Yatra Anudan (UCOST Travel Support)

What is Yatra Anudan?

Yatra Anudan, the travel grant, also published in English as Travel Support or Travel Grant Support: is a scheme of the Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology (UCOST), which works under the Department of Information Technology, Good Governance and Science Technology, Government of Uttarakhand. Under the scheme UCOST gives financial assistance towards travel cost for participating in a national or international conference, seminar, symposium or workshop.

According to UCOST's own travel support page, only 50 per cent of the international airfare, with a ceiling of Rs 25,000, is given by the department, though relaxation can be considered in exceptional cases. The scheme is deliberately narrow: it does not provide assistance towards maintenance, registration fee, airport tax, taxi fare or other costs.

UCOST operates from Vigyan Dham, Jhajra, via Premnagar, Dehradun 248007 and is the state's apex body for science and technology promotion. It runs four schemes listed on the state IT department portal — Research and Development, Science Popularization, Travel Grant Support and the Entrepreneurship Development Programme. Yatra Anudan is the smallest of the four in rupee terms and the most individual in character, because it goes to a named scientist rather than to an institution or a project.

What Yatra Anudan is for

• Enabling a scientist or researcher based in Uttarakhand to present accepted research at an international forum.
• Supporting young scientists to attend international training programmes, short-term courses and schools.
• Keeping the state's research community connected to work being done outside India, which is hard to do on a state institution's own travel budget.

Who is eligible for the UCOST travel grant?

You are eligible if:

• You are a scientist working in an educational or academic institution or a research laboratory in the State of Uttarakhand, and a resident of the state. Selection is on a selective basis, not automatic.
• You have an accepted paper for presentation, or an invitation to chair a session, or an invitation as a keynote speaker.
• The conference or training course is of an international character.
• You have not availed financial assistance from UCOST in the last three years.
• Your application is forwarded through proper channel by the head of your institution and reaches UCOST at least 8 weeks before the conference.
• If you are applying for a training programme, short-term course or school rather than a conference, you are a young scientist below 40 years of age.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are attending an annual meeting of a professional society. UCOST states plainly that such applications will not be considered.
• You are a student, hobbyist or member of the public with no institutional affiliation, since the scheme is addressed to scientists in institutions and laboratories in the state.
• You are based outside Uttarakhand, or your institution is outside the state.
• You have taken UCOST assistance within the last three years.
• You have no accepted paper and no invitation to chair or speak: mere attendance at a conference does not qualify.
• You canvass for the grant. UCOST states in capitals that canvassing will disqualify the applicant for the travel grant.
• Your application is incomplete. UCOST states that incomplete applications will not be considered, and it does not write back asking for missing papers.

What documents are required?

UCOST also notes an old but still-published condition on booking: the air passage is to be booked directly on a national carrier, and where that carrier does not operate to the destination, the passage is still to be booked through it. Confirm the current practice with UCOST before buying a ticket.

How to apply for Yatra Anudan

1. Read the instructions on the UCOST travel support page first. UCOST explicitly asks applicants to read all instructions before applying, and several of the disqualifying conditions are stated only there.
2. Download the prescribed proforma. The travel support section of ucost.uk.gov.in carries the Proforma for Travel Support, the application format and the report submission proforma.
3. Assemble the enclosures. Bio-data, the organisers' invitation, the acceptance letter or invitation to chair, the abstract, the conference announcement, the partial-funding commitment letter and the airfare certificate. Tag and flag them as UCOST asks.
4. Get the application forwarded by the head of your institution. An application that has not come through proper channel is not processed.
5. Send it so that it reaches UCOST at least 8 weeks before the conference, addressed to The Director General, Uttarakhand State Council for Science & Technology, Vigyan Dham Jhajra via Premnagar, Dehradun 248007, with the envelope superscribed "APPLICATION FOR THE TRAVEL SUPPORT".
6. Where UCOST has issued a call for online applications, submit through the council's online login at ucost.in. UCOST has stated that only online applications will be accepted from FY 2025-26 after a call, so check which route is open for your cycle before posting a paper file.
7. Wait for the decision, which UCOST expects to communicate about four weeks before the conference begins. No interim correspondence is possible.

How and when is the money paid?

Yatra Anudan is a reimbursement, not an advance. The sequence UCOST publishes is:

1. On selection, the Council issues a commitment letter agreeing to support the applicant for a stated amount.
2. The scientist travels and participates in the conference.
3. After returning to India, the scientist submits a detailed report and a copy of the air ticket and related papers within two months of the date of the conference.
4. Only then is the committed amount reimbursed.

Two practical consequences follow. First, you must be able to fund the ticket yourself or through your institution up front. Second, missing the two-month reporting window puts the reimbursement at risk even though the trip was approved.

Why applications get rejected

• Application reaches UCOST later than 8 weeks before the conference.
• Not forwarded through proper channel by the head of the institution.
• Incomplete enclosures, which UCOST rejects outright rather than querying.
• The event is a professional society's annual meeting rather than an international conference.
• UCOST assistance already taken within the last three years.
• Canvassing, which is an explicit disqualification.
• No accepted paper, chairing role or keynote invitation.
• Report and ticket not submitted within two months after the trip, which blocks the reimbursement stage.

Where to ask questions and raise a grievance

• UCOST travel support page: ucost.uk.gov.in/travel-support, which carries the scheme note, the eligibility list, the enclosures list and the proformas.
• UCOST office: Uttarakhand State Council for Science & Technology, Vigyan Dham, Vigyan Sadan Block, Dehradun 248007. Telephone 0135-2976266, email ucost[at]ucost[dot]in.
• Grants and Funding page: ucost.uk.gov.in/grants-funding, which announces calls for proposals and the switch to online applications.
• Department of Information Technology, Good Governance and Science Technology, it.uk.gov.in, under the UCOST menu.
• CM Helpline at cmhelpline.uk.gov.in for a formal public grievance.

There is no application fee for Yatra Anudan, and no agent or intermediary can secure a travel grant. Canvassing disqualifies the applicant outright.