Guidelines for the Award of ICSSR Collaborative Empirical Research Project on Jal Jeevan Mission

1. Introduction

1. The Jal Jeevan Mission is a pioneering initiative by the Government of India to ensure access to safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connections in rural India by 2024, aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) on the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.

2. A comprehensive study to measure changes in access to clean water, improvements in health outcomes due to better water quality, and socio-economic impacts such as increased productivity and reduced healthcare costs is imperative for reaching the goal of Viksit Bharat by the year 2047. Empirical research based on an extensive survey can assess the mission's effectiveness at the ground level, evaluating progress, identifying challenges, and highlighting successful strategies employed in different regions to minimize the drinking water crisis and its overall impact on rural India.

3. Surveying stakeholders, including beneficiaries, local authorities, implementing agencies, and others, will help identify infrastructure gaps, operational challenges, and barriers to achieving universal water access in rural India. Such evidence-based research is vital for refining strategies and policies to address these issues effectively, with a focus on optimizing the implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission.

4. The outcome of the study can improve governance structures, resource allocation, and the integration of sustainable practices to ensure long-term success. The study should aim to generate new knowledge about rural water supply and management practices, including indigenous knowledge and traditional water management systems. This knowledge can be disseminated through academic publications, policy briefs, seminars, and workshops, thereby contributing to the broader discourse on water governance, sustainability, and rural development.

i. Proposal Requirements:

1. The proposals must aim to ensure that the study area encompasses a significant sample size for research and objectively assess the implementation of the mission in the study area. Geographical coverage (villages/blocks and districts covered) should be detailed and clearly shown in chart form, using maps with aerial views to illustrate the locations of the project.

2. The proposals should encompass fact-based and action-oriented research, including a thorough background of the specific research area, a relevant literature review leading to well-defined hypotheses, objectives, and research questions. The proposal must outline a scientific and systematic research methodology, specifying sampling methods, data sources, interview schedules/questionnaires, and tools and software for analysis. The study should address both quantitative and qualitative approaches, with a focus on actionable and applied analysis, and include specific scope and limitations, along with strategies for mitigation.

ii. Research Team Composition:

1. The team for the Collaborative Empirical Research Project on the Jal Jeevan Mission shall comprise three to six scholars. The ICSSR encourages multiple institutions to collaborate and propose a comprehensive study. This study should provide an in-depth assessment of the identified research area. Researchers are expected to conduct evaluative, experimental, and applied research to assess the effective implementation, challenges, best practices, and overall impact of the mission, thereby contributing to the holistic development of rural India.

2. A team of 3-6 researchers from different disciplines, institutions, and regions must be formed to conduct research. The Project Director will be responsible for the successful completion of the study and fund utilization. Project Director and Co- Project Directors shall be from the social and human sciences.

iii. Duration and Budget

1. The duration of the project under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) will be 10 to 12 months with a budget of up to Rs. 15Lakhs.

2. Eligibility

1. Researchers who are permanently employed or retired as faculty from UGC Recognized Indian Universities/Deemed Universities/ Affiliated Colleges/Institutions under (2)F or 12(B), ICSSR Research Institutes, ICSSR Recognised Institutes, Institutes of National Importance as defined by the Ministry of Education (MoE) and ICSSR Regional Centers are eligible to apply. The applicants should have demonstrable research experience through publications of books / research papers / reports are eligible to apply. The Project Director and Co-Project Director must also hold a Ph.D. Degree.

2. In exceptional cases, Independent researchers, who have produced at least two sole-author books published by reputed publishers and/or 05 articles in peer-reviewed journals, can also be considered as Co-Project Directors. Such scholars will be required to work in collaboration with a faculty from institutions given in 2.1 above.

3. Further, those researchers who are in contractual appointment in academic/research institutions and have produced at least two sole-author books published by reputed publishers and/or 05 articles in peer-reviewed journals may also apply as Co-Project Directors. In the event of their contract expiry, they may continue as Co-Project Directors until the completion of the project.

4. Senior and retired government, and defence officers (having not less than 15 years of regular service) possessing a Ph. D. degree in any social science discipline and having produced at least two sole-author books published by reputed publishers and/or 05 articles in peer-reviewed journals can also apply as Co-Project Directors, in collaboration with a faculty from institutions given in 2.1 above.

5. Non-academic participants/ stakeholders/local community may also be part of the research team.

3. How to Apply

1. The applications will be invited through an advertisement on ICSSR website, social media platforms of ICSSR and if required, in print media.

2. The applicants need to submit an online application along with the research proposal, annexures, and other required documents in the prescribed format, duly forwarded by the Competent Authorities of the affiliating university/college/institute. Hard copies of the same must be submitted within ten days of last date of submission of online application. The last date for online submission is 17 September 2024. 

3. Research proposals and final reports should either be in English or Hindi. Arial/ Mangal Unicode (Devanagari) font should be used fill Application form in Hindi.

4. Researchers can apply for only one project at a time. In the case of any ongoing or completed project with the ICSSR, the cooling-off period for applying to another project will be two years, for both the Project Director and the Co-Project Director. The cooling period will be calculated from the date of submission of the final report.

4. Procedure for Awards

4.1 The procedure for the award of the projects will be in multiple phases before the declaration of final results. All applications submitted to the ICSSR will be screened and evaluated by the expert committee following a blind review process. Shortlisted applicants shall be invited for interaction/presentation at ICSSR (in person or online).

4.2 The expert committee(s) shall make recommendation(s) for award of studies and also suggest the budget for the proposed studies after interaction with the shortlisted applicants.

4.3 The merit list of selected candidates of Projects will be published on the ICSSR website.

 4.4 Only the selected candidates and their affiliating universities shall be informed individually through a provisional award letter clearly specifying the formalities and documents required for joining the Project.

5. Budget and Heads of Expenditure

1. The amount will be disbursed in instalments, depending on the funds, phases and duration of the study, as indicated in the Award Letter. ICSSR reserves the right, based on expert opinion, to make changes in research design, budget and duration of the project.

2. The detailed budget estimates along with the proportionate Heads of Expenditure for these proposals are to be prepared by the Institute / Project Director / group of scholars.

5.3. Allocation of Heads of Expenditure

A. The remuneration for the Research Staff must be according to the ICSSR guidelines.

B. The proportionate allocation of expenditure for the budget heads such as Fieldwork (Travel / Logistics / Boarding, Survey Preparation or Consultancy etc.); Equipment and Study material (Computer, Printer, Source Material, Books, Journals, Software, Data Sets, workshop/seminar/publication etc.); and Contingency charges etc. shall be as per the ICSSR guidelines given below;

* A re-appropriation of 10% of the total Budget is permissible between heads, once during the course of the project, with prior approval of ICSSR.  

C. Affiliating Institutional Overhead Charges @ 10% over and above on the awarded grant of the project, subject to a maximum limit of Rs.2,00,000/- will be released by the ICSSR after successful completion of the project.

5.4 Project Staff shall be engaged/appointed as per the rules by the affiliating institution of the Project Director on a full/ part-time basis during the research work. The duration may be decided by the project director. The consolidated monthly remuneration/emoluments of the project staff must be according to the following guidelines:

5.5 Selection of Research Staff should be done through an advertisement published on respective institute’s website and a selection committee, duly approved by the Competent Authority of the institution, consisting of (1) Project Director; (2) One external subject Expert (from outside the institute where the project is located); (3) Dean of the faculty in case of University /Principal in case of College and (4) Head of the Department of the Project Director.
5.6 For all field work related expenses of Project Director, Co-Project Director(s) and project personnel, rules of affiliating institutes/universities shall be applied.
5.7 All equipment and books purchased out of the project fund shall be the property of the affiliating institution, and a detailed stock report duly signed by the Head of the Institute / Registrar / Principal has to be submitted to the ICSSR. However, ICSSR may ask for books and/ or equipment if it so requires.

6. Joining and Release of Grants

6.1 The Project Director has to join the project as per the date notified by the ICSSR by submitting the requisite documents such as an ‘undertaking’ on an Rs.100 stamp paper duly verified by a notary, declaration in prescribed format on a Rs.100 stamp paper duly verified by a notary, Grant-in-Aid bill towards the first instalment on or before the given deadline and Registration Mandate Form of PFMS Account of those affiliating / administering institutions, which have not linked their accounts to PFMS for ICSSR grant. The joining period can be extended only in exceptional circumstances up to a maximum of three months by the ICSSR.
6.2 The total awarded grant for the Research Project will be released to the affiliating institution in instalments as mentioned in the award letter, which will be decided by the ICSSR keeping in view upon the overall requirements of the project.
6.3 Final instalment will be released after receipt of recommendations of the expert for acceptance of the Final Report; Audited statement of accounts (AC) in prescribed format with utilization certificate (UC) in form 12A of GFR, for the entire approved project amount duly signed by the Finance Officer/Registrar/Director of the affiliating Institution; and at least five published research papers in the UGC care and Scopus Indexed journals. A detailed stock report duly signed by the Head of the Institute / Registrar / Principal has to be submitted to the ICSSR. The utilisation certificate of institutions whose accounts are not audited by CAG/AG, will be signed by the Finance Officer and charted accountant.
6.4 The Overhead Charges to the affiliating institution will be released after the acceptance of Final Report along with the receipt of the final audited Statement of Accounts and Utilisation Certificate in prescribed formats, which shall be verified by the ICSSR.
6.5 The Project Director will ensure that the expenditure incurred by him/her conforms to the approved budget heads and relevant rules. The Audited Statement of accounts with Utilization Certificate in form 12A of GFR is mandatory for the entire approved amount for the project.

7 Monitoring of Research Projects

7.1 Research undertaken by a Project Director will be monitored through the submission of periodic progress reports in the prescribed format. The project may be discontinued/terminated if research progress is found unsatisfactory or if any ICSSR rules are violated. In such cases, the entire amount must be refunded with a 10% penal interest.
7.2 The scholar/awardee must acknowledge the support of ICSSR in all their publications resulting from the project output such as Research Papers, Journal Articles, Articles in edited Books etc., and they must submit a copy of the same to the ICSSR during the course of or after completion of the project. In case of absence of acknowledgement by the scholars, they will be blacklisted and they will not be able to apply for any schemes of ICSSR in the future. Papers published in Conference/Seminar proceedings will not be considered as they are not peer reviewed. However, proceedings published by Scopus indexed / UGC care listed journals can be considered.
7.3 All project related queries will be addressed to the Project Director/ Affiliating Institution for their timely reply.
7.4 The ICSSR may, at any time, ask for verification of accounts and other relevant documents related to the Project.
7.5 The ICSSR reserves the right to change the affiliating institute if it is found that the affiliating institute is not co-operating with the scholar and it is not facilitating timely completion of the study.
7.6 Final report submitted by the Project Director is mandatorily evaluated by an Expert appointed by the ICSSR before considering the release of the final instalment.
7.7 The Project Director shall be personally responsible for the timely completion of the Project. The project proposal/final report cannot be submitted for the award of any University degree/diploma or funding by any institution by any member of the project staff, including the Project Director. However, ICSSR will have no objection if any member of the project staff utilizes the project data for research purpose, provided there are due acknowledgements to ICSSR.
7.8 If the researchers do not submit the requisite documents and the final report in time or the project is not completed in the stipulated period, the scholars will be blacklisted and the legal recourse will be initiated for recovery of released grant.
7.9 As per the directions of the Ministry of Education (MoE), the amount of grant sanctioned is to be utilized within the stipulated duration of the project. Any amount of the grant remaining unspent shall be refunded to the ICSSR immediately on expiry of the duration of the project. If the Project Director fails to utilize the grant for the purpose for which the same has been sanctioned/or fails to submit the audited statement of expenditure within the stipulated period, the he/she will be required to refund the amount of the grant with interest thereon @ 10% per annum.

8 Completion of the Study

8.1 On completion of the study, the Project Director should submit:

A. Two hard copies of the Final report along with softcopy in both PDF and word formats;
B. Hard copy of abstract in 500 words along with softcopy in both PDF and word formats;
C. Hard copy of Executive Summary of the final report in 5000 words along with softcopy in both PDF and word formats;
D. Similarity index sheet (Plagiarism check) for the final report.

8.2 If the expert suggests any changes in the reports at the time of evaluation, the Project Director shall incorporate the changes within stipulated time and should submit the following:

A. Soft copy of modified final report in both PDF and word formats along with two hard copies;
B. Five copies of executive summary;
C. Softcopies of (if any) Data Sets, along with well-defined definition of data and other important information for documentation.

8.3 ICSSR gets every report checked for plagiarism and the similarity report is also generated. As a policy, ICSSR does not accept reports having similarity beyond 10 per cent on similarity index. Scholars are required to get their final report checked from their affiliating institutions for similarity index and attach a certified report of the same at the time of submission.
8.4 The final report submitted by the scholar will be considered as satisfactory only after final recommendation of acceptance by the expert appointed by the ICSSR.

9. Obligations of the Affiliating Institution

9.1 The affiliating institution is required to give an undertaking in the prescribed format contained in the Application Form to administer and manage the ICSSR grant.
9.2 It is also required to provide the requisite research infrastructure to the scholar and maintain proper accounts.
9.3 The affiliating institution shall open / maintain a dedicated bank account for ICSSR grant (Scheme Code-0877) that is duly registered at EAT Module of PFMS portal for release of the grant without any delay.
9.4 The affiliating institution will be under obligation to ensure submission of the final report and an Audited Statement of Accounts and Utilization Certificate, (in the prescribed Proforma GFR 12-A) duly certified by the Competent Authority of the institution including the refund of any unspent balance.
9.5 The affiliating institution shall make suitable arrangements for preservation of data such as filled-in schedules, tabulation sheets, manuscripts, reports, etc. relating to the study. The ICSSR reserves the right to demand raw data, or such parts of the study as it deems fit.
9.6 In case a Project Director leaves / discontinues the project before completion of the tenure, the affiliating institution shall inform ICSSR immediately and refund the entire amount with a penal interest @ 10% per annum. The unutilised funds pending with the institutions for all projects must be returned to the ICSSR immediately. In case the universities/ institutions do not abide by the rules of the ICSSR, they shall be blacklisted for applying in schemes of ICSSR in the future.
9.7 In case a Project Director dies before the completion of the project, the affiliating institution shall immediately inform ICSSR by submitting a copy of the death certificate and settle the accounts immediately by expediting refund of any unspent balance.

10. Other Conditions

10.1 The duration of the project includes the time for Final Report writing. In exceptional circumstances, if the ICSSR is satisfied with the progress of the work, including quality publications, an extension may be granted (up to three months for Minor Projects & up to six months for Major Projects) without any additional grant. In case, the extension is needed beyond the above-mentioned period, the matter will be put up to the Competent Authority of ICSSR for a decision. If the extension is required, the Project Director needs to request at least three months prior to the end of stipulated tenure for no-cost extension with a copy of the progress report and reasons for the delay with documentary evidence. Retrospective extension will not be permitted.
10.2 The contingency grant may be utilized for stationery, computer typing related costs, specialised assistance such as data analysis and consultation for field trip etc., related to the research work.
10.3 Defaulters of any previous fellowship/project/programme/grant of the ICSSR will not be eligible for consideration. No scholar will be allowed to take up a research project along with any ICSSR fellowship.
10.4 Foreign trip is not permissible within the awarded budget of a project. However, the Project Director may undertake data collection outside India in exceptional cases and if warranted by the needs of the proposal. For this he/she is required to apply separately for consideration under the Data Collection Scheme of the ICSSR International Collaboration Division. However, ICSSR will not be bound to support such data collection from abroad and the decision of the ICSSR will be final. In either case, the completion of study should not be consequent upon such data collection support.
10.5 Any request for additional grant in excess of the sanctioned budget will not be considered.

10.6 The procurement of equipment/assets for the research project is allowed only if it was originally proposed, does not surpass the permissible amount, and adheres to the regulations of the affiliating institution.
10.7 The project director cannot make any changes in the research design at any stage.

10.8 Regarding Transfer of a Project/Appointment of substitute Project Director:

A. On the request from a university/institute, the ICSSR may permit the appointment of a Substitute Project Director in exceptional circumstances.
B. The ICSSR may also appoint a Substitute Project Director if it is convinced that the original awardee of the Project will not be in a position to carry out the study successfully.
C. The ICSSR may transfer the place of the Project from one affiliating institution to another subject to submission of the following:

• Satisfactory progress report (s);
• No objection certificate from both previous and the new university/institute;
• Audited statement of account and utilization certificate along with unspent balance, if any.
• However, no transfer of project / Project director should be requested in the last six months of the study.

D. Overhead charges will be apportioned proportionally among the institutes as per the grant released or as may be finally decided by the ICSSR.
E. In case of superannuation of Project Director and if the rules of the institution so require, the transfer of the project to a serving faculty member may be done with prior approval of the ICSSR. The credit of Project shall belong to the original Project Director.

10.9 Consideration under other call(s) would require a fresh proposal.

10.10 The Council reserves the right to reject any application without assigning any reason. It will not be responsible for any postal delays/loss.
10.11 Incomplete applications in any respect will not be considered.

10.12 The final authority related to the interpretation of these guidelines or any other issue is vested with the ICSSR.
10.13 No queries will be entertained by the ICSSR until the final declaration of results against a call. Any lobbying for award will lead to disqualification.
10.14 The ICSSR retains all rights to publish any project funded by it, contingent upon the recommendation by expert(s) appointed by ICSSR for publication. Copyright for the final report and outcomes of the project shall be held by ICSSR. Any publication or dissemination of research findings shall solely be at the discretion of ICSSR.