Foreign Travel Grant

1. Cost of travel and of maintenance abroad may be provided to a citizen of India wishing to study at archives, museums, libraries or private collections abroad for collection of source material, or to take part in a workshop, seminar or conference abroad for presenting a paper related to History, or to receive training in a specialized branch of History.
2. (a) Anyone wishing to make use of a grant under Clause 1 should apply at least four months before the proposed date of departure. The application shall be submitted through our online portal E-GATS along with the particulars mentioned there under.
   (b) A scholar seeking subsidy for collection of source material in foreign countries should broadly identify the source material and records and certify that the material and records are not available in India.
   (c) A copy of the letter from libraries/archives concerned indicating that they possess the required documents. The same would be made available to the scholar as and when he or she visits them.
   (d) Proof of proficiency in the language should be provided (especially where documents and other sources are available in non-English languages). It will be at the discretion of the Committee to decide the equivalent on the basis of published work of the applicant.
   (e) Anyone seeking subsidy for attending a seminar or conference should submit the full paper he proposes to present there.
   (f) Any fellowship/grant holder is not eligible to apply for a FTG during the fellowship/grant period and also for one year after the completion & final settlement of the fellowship/grant.

    

3. All applications made under Clause 2 shall be placed before the Research Projects Committee or during the interval between any two meetings of the said committee, before the Foreign Travel Grant Committee; either of which committee may decide whether any grant or subsidy should be given, and, if given, to what extent.

    

   Provided that—
   (a) The ICHR may refer to one or more Experts for an assessment of the value or practicability of the proposal and the applicant’s competence in the field, in order to assist the Research Projects Committee or the Foreign Travel Grant Committee in taking a decision;
   To avoid delay on the part of nominated Experts in providing their opinion/comments, the proposal may be referred to two experts instead of one. The second expert should preferably be local one. However, the Council may depend even on one report.
   (b) All decisions of the Foreign Travel Grant Committee shall be reported to the meeting of the Research Projects Committee which shall be free to modify or alter any of its decisions, provided action has not already been taken thereon;
   (c) No award by either of the said committees can be made post facto, that is, after the trip proposed to be funded has been completed, without submitting the application well in time adequate enough for the ICHR to process the application as per the laid down procedure.
   (d) The reference to the Research Projects Committee in sub-clause (q) of Clause 4 of Chapter 1 shall be construed to be reference also to the Foreign Travel Grant Committe

    

4. Anyone granted support or subsidy under Clause 3 shall,

    

   (a) If s/he proposes to undertake research or study documents at archival repositories abroad or to attend a training programme, the Research Projects Committee may specify, while approving the grant, the requirement that he should submit a detailed report to the ICHR on his return.
   (b) The ICHR may ask the respective scholars to compulsorily deposit the result of their research in the form of theses/books/monographs, etc. with due acknowledgement to ICHR.

    

5. A grant or subsidy awarded under provisions of Clause 3 shall be limited to

    

(a) (i) Payment of a part of the excursion air-fare, travel to be undertaken by Air India;

(ii) Purchase of a return excursion air ticket from Air India, and/ or cost of bus/rail travel abroad, where part of the approved journey; and

(b) Payment of Daily Allowance being given to the scholars has been adopted as per the rates of daily allowance for journeys performed in various countries as notified in this regard by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). Government of India, vide their order no. Q/FD/695/3/2000 dated 21st September 2010. Country wise DA rate Annexure.   [556.8 KB]

 

Fully Daily Allowance shall be applicable upto 14 days, 75% of full Daily Allowance for next seven days.

 

Provided that—

 

(i)Ordinarily (a) above shall not be combined with

(b) while awarding a grant or subsidy for the same trip abroad;

(ii) As far as possible, air travel will be on excursion ticket, and only failing that on a full economy ticket, by Air India alone. Deviation from the above may be permitted only in cases where direct connection is not available with the National carrier subject to the clearance of the Civil Aviation Department, Govt. of India.

(iii) The amount paid in maintenance allowance under (b) above shall be in rupees equal to the sanctioned amount in US dollars, calculated according to the rate at which the recipient of the allowance is able to obtain US dollars for rupees for the purpose of travel abroad, a certified statement of the actual conversion to be submitted by the recipient, though not necessarily in advance.

(iv) Medical Insurance is mandatory.

 

6. In cases where the ICHR is to meet full excursion air-fare under Clause 5, the airport tax and/ or foreign travel tax in India, and the prescribed travelling allowance for the journey between the travellers’ station and the international airport in India, along with the due halting allowance shall also be paid by the ICHR.

 

7. No one may normally be considered for a foreign travel grant for more than once in three years, but funding for a foreign trip provided for under Clause 8 shall not be counted as a foreign travel grant for the purpose of this clause.

 

8. (a) Notwithstanding anything contained in Clause 2,the ICHR, depending on its own requirements for appropriate representation, may, at its volition, nominate a scholar to represent it at an international congress, seminar, conference, or meeting, or proceed under Cultural Exchange Programmes, such nomination to be made by the Research Projects Committee or the Foreign Travel Grant Committee.

(b) In cases of such nomination both the fare and maintenance may be provided if local hospitality is not available or only partly available; but except for this modification, the provisions for both fare and subsistence shall be in accordance with those set out in Clauses 5 and 6.

(c) The restriction imposed in Clause 7 shall not apply to cases covered under this clause.

 

9. Upon a decision of the Research Projects Committee or, subject to the same procedure as prescribed in Clause 3 (b) above, of the Foreign Travel Grant Committee, the ICHR may invite to India a non-Indian scholar to deliver lectures, or undertake research, on any subject of History, or to present a paper at a seminar, conference or workshop organized or funded by the ICHR. The ICHR may thereupon meet the cost of air travel (international) in the same manner as prescribed in proviso (ii) to Clause 5 above, together with airport and/ or foreign travel tax, as well as the cost of domestic travel, and also meet hospitality costs and/or pay allowance for maintenance at rates approved by the Research Projects Committee or Foreign Travel Grant Committee or by the Chairman on behalf of either committee.

 

10. An amount not exceeding 75% of the sanctioned Foreign Travel Grant will be released in advance of the journey subject to the production of proof of the purchase of the Air tickets and NOC from the department, institute, if employed.

 

11. (a) Twenty five per cent of the amount shall be withheld in the case of those scholars who are awarded FTG for collection of source material and the withheld amount shall be released only on the recommendation of the FTG Committee or Chairman on behalf of the FTG Committee after the submission of photocopies of source materials collected by the concerned scholar from the archives/libraries, personal collections etc. located outside India. This material will be maintained in the ICHR’s Library-cum Documentation Centre in the larger public interest. The scholar will have to certify with full responsibility that the collected material was not available in any form, manuscript/print microfilm etc., in India. In case the certification by the scholar is found incorrect even after the availing of the FTG for material collection, s/he will have to return the entire amount to the ICHR and will be debarred forever in future from applying for FTG from the ICHR. In addition, he will submit all the documents indicated in the sanction letter.

(b) The balance 25% of the amount of those scholars who attend the conferences/seminars etc. shall be released after the receipt of requisite documents as mentioned in the intimation letter.

 

12. For all proposals approved by the ICHR for collection of source materials, the maximum period of maintenance allowance shall not exceed three months. The FTG Committee is expected to apply maximum restraint in awarding FTG for three months. The scholar’s past academic credentials and his experience in the field of history should be taken into account while recommending the grant for a maximum period of three months. The FTG Committee’s recommendation should be placed before the RPC for a final decision thereon. The applicant will be expected to submit an original research paper on the basis of material so collected for publication in the IHR or a book acknowledging the financial assistance provided by the ICHR.

 

13. The FTG Committee is expected to ensure that the number of scholars for materials collection for a maximum period of three months should not exceed the ceiling of five within one financial year.

 

14. The maintenance allowance will be restricted to the duration of the conference along with one day before and one day after the conference at the prescribed rates.

 

15. A detailed report (not less than 2000 words for collection of source material) /paper read at the conference along with the requisite documents is to be submitted within 15 days of completing the visit.

 

16. Work report and the other requirements have to be fulfilled within 15 days of completing the visit, failing which the scholar will be required to refund the entire grant to the ICHR and, beside this, will be debarred from the award of any such grant in future, and will be liable to legal action.

 

Download Foreign Travel Grant Form   [158.13 KB]