Tagore National Fellowship for Cultural Research

The Scheme “Tagore National Fellowship for Cultural Research” has been introduced to invigorate and revitalize the various institutions under the Ministry of Culture (MoC) and other identified cultural institutions in the country, by encouraging Fellows/academicians to affiliate themselves with these institutions to work on projects of mutual interest. With a view to infuse fresh knowledge capital into the institutions, the scheme expects these Fellows/academicians to select specific resources of the institutions to use in their projects and take up research works that are related to the main objectives of these institutions. It is also expected that the research work would enrich the institution with a new creative edge and academic excellence.

Nodal Institutions (Participating Institutions):

The Scheme shall cover the institutions under the Ministry of Culture (MoC), as listed in the Guidelines, and may cover other such institutions in the future. The scheme will also cover Non-MoC institutions with cultural resources like manuscripts, artifacts, antiquities, books, publications, records, etc., and seek to take advantage of the scheme by engaging distinguished Fellows to work on its resources and also known for its rich publications. The nodal institutions (both MoC and non-MoC) are classified into four groups broadly based on their different areas of specialization, focus, and resources. The classification is as follows:

1. Group-A: Archaeology, Antiquities, Museums & Galleries
2. Group-B: Archives, Libraries and General Fellowship
3. Group-C: Anthropology & Sociology
4. Group D: Crafts, Performing/Visual/Literary Arts

Scope of the Scheme:

The scope of the Scheme is to enable the identified cultural institutions to engage Fellows of outstanding merit, to work on research projects in order to unravel their unexplored resources. For purposes of convenience, monitoring, accounting, and responsibility, one of the institutions listed above would be the ‘Nodal Institution’ for each project, and the Fellows will be attached/anchored to that institution.

Duration of the Fellowship:

• The duration of the Fellowship will be for a maximum period of two years.
• In exceptional cases, the institution may recommend to the NSC an extension for a period of up to one more year, or a reduction to somewhat less than two years, if it is supported by its assessment of the quality of the work undertaken. However, in the case of extension, the fellow won’t be eligible for any remuneration including contingency.
• The award of the Fellowship will commence from the date of joining and the ‘months’ and ‘years’ will be reckoned accordingly.

Number of Fellowships:

• The scheme envisages the granting of up to 15 Fellowships in a year.
• Each nodal institution can be awarded 1 Fellowship in a year. However, the MoC has the discretionary power to relax these numbers.

Administration of the Scheme:

The total number of Fellowships administered by the institutions may be decided by the Ministry of Culture from time to time, in consultation with the participating institutions. This will be based on certain criteria such as the size of its untapped holdings, physical facilities already existing in the institution, the capacity of the institution to guide and inspire the Fellows to get the best out of them, its past record in publication and research, need for research/study in a particular area, etc. An amount of up to 2% of the total allocation may be set aside for meeting expenses related to the administration of the scheme including monitoring, implementation, inspection, review, etc. of the research work carried out by the Fellows, through outsourcing or Consultants.