NINTH PLAN

As may be seen, there has been slight increases in the support for social science research over the years. And thereby grants-in-aid provided by the Council in 2001-2002 had increased to two and a half times of what was given in1997-98.
 
The ICSSR has made significant contribution for the promotion of social science research in the country. Some of the highlights are:

• The ICSSR supports 27 Research Institutes which are Centres of excellence and have made significant contribution in strengthening indigenous knowledge in the field of social sciences.
• ICSSR has funded more than 2800 research projects initiating research in areas of national concern, During the Ninth Plan Period itself; it has provided support to 320 research projects involving a grant of Rs.266 lakhs.
• The ICSSR provides fellowships to scholars to nurture talent among young researchers and to senior-level social scientists to engage in research in significant areas of enquiry. During the Ninth Plan about 700 research fellowships were awarded involving a grant of Rs. 500 lakhs provided by the ICSSR.
• The ICSSR has, under the programme of NASSDOC, been providing library and documentation services to scholars including specialized bibliographic studies, availability of doctoral dissertations, research reports, back volumes of social science periodicals, documents, specialised CD-ROMs etc. Also a specialized documentation center for area studies has also been set up during the Ninth Plan to focus exclusively on resources relating to India's Asian neighbours. An expenditure of Rs. 192 lakhs have been incurred on this programme.
• The ICSSR, under the programme of Data Archives, has been engaged in providing services relating to availability of quantitative socio-economic data generated by various institutions relevant to the empirically oriented research studies undertaken by the scholars. In active cooperation with 12 research centers it provides guidance and consultancy services to scholars engaged in analysing qualitative and quantitative data. During the Ninth Plan over 200 scholars received guidance in their research and forty training courses in research methodology and computer analysis in data processing were sponsored. Two Data Banks-one on Education and another on Demography, Population and Employment have been set up at CMDR, Dharwad and IEG, Delhi respectively.
• Under the International Collaboration Programme, ICSSR has been promoting through bilateral agreements and cultural exchange programmes exchange of scholars and academic cooperation with several countries (like France, UK, Russia, China, Egypt, Turkey, Mexico, South Africa etc). ICSSR is also participating in academic activities with multilateral bodies like IFSSO, AASSREC, ISSC, UNESCO etc. Under Indo-Dutch Programme for Alternative Development (IDPAD) also joint academic programmes are being undertaken by Indian and Dutch scholars. During the Ninth Plan Rs 393 lakhs was spent on this programme
• ICSSR under the programme Research Survey and Publications has been providing grants-in-aid to scholars for publication of books and Ph.D. dissertation and research reports etc. In addition, journals of abstracts and research surveys in different disciplines as well as other non-priced publications are also brought out by the division. During Ninth Plan Rs 58 lakhs were spent on this activity.