The objective of the scheme is to promote, protect and preserve the cultural heritage of the Himalayan region spreading in UT of Jammu & Kashmir, UT of Ladakh Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh through research, documentation, dissemination & training etc.

The financial assistance is given for any of the items listed below up to a maximum of Rs.10.00 lakhs to any single organisation :

3.1 The maximum grant admissible to an organization would be 75% of the total expenditure to be incurred on any item subject to maximum ceiling fixed. The remaining 25% expenditure or more should be met by the State Govt./U.T. Administration failing which the grantee organization could contribute the amount from their own resources. However, in the case of Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, funding will be shared between the Government of India and the organization in the ratio of 90:10 respectively.

4.1 The NEZCC, Dimapur will advertise the scheme on yearly basis. The Advt. shall also be published through NEZCC/Ministry’s websites: https://nezccindia.org.in/http://indiaculture.gov.in. The organization/Research Scholar/Universities/Colleges shall submit complete application alongwith the following documents/information to judge the eligibility of the organization through the State Government, where the project is proposed to be implemented to NEZCC, Dimapur for scrutinizing in NEZCC,Dimapur as per the requirements of the Scheme. The organisations, however, located in Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh & Leh and Kargil districts of UT of Ladakh are exempted from submitting their application direct to NEZCC only with the recommendation of concerned District Collector/Dy Commissioner. The Research Scholars, Universities and Colleges shall forward their applications through the U.G.C to NEZCC, Dimapur.Applications which are found incomplete (without SGR and requisite documents provided) will not be processed further for evaluation by the Expert Committee. Applications complete in all respects will be placed for consideration of the Expert Committee in its meeting, which will be constituted by the Ministry of Culture.

4.2 Recommendation :

The State Governments/District Collector/ Deputy Commissioner/UGC while recommending the proposal will :

• Verify the Registration status of the organisation.
• Certify that the voluntary organisation is capable of undertaking such projects.
• Certify that project on the title/area proposed to be undertaken has not been undertaken in the past and it is a new project.
• Recommend the activity/activities and the amount thereto.

• The grant shall be given based on the appraisal of applications and recommendation by the Expert Advisory Committee and thereafter administrative approval and financial concurrence of competent authorities in the Ministry of Culture. On approval of the project proposal, the Ministry will upload the Minutes of the meeting. Thereafter, the grant will be released to these organizations through NEZCC,Dimapur, the designated Central Nodal Agency (CNA) for release of grant under the scheme.
• The Grants will be released in two equal instalments. First instalment will be released with the approval of the project. The second instalment will be released on completion of project and on receipt of duly audited statement of accounts showing the utilization alongwith Annexure-I and Annexure-II of the entire amount of grant plus the share of the grantee/concerned State/U.T. Government and other documents. The release of the balance of grant will be decided on the basis of the actual expenditure incurred on the project subject to the maximum limit.
• An organization in receipt of financial assistance under the scheme shall be open to inspection by an officer of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India or the State Government concerned.
• The accounts of the project shall be maintained properly and separately and submitted to the Government of India as and when required and will be subject to check by an officer of the Central Government or the State Government or by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India at his discretion.
• The grantee shall maintain : -
  • Subsidiary accounts of the grants-in-aid received from the Government.
  • Cash book Register in hand written bound books duly machine numbered.
  • Grant-in-aid Register for the grant received from the Government and other agencies.
  • Separate ledgers for each item of expenditure like construction of civil work, etc.
• The organization shall maintain a record of all assets acquired wholly or substantially out of the Central Government grant and shall not dispose of or encumber or utilize for purposes other than those for which the grant was given without prior approval of the Government of India.
• If at any time, the Government of India has reason to believe that the sanctioned money is not being utilized for approved purposes, the payment of grant may be stopped and the earlier grants recovered.
• The organization must exercise reasonable economy in the working of the approved project.
• The grantee organization shall submit UC in GFR 12-A with Annexure-I and Annexure-II with their matching shares to NEZCC,Dimapur.
• The grantee shall submit one Copy (soft copy as well as hard copy) of the Project Report duly bound/PD/Photographs and also upload the same on youtube and NEZCC, Dimapur and one copy to the State Government where the project has been undertaken.
• Applications of the organisations against which previous grant/ Utilisation certificate is pending will not be considered.

All payment will be made through electronic transfers by the CNA i.e NEZCC, Dimapur of Himalayan Scheme. CNA will release the fund to NGOs in their zero balance subsidiary account.

A Performance-cum-achievement Report on the activity undertaken will be submitted duly bound, at the time of seeking final instalment to NEZCC, Dimapur. It should include, interalia, an Executive Summary of the Project Report, no. of beneficiary, location of project, etc as per the following format:

Performance-cum-achievement Report

Project Title : ______________

Incomplete applications not supported by the required documents and applications received without recommendation of the prescribed authority will not be considered and summarily rejected.

The Expert Advisory Committee on the scheme is empowered to recommend or reject any proposal received without or with the recommendation of State Government/U.T. administration/ Local Administration and also to recommend the amount beyond the maximum limit but not exceeding Rs.30.00 lacs from this scheme, in respect of any proposal which is of outstanding merit for which the EAC feels that the maximum limit would not be sufficient for undertaking the said project, with the approval of Minister (Culture) and concurrence of AS & FA, Ministry of Culture.

Inspection would be carried out by Ministry officials every year at least in 5% of the cases. The concerned State Govt., District Collector/Dy. Commissioner will also monitor.

The members of the executive body of the organisation would be liable for recovery of misused grants. The organisation will also be blacklisted for misuse of funds, fake registration certificate, etc. All immovable assets created from the Government grants would be taken over by local administration prescribed by the Ministry of Culture.