Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana

What is the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana?

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana is a rural science and technology project funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India and implemented by the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST) under the state's Department of Science and Technology. The name translates roughly as the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Science Village Cluster Project.

The project's stated aim is sustainable rural development through the application of science and technology to enhance livelihoods in selected villages across Uttarakhand. The unit of work is not a single village but a cluster, a group of villages in a district taken up together, so that a technology, a processing unit or a market link can serve enough households to be viable.

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana works on a simple sequence. UCOST selects a cluster. It assesses the natural resources actually available in those villages. It then sets up units built around those resources — processing, value addition, improved post-harvest handling, so that farmers earn more from what they already grow or gather. Delivery runs through Gramodaya Cooperative Societies formed with experienced farmers selected from the chosen clusters.

This design matters for anyone reading the page hoping to apply. The project is a cluster intervention, not a personal benefit scheme. There is no application form, no sanction letter to an individual and no published cash entitlement.

Who is eligible under the Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana?

You can be a beneficiary if:

• You live in a village that UCOST has selected as part of a cluster under the project.
• You are a farmer, entrepreneur, self-help group member or an ordinary resident of that village. The beneficiary group is deliberately broad, because a village-level unit serves the whole settlement.
• You are prepared to work through the Gramodaya Cooperative Society formed in your cluster, since that society is the implementing vehicle.
• You are, in the case of the farmers who lead the society, experienced. Gramodaya Cooperative Societies are formed with experienced farmers selected from the chosen clusters.

You are not eligible if:

• Your village is not in a selected cluster. This is the binding constraint, and no amount of documentation changes it.
• You are outside Uttarakhand.
• You are looking for a personal cash grant, pension or subsidy. The project does not carry an individual cash entitlement, and anyone promising one is misrepresenting it.
• You want to apply online through a state portal. No such route exists for this project.

What benefits does the project deliver?

Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana delivers its benefit as infrastructure and capability in the village, not as a transfer. According to the project description maintained for UCOST, rural development work is carried out by forming clusters of villages across various districts of the state, and various units are established based on the natural resources available in the selected villages to improve farmers' livelihoods through the application of science and technology.

In practice that means the benefit a household sees is one or more of:

• A processing or value-addition unit in or near the village, run through the cooperative society.
• Improved technology and post-harvest technique for the crop or forest produce that the cluster already depends on.
• Training and demonstration so that villagers can operate the unit themselves.
• A cooperative structure that can hold assets, buy inputs and sell output on behalf of many small producers instead of each farmer selling alone.

Because the resource base differs from cluster to cluster, the exact unit differs too. A cluster with fruit will not get the same intervention as a cluster with medicinal plants or dairy.

How to apply for and take part in the Vigyaan Gram Sankul Pariyojana

1. Find out whether your village is in a selected cluster. Ask at UCOST, Vigyan Dham, Vigyan Sadan Block, Dehradun 248007, on +91-135-2976266, or ask the district science and technology contact point.
2. Approach the Gramodaya Cooperative Society formed in your cluster. The society is the implementing body and the door through which households join.
3. Join the society as a member, supplying your residence proof, and your land or holding records or self-help group registration papers where the activity requires them.
4. Take part in the unit or training the project has set up for your cluster, and use the technology on your own holding or enterprise.
5. If your village is not in a cluster, ask UCOST whether a proposal for your area can be considered in a future phase, and in the meantime look at UCOST's separate Entrepreneurship and Development Programme, which does invite proposals by advertisement from entrepreneurs, NGOs, self-help groups and institutions.

How are villages and beneficiaries selected?

Selection under this project is top-down by design. UCOST identifies the clusters, and the cooperative societies are then formed with experienced farmers drawn from those clusters. Individual beneficiaries are the selected farmers, entrepreneurs, self-help groups and residents of those villages.

There is no scoring form, no waiting list and no appeal against non-selection of a village. The realistic route for an unselected village is to make a case through the district administration and UCOST for inclusion when the project expands.

Common misunderstandings

• It is not a cash scheme. No amount per beneficiary is published, and none should be promised to you.
• It is not an open-application scheme. Villages come first, applicants second.
• It is not the same as UCOST's Entrepreneurship and Development Programme. That programme sets up Technology Resource Centres and does invite proposals by advertisement. This one runs on selected clusters.
• It is not a state-funded project. The funding comes from the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India; UCOST is the implementing agency in Uttarakhand.

Where to get help

• UCOST, Vigyan Dham, Vigyan Sadan Block, Dehradun 248007.
• Phone: +91-135-2976266.
• Email: ucost[at]ucost[dot]in.
• Your Gramodaya Cooperative Society, if one has been formed in your cluster.
• District administration, for a request that your block or village be considered when the project is extended.

UCOST publishes its programmes, divisions and grants at ucost.uk.gov.in. Because the documentation requirement for this project is simply stated as "as per UCOST guidelines", ask the council or the society directly for the current paper list rather than relying on second-hand versions.