Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) - Uttarakhand

What is the Green Skill Development Programme?

The Green Skill Development Programme, announced in Hindi as Harit Kaushal Vikas Karyakram, is a short certificate-course programme delivered in Uttarakhand by the G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development (GBPNIHE) at Kosi-Katarmal, Almora to 263643.

The programme's purpose is narrow and practical. India's environment sector needs people who can actually do things: identify plant species, prepare a People's Biodiversity Register, run analytical techniques, assess a forest resource, and a general postgraduate degree does not always produce those skills. GSDP certificate courses fill that gap in short, intensive batches, and are pitched at students and early-career researchers already working in the field.

GBPNIHE is a national institute headquartered in Almora with regional centres covering Sikkim (Gangtok), Himachal Pradesh (Mohal, Kullu), Garhwal (Srinagar) and the North East (Itanagar). Courses under this programme have been run at the headquarters and at those regional centres, which is why an Uttarakhand-based programme sometimes advertises batches held elsewhere in the Himalayan region.

What does a participant actually get?

According to the institute's own course advertisement for the certificate course on Forest Resources and Plant Biodiversity:

• There is no training fee for the course.
• The institute provides free boarding and lodging for the duration.
• Travel allowance is reimbursed to trainees for attending the course, as per rules.
• Participants receive a certificate on completion.

There is no cash stipend or scholarship attached. The benefit is the training itself, delivered free, with living costs and travel covered.

What courses have been run?

Courses announced by the institute under this programme have included:

• Forest Resources and Plant Biodiversity. A 15-day certificate course held at the institute's NMHSE unit in Almora from 5 to 20 March 2019, and a parallel course at the Sikkim Regional Centre from 7 to 18 March 2019.
• Green Skills; at the North East Regional Centre, Arunachal Pradesh, from 28 February to 16 March 2019.
• People's Biodiversity Register Preparation — a second certification course at ENVIS, Almora, from 12 to 26 February 2019.

The Almora course on Forest Resources and Plant Biodiversity was run under Task Force 3 of the National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem, which indicates the mission framework these certificate courses have been delivered inside.

Who is eligible for the Green Skill Development Programme?

Eligibility is set separately in each course advertisement, and applicants must read the specific batch notice rather than assume a common rule.

You can apply if:

• You hold the postgraduate qualification named in that batch's advertisement. For the Forest Resources and Plant Biodiversity course the requirement was an M.Sc. in life sciences: botany, forestry or environmental sciences.
• You are an early-career researcher, who is given explicit priority in the institute's own wording.
• You can submit the completed prescribed application format by the last date in that advertisement.

You cannot apply / are not eligible if:

• You do not hold the postgraduate degree the course specifies. These are not entry-level vocational courses.
• Your subject is outside the disciplines named for that batch.
• You miss the last date in the advertisement, since intake is batch-wise with a fixed cut-off and no rolling admission.
• You are looking for a cash stipend or a job guarantee. This is not eligible as an income-support scheme, and the institute offers training, boarding, lodging and travel allowance only.

What documents are required?

The prescribed application format asks for:

• Name, date of birth, permanent address and address for communication.
• Email ID and mobile number.
• Aadhaar number.
• Present area of R&D work.
• Educational qualifications from Class 10 onward, examination passed, board or university, year, subject and percentage or division.
• Experience and research publications, if any.
• Tools and methods of interest, and a statement of the relevance of the training programme to your career.
• A recent colour passport-size photograph, pasted on the form.

How to apply for a GSDP course

1. Watch the spotlight and training sections of gbpihed.gov.in. Courses under this programme are announced batch by batch, each with its own dates, eligibility and last date. There is no permanent open application window.
2. Download the prescribed application format given with that batch's advertisement on the institute website.
3. Complete the form fully, including educational qualifications from Class 10 onward, Aadhaar number, area of R&D work, and the statement on why the training matters for your career.
4. Email the completed form to the address specified in the advertisement by the stated last date, and send a hard copy to the institute office at the address in the notice, where the advertisement asks for one.
5. Contact the named course coordinators for clarification. The Almora course advertisement named Dr Vikram Negi (9720752546) and Mr Yahya Kazmi (9650626564) as contacts for that batch; each new advertisement names its own.

How is this different from the institute's regular training?

Applicants often confuse the two, and the difference is financial. GBPNIHE separately runs dissertation, summer and winter training for postgraduate students in two annual cycles, January to June and July to December, with short-term slots of 8 to 12 weeks and long-term slots of 12 to 24 weeks. That programme:

• charges a training fee of Rs 2,000 per month plus one-time caution money of Rs 500;
• requires candidates to be pursuing postgraduate studies in natural and social sciences;
• expects candidates to arrange their own accommodation; and
• has application deadlines of 15 November for the January–June session and 15 May for the July–December session.

GSDP certificate courses, by contrast, carry no training fee and include boarding and lodging. If cost matters to you, check which of the two a notice actually refers to before applying.

Why do applications fail?

• Applying outside an announced batch. There is no standing application queue; an application sent when no course is advertised has nothing to attach to.
• Not meeting the postgraduate subject requirement named in that batch.
• Missing the last date, which is fixed per batch.
• Using a self-made form instead of the institute's prescribed application format.
• Incomplete academic detail. The format asks for every examination from Class 10 onward, and partial tables slow down shortlisting.

Where can I ask questions?

• G.B. Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development, Kosi-Katarmal, Almora to 263643, Uttarakhand; gbpihed.gov.in.
• The course coordinators named in the specific advertisement, whose mobile numbers the institute publishes with each batch notice.
• The institute's regional centres in Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Garhwal and the North East, for courses being held at those units.

Note on currency of information: the course batches verifiable on the institute's own website date from 2019, and the institute publishes new advertisements as and when courses are scheduled rather than on a fixed annual calendar. Anyone interested should check the spotlight and training sections of gbpihed.gov.in for a current notice before relying on the dates above, and should treat the eligibility and contact details of a past batch as indicative rather than standing.