Regional Centres

Regional Centres have been established as a part of ICSSR's programme for decentralising administration and broad basing social science research in the regions.Their main roles were defined as follows:

• To represent the ICSSR and conduct its programmes in the region. Bring the ideas and problems of the social scientists of the region to the notice of the ICSSR for possible action.
• Serve as a link between the social scientists of the region and the national and international community of social scientists.

The ICSSR has six Regional Centres. Their location and coverage are as follows:(For details please see Annexure I)

• Eastern Regional Centre, Kolkata covering Bihar, Orissa, West Bengal and Jharkhand, and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• North-Eastern Regional Centre, Shillong covering Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim.
• North-Western Regional Centre, Chandigarh covering Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
• Northern Regional Centre, New Delhi covering Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan ,Uttar Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Uttranchal.
• Southern Regional Centre, Hyderabad covering Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka,Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and the Union Territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry.
• Western Regional Centre, Mumbai covering Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa and the Union Territories of Daman and Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli.

The Regional Centres have been undertaking the following activities:

• Promoting documentation and bibliographical work in the regional languages.
• Organizing seminars/workshops/conferences in the region.
• Organizing lectures by the distinguished scholars.
• Assisting regional professional associations of social scientists, and social science journals in the regional languages.
• Providing accommodation at a reasonable rate (wherever possible) to the scholars/students visiting the place for library or fieldwork.
• Awarding study grants to scholars for visiting libraries and institutions.
• Providing photocopying facilities to scholars, especially providing photocopies of selected articles from journals etc.
• Regional Centres have developed infrastructure and research support facilities over the years with the funds provided by the ICSSR and the state Governments. These include hostel/guest house facilities, additional library space, conference hall, seminar rooms and reprographic facilities.
• Any other activity which may promote social science research in the region and/or which may be delegated by the ICSSR.