decided by the project director. The consolidated monthly remuneration/emoluments of the project staff must be according to the following guidelines:
Project staff | Monthly Remuneration/ Emoluments | Qualifications |
Field Investigator | Rs. 20, 000/- | Post graduate in social science discipline with minimum 55% marks. |
- Selection of Research Staff should be done through an advertisement published on respective institute’s website and a selection committee, duly approved by the Competent Authority of the institution, consisting of (1) Project Director; (2) One external subject Expert (from outside the institute where the project is located); (3) Dean of the faculty in case of University /Principal in case of college and (4) Head of the Department of the Project Director.
- For all field work related expenses of Project Director, Co-Project Director(s) and project personnel, rules of affiliating institutes/universities shall be applied.
- All equipment and books purchased out of the project fund shall be the property of the affiliating institution, and a detailed stock report duly signed by the Head of the Institute / Registrar / Principal has to be submitted to the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre. However, ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre may ask for books and/ or equipment if it so
7. JOINING AND RELEASE OF GRANTS
- The Project Director has to join the project as per the date of commencement notified by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre by submitting the requisite documents such as an ‘undertaking’ on an Rs.100 stamp paper duly verified by a notary, declaration in prescribed format on a 100 stamp paper duly verified by a notary, Grant-in-Aid bill (pre receipt) towards the first instalment on or before the given deadline and Registration Mandate Form of PFMS Account of those affiliating / administering institutions, which have not linked their accounts to PFMS for ICSSR-NWRC grant. The joining period can be extended only in exceptional circumstances up to a maximum of three months by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
- The total awarded grant for the Minor Research Project will be released to the affiliating institution in instalments as indicated in the Award Letter.
- The Overhead Charges to the affiliating institution will be released after the acceptance of Final Report along with the receipt of the final audited Statement of Accounts and Utilisation Certificate in prescribed formats, which shall be verified by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
- The Project Director will ensure that the expenditure incurred by him/her conforms to the approved budget heads and relevant The Audited Statement of accounts with Utilization Certificate in form 12A of GFR is mandatory for the entire approved amount for the project.
8. MONITORING OF RESEARCH PROJECTS
- Research undertaken by a Project Director will be monitored through the submission of periodic progress reports in the prescribed The project may be discontinued/terminated if research progress is found unsatisfactory or if any ICSSR-NWRC rules are violated. In such cases, the entire amount must be refunded with a 10% penal interest.
- The scholar/awardee must acknowledge the support of ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre in all their publications resulting from the project output such as Research Papers, Journal Articles, and Articles in edited Books , and they must submit a copy of the same to the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre during the course of or after completion of the project. In case of absence of acknowledgement by the scholars, they will be blacklisted and they will not be able to apply for any schemes of ICSSR-NWRC in the future. Papers published in Conference/Seminar proceedings will not be considered as they are not peer reviewed. However, proceedings published by Scopus indexed / UGC care listed journals can be considered.
- All project related queries will be addressed to the Project Director/ Affiliating Institution for their timely reply.
- The ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre may, at any time, ask for verification of accounts and other relevant documents related to the Project.
- The ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre reserves the right to change the affiliating institute if it is found that the affiliating institute is not co-operating with the scholar and it is not facilitating timely completion of the study.
- Final report submitted by the Project Director is mandatorily evaluated by an Expert appointed by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre before considering the release of the final instalment.
- The Project Director shall be personally responsible for the timely completion of the The project proposal/final report cannot be submitted for the award of any University degree/diploma or funding by any institution by any member of the project staff, including the Project Director. However, ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre will have no objection if any member of the project staff utilizes the project data for research purpose, provided there are due acknowledgements to ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
- If the researchers do not submit the requisite documents and the final report in time or the project is not completed in the stipulated period, the scholars will be blacklisted and the legal recourse will be initiated for recovery of released grant.
- As per the directions of the Ministry of Education (MoE), the amount of grant sanctioned is to be utilized within the stipulated duration of the Any amount of the grant remaining unspent shall be refunded to the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre immediately on expiry of the duration of the project. If the Project Director fails to utilize the grant for the purpose for which the same has been sanctioned/or fails to submit the audited statement of expenditure within the stipulated period, the he/she will be required to refund the amount of the grant with interest thereon @ 10% per annum.
9. COMPLETION OF THE STUDY
- On completion of the study, the Project Director should submit:
- Two hard copies of the final report along with softcopy in both PDF and word formats;
- Two hard copies of abstract in 500 words along with softcopy in both PDF and word formats;
- Two hard copies of Executive Summary of the final report in 5000 words along with softcopy in both PDF and word formats;
- Similarity index sheet (Plagiarism check) for the final
- If the expert suggests any changes in the report at the time of evaluation, the Project Director shall incorporate the changes within stipulated time and should again submit the following:
- Soft copy of modified final report in both PDF and word formats along with two hard copies;
- Two hard copies of executive summary;
- Softcopies of (if any) Data Sets, along with well-defined definition of data and other important information for documentation.
- ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre gets every report checked for plagiarism and the similarity report is also generated. As a policy, ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre does not accept reports having similarity beyond 10 per cent on similarity index. Scholars are required to get their final report checked from their affiliating institutions for similarity index and attach a certified report of the same at the time of submission.
- The final report submitted by the scholar will be considered as satisfactory only after final recommendation of acceptance by the expert appointed by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
10. OBLIGATIONS OF THE AFFILIATING INSTITUTION
- The affiliating institution is required to give an undertaking in the prescribed format contained in the Application Form to administer and manage the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre
- It is also required to provide the requisite research infrastructure to the scholar and maintain proper
- The affiliating institution shall open / maintain a dedicated bank account for ICSSR-NWRC grant (Scheme Code-0877) that is duly registered at EAT Module of PFMS portal for release of the grant without any delay. This account should be retained for all projects awarded by ICSSR-NWRC.
- The affiliating institution will be under obligation to ensure submission of the final report and an Audited Statement of Accounts and Utilization Certificate, (in the prescribed Proforma GFR 12- A) duly certified by the competent authority of the institution including the refund of any unspent
- The affiliating institution shall make suitable arrangements for preservation of data such as filled- in schedules, tabulation sheets, manuscripts, reports, etc. relating to the study. The ICSSR-NWRC reserves the right to demand raw data, or such parts of the study as it deems fit.
- In case a Project Director leaves / discontinues the project before completion of the tenure, the affiliating institution shall inform ICSSR-NWRC immediately and refund the entire amount with a penal interest @ 10% per The unutilised funds pending with the institutions for all projects must be returned to the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre immediately. In case the universities/ institutions do not abide by the rules of the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre, they shall be blacklisted for applying in schemes of ICSSR-NWRC in the future.
- In case a Project Director dies before the completion of the project, the affiliating institution shall immediately inform ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre by submitting a copy of the death certificate and settle the accounts immediately by expediting refund of any unspent balance.
11. OTHER CONDITIONS
- The duration of the project includes the time for Final Report writing. In exceptional circumstances, if the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre is satisfied with the progress of the work, including quality publications, an extension may be granted (up to three months for Minor Project without any additional In case, the extension is needed beyond the above-mentioned period, the matter will be put up to the competent authority of ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre for a decision. If the extension is required, the Project Director needs to request at least three months prior to the end of stipulated tenure for no-cost extension with a copy of the progress report and reasons for the delay with documentary evidence. Retrospective extension will not be permitted.
- The contingency grant may be utilized for stationery, computer typing related costs, specialised assistance such as data analysis and consultation for field trip , related to the research work.
- Defaulters of any previous fellowship/project/programme/grant of the ICSSR-NWRC will not be eligible for No scholar will be allowed to take up a research project along with any ICSSR-NWRC fellowship.
- Foreign trip is not permissible within the awarded budget of a project. However, the Project Director may undertake data collection outside India in exceptional cases and if warranted by the needs of the proposal. For this he/she is required to apply separately for consideration under the Data Collection Scheme of the ICSSR-NWRC , New Delhi (International Collaboration Division). However, ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre will not be bound to support such data collection from abroad and the decision of the ICSSR-NWRC will be final. In either case, the completion of study should not be consequent upon such data collection
- Any request for additional grant in excess of the sanctioned budget will not be
- The procurement of equipment/assets for the research project is allowed only if it was originally proposed, does not surpass the permissible amount, and adheres to the regulations of the affiliating institution.
- The project director cannot make any changes in the research design at any
- Regarding Transfer of a Project/Appointment of substitute Project Director:
- On the request from a university/institute, the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre may permit the appointment of a Substitute Project Director in exceptional circumstances.
- The ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre may also appoint a Substitute Project Director if it is convinced that the original awardee of the Project will not be in a position to carry out the study successfully.
- The ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre may transfer the place of the Project from one affiliating institution to another subject to submission of the following:
- Satisfactory progress report (s);
- No objection certificate from both previous and the new university/institute;
- Audited statement of account and utilization certificate along with unspent balance, if
- However, no transfer of project / Project director should be requested in the last six months of the study.
- Overhead charges will be apportioned proportionally among the institutes as per the grant released or as may be finally decided by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
- In case of superannuation of Project Director and if the rules of the institution so require, the transfer of the project to a serving faculty member may be done with prior approval of the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre. The credit of Project shall belong to the original Project Director.
- Consideration under other call(s) would require a fresh
- The Regional Centre reserves the right to reject any application without assigning any It will not be responsible for any postal delays/loss.
- Incomplete applications in any respect will not be
- The final authority related to the interpretation of these guidelines or any other issue is vested with the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre.
- No queries will be entertained by the ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre until the final declaration of results against a Any lobbying for award will lead to disqualification.
- The ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre retains all rights to publish any project funded by it, contingent upon the recommendation by expert(s) appointed by ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre for Copyright for the final report and outcomes of the project shall be held by ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre. Any publication or dissemination of research findings shall solely be at the discretion of ICSSR-NWRC Regional Centre/ICSSR-NWRC New Delhi.
