Scheme for providing Grant-in-aid to Voluntary Organizations/ Societies/Trusts for development and maintenance of National Memorials

Objective:

To commemorate the role of eminent national personalities who have contributed to and played a historic role in the freedom struggle of our country and to provide financial assistance for the development / maintenance of Memorials set up in their memory.

Scope:

1. The Scheme shall cover financial assistance for memorials under three categories:-

• Memorials set up on the initiative of the Central Government;
• Memorials set up on the initiative of the State Government and/or civic bodies; and
• Memorials set up by voluntary organizations and memorials being maintained by Trusts.

2. As far as category (a) is concerned, ordinarily the Ministry of Culture, Government of India shall take the decisions and provide funds from its own budget.
3. As regards requests received from State Government to provide the maintenance grant for the memorials set up by them, the quantum of assistance shall normally be decided on the merits of individual cases.
4. In the case of voluntary Organizations/ Civic bodies/ Trusts, the Central Government grant shall be given only as a supplement to such grant as may be received by them from the State Governments.
5. The Scheme shall not be applicable to such organizations which are functioning as religious institutions.
6. Promotions of self sustaining institutions will be the uppermost objective/criteria while deciding the grants.
7. The monuments/memorials protected by Archeological Survey of India are not eligible for grant.

Quantum of Assistance:

1. The maximum limit of financial assistance for one memorial shall be Rs.10 lakhs. However, in exceptional circumstances, an amount not exceeding Rs.20 lakhs may be recommended by the Expert Committee and the reasons for recommending the higher amount may be recorded by the Expert Committee. In cases where financial assistance in excess of Rs.10 lakhs has been recommended, approval of Hon’ble Culture Minister is required to be obtained.
2. The quantum of financial assistance shall be decided by an Expert Committee to be constituted for consideration of the proposals. The Expert Committee is to be headed by Joint Secretary (Culture) with 2-3 Experts in the cultural field to be nominated by Secretary (Culture). In addition, Director/Deputy Secretary dealing with Scheme be a Member of Expert Committee.
3. The grant shall be provided in suitable installments and on the furnishing of Utilization Certificates of the earlier installments sanctioned by the Central Government/ State Government as the case may be.
4. The last installment shall be released after the audited statement of accounts, utilization certificates and the completion certificate from the PWD/ Civic engineer (in case of grant for renovation of the building) are received in this Ministry.
5. In addition to the one-time non-recurring grant sanctioned for a particular memorial, another grant not exceeding Rs.10 lakhs, as a special case in deserving cases, may be sanctioned with the approval of Secretary (Culture) during the whole cycle of the Scheme.

Criteria for eligibility in the case of Voluntary Organizations / Civic Bodies:

1. The applicant Agency should be registered under the Registration of Societies Act of 1860 or as a Public Trust under any law for the time being in force.
2. It should have been in existence for at least 5 years before applying for the grant provided that such period may be relaxed by Government of India exceptional cases.
3. The applicant agency should be of All-India character.
4. It should be financially sound and should have facilities, resources and personnel to maintain the memorial for which the grant is required.
5. Keeping in view the Government’s policy, preference shall be given to those institutions/ organizations who propose to take up developmental activities instead of merely erecting new memorials.
6. Some assistance would be considered for the renovation and repairs of existing memorials within the prescribed ceiling as a one-time non-recurring grant.
7. Grants shall not be given for the construction of new buildings.
8. Applications must be accompanied by the recommendation of the State Government.
9. Only one Society/ Trust from the State shall be considered for grant for the purpose of the specified memorial.

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