Financial Assistance to Authors for Book Publication

What is the Financial Assistance to Authors for Book Publication scheme?

Financial Assistance to Authors for Book Publication is a grant-in-aid scheme run by the Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan, the state's language institution. The scheme pays part of the cost of bringing a manuscript into print, so that writers, poets and researchers of Uttarakhand are not stopped by printing bills from publishing serious literary and scholarly work.

On the Sansthan's own scheme list the entry appears in Hindi as "विभिन्न भाषाओं में ग्रंथ प्रकाशन के लिए वित्तीय सहायता योजना": literally, financial assistance for publication of books in various languages. Readers searching for it by that transliterated name and readers searching in English are looking at the same scheme.

The Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan is an autonomous institution established in 2010 under the Language Department, Government of Uttarakhand. Its declared work is the preservation and promotion of Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and the folk languages of the state, and it does this through a bundle of activities that includes libraries, book fairs, research projects, a literary village (sahitya gram) programme, language competitions, a young-writer competition, a lifetime achievement honour for litterateurs, and its own research journals Udgata (उद्गाता) and Kedarmanas (केदारमानस). The publication-assistance scheme sits inside that larger set of language-promotion activities.

Which languages and which kinds of books does the scheme cover?

Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan describes the scheme as assistance for publication of books in various languages, which in the Sansthan's working scope means:

• Hindi. The state's official language and the language of most submissions.
• Sanskrit; Uttarakhand's second official language, declared so in 2010.
• Urdu: covered by the Language Department's mandate.
• Folk languages of Uttarakhand, Garhwali, Kumaoni and Jaunsari, which the Sansthan explicitly works to preserve.

The kinds of work supported are literary and scholarly rather than commercial: poetry collections, short-story and essay collections, folk-literature compilations, translations, criticism, and research writing on Uttarakhand's language, literature and culture. Textbooks for commercial sale, guidebooks and purely religious tracts are generally outside what a language institution funds.

Who is eligible for the book publication assistance?

You can be considered if:

• You are a litterateur, writer, poet or author of Uttarakhand. The scheme is framed around the state's own writers, so a permanent residence certificate is the usual proof.
• You hold a complete, original manuscript that has not been published before.
• The work is in Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu or an Uttarakhand folk language.
• You can produce a costing for printing from a press or publisher.
• You hold a bank account in your own name, since assistance is released by transfer.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You are a publishing house, printing press or bookshop applying for a business subsidy. The grant is for the author.
• The book is already published, or is a reprint of an existing edition.
• The manuscript is not original — plagiarised or substantially copied work is rejected outright.
• You are not a resident of Uttarakhand and have no connection to the state's languages or literature.
• The application arrives without the manuscript. A publication grant cannot be assessed on a synopsis alone.

How to apply for the book publication assistance

Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan runs this as an offline, paper application. There is no online submission form for it on ubs.uk.gov.in, which is a portal that publishes notices rather than accepts applications.

1. Watch for the notice. Open ubs.uk.gov.in, go to the schemes section (योजनाएं) and the notices/tenders section, and look for the entry on financial assistance for book publication. The scheme entry there carries publication dates of 01/02/2025 and 11/02/2026, which indicates the Sansthan refreshes the notice roughly at the start of the calendar year.
2. Prepare the manuscript. Get the full text typed and printed in the format the notice asks for, with a title page, a contents list and your name and contact details on the first page.
3. Assemble the documents. Permanent residence certificate, bio-data listing your earlier published work, printer's cost estimate, bank passbook copy, Aadhaar, and a signed declaration that the work is original and unpublished.
4. Write the application. Address it to the Secretary / Director, Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan, and state the title of the book, its language, its subject, its approximate length, and the assistance you are seeking.
5. Submit it at the Sansthan office to 461/1/1, Chandralok Colony, near GMVN, Rajpur Road, Dehradun 248001 to by hand or by registered post, and keep the receipt or postal proof.
6. Follow up on 07830005969 after the closing date to confirm your file was received and to ask when the selection committee will meet.

What documents are required?

How much assistance does the scheme provide?

Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan does not publish a permanent rupee ceiling for this scheme on its portal. The assistance is decided round by round, within the budget the Language Department allots the Sansthan for the year, and it is a part contribution towards publication cost rather than a full grant, the author is normally expected to bear a share and, in many rounds, to supply a fixed number of printed copies to the Sansthan's library.

This guide deliberately does not state a rupee figure, because no verified current amount was available on an official source. Ask the Sansthan office directly on 07830005969 for the ceiling applying to the current round before you commit to a printer.

How is a manuscript selected?

Selection is by a committee constituted by the Sansthan, not by first-come first-served. The factors that carry weight are the literary or research value of the manuscript, the standing of the author, whether the language of the work is one the Sansthan is trying to strengthen, folk-language manuscripts in Garhwali, Kumaoni and Jaunsari are of direct interest to the institution's mandate, and whether the costing is realistic. The committee's recommendation goes to the Sansthan's executive body for sanction, and the amount is then released to the author's bank account.

Why applications get rejected, and how to avoid it

• Manuscript not enclosed or enclosed only in part. Send the complete text.
• Book already published. Apply before printing, not after.
• No residence proof of Uttarakhand. Get the permanent residence certificate from your tehsil before the notice closes; it takes time.
• No printing estimate, so the committee cannot judge how much to give.
• Application after the closing date stated in the notice.
• Bank details that do not match the applicant's name, which stalls payment even after sanction.

How to check the status of your application

Because this scheme runs offline, there is no status tracker. Track it this way:

1. Keep the receipt or postal acknowledgement from the day you submit.
2. Call 07830005969 after the closing date and ask whether your file is listed and when the committee meets.
3. Watch ubs.uk.gov.in; results, sanction lists and fresh notices are put up in the schemes and notices sections.
4. Visit the Dehradun office on Rajpur Road if the matter does not move; for a small institution, an in-person enquiry is often the fastest route.

Key dates and where to get help

• Notice cycle: the scheme entry on the Sansthan portal carries dates of 01/02/2025 and 11/02/2026, so applications are typically invited early in the calendar year. No permanent fixed last date is announced.
• Office: Uttarakhand Bhasha Sansthan, 461/1/1, Chandralok Colony, near GMVN, Rajpur Road, Dehradun 248001.
• Phone: 07830005969.
• Portal: ubs.uk.gov.in.

If an application is ignored or a sanctioned amount is not released, the escalation route is a written representation to the Secretary of the Sansthan, then to the Language Department, Government of Uttarakhand, and finally an RTI application to the Sansthan's public information officer asking how the year's publication grants were decided. These routes cost very little and create a written record.

Note on verification: the existence of the scheme, its Hindi title, the Sansthan's status as an autonomous body under the Language Department, and the office address and phone number are confirmed on ubs.uk.gov.in. The exact grant amount, the number of books assisted each year and the precise application format are not published online and must be confirmed with the Sansthan office.