Scheme of Grants-in-Aid for Supporting Professional Associations/Organisations of Social Scientists

What is the ICSSR Grants-in-Aid scheme for professional associations?

This scheme provides grants-in-aid to national professional associations and organisations of social scientists so they can sustain their academic work. It is administered by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), an autonomous body under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Education. According to the scheme details on the myScheme portal, the grant is designed to keep learned societies in disciplines such as economics, sociology, political science, anthropology and history financially viable so they can hold conferences, maintain libraries and coordinate research across the country.

Unlike ICSSR's project grants and fellowships, which fund individual scholars, this scheme funds the organisation itself. It helps meet the recurring cost of running a professional body: keeping an office open, maintaining a library of journals and books, and supporting the association's routine academic activities.

How much is the grant and how is it paid?

According to the scheme details on myScheme, the maximum grant is Rs 8,00,000 per year. It is released in two instalments:

• 90% of the sanctioned amount up front, and
• the remaining 10% after the association submits audited accounts showing how the earlier funds were used.

Support can continue for up to five consecutive years, with each year's renewal depending on a performance review. The money is meant for the association's operating overheads — electricity, rent, telephone and other running expenditure, and for library materials and equipment, rather than for a single time-bound project.

Who is eligible for the scheme?

An organisation can apply if it:

• Is a national-level professional association or organisation of social scientists.
• Has been functioning for at least two years.
• Is engaged in academic social science research at the national, regional or local level.
• Has a minimum membership of 200 across the country.
• Is registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860, if it is privately funded.
• Can provide three years of audited accounts and annual reports.

An organisation cannot apply if it:

• Is engaged primarily in extension or welfare work rather than academic social science research.
• Is not genuinely carrying out social science activity.
• Cannot demonstrate two years of functioning, 200 members, or valid registration and audited accounts.

Individuals cannot apply. This is the single most common misunderstanding: the grant is for a professional body, not a person. A social scientist seeking personal support should instead look at ICSSR's separate research project grants, doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships, and publication or seminar/event grants.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the ICSSR grant

Applications are processed by the PRS (Programme, Research Survey and Publication) Division of ICSSR, and are accepted year-round through online and offline channels:

1. Prepare the organisation's documents: registration certificate, memorandum and rules, three years of audited accounts, annual reports, member list and the statement of expenditure for which support is sought.
2. Submit the application to the PRS Division of ICSSR, both online through the ICSSR system and, where required, in hard copy.
3. Undergo preliminary scrutiny, in which ICSSR checks eligibility and completeness.
4. Face expert committee assessment, where an expert committee evaluates the organisation's standing and social science activity.
5. Await approval by the ICSSR Council, after which the sanction is issued and the first instalment (90%) is released.

For continuation in later years, the association must submit audited utilisation of funds already received along with an activity report before the next tranche is considered.

Where to get help

The scheme is handled by the PRS Division, ICSSR, at Aruna Asaf Ali Marg, JNU Institutional Area, New Delhi-110067. ICSSR can be reached on 011-26741849, 011-26741850 and 011-26741851. Full details of this and other ICSSR funding lines are published on the official portal at icssr.org. There is no application fee, and the grant is sanctioned on the academic merit and standing of the applicant organisation.