Operating under the broad framework of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 and inspired by the Panch Pran (Five Resolves), this flagship scheme seeks to empower a whole new generation of undergraduate students across India. With an inaugural call focused specifically on "Youth and Decolonisation", the program aims to shift the core intellectual paradigm of the social sciences and humanities.
Here is an extensive, easy-to-digest deep dive into everything you need to know about this major academic opportunity.
🌟 Core Objective: Decolonising Indian Academia
For decades, social science research across global institutions has historically been dominated by Eurocentric models, terminologies, and framework structures. The primary objective of the ICSSR-YSPS is to challenge these systems.
The initiative invites young, curious minds to leverage Bharatiya perspectives, Indian intellectual traditions, and indigenous local realities to create original, context-based knowledge. By incorporating everyday lived social experiences, regional folk traditions, and local historical structures, student researchers will help outgrow old colonial remnants to actively work towards the grand vision of Viksit Bharat @ 2047.
📊 Strategic Financial Outlay & Project Scale
The Government of India is investing heavily to make this grassroots research culture successful:
Total Dedicated Outlay: ₹18 Crores ($180 million INR) allocated for the initial phase.
Target Project Scale: At least 600 undergraduate research projects will be officially funded across the nation.
Maximum Grant per Project: Up to ₹3,00,000 (3 Lakh INR) distributed to each winning submission.
Student Incentives: Each eligible team member (up to 3 students per project) will be awarded a monthly stipend of ₹5,000 for up to six months to support empirical research and data collection expenses.
Official Project Timeline: Selected research cohorts will have exactly 8 months to complete and submit their comprehensive studies.
👥 Eligibility Matrix: Who Can Apply?
Unlike conventional national fellowships reserved strictly for PhD or Postdoctoral researchers, this scheme targets young undergraduate minds.
1. Student Requirements
Academic Criteria: Students must be actively registered and enrolled in a Four-Year Undergraduate Programme (FYUP) introduced under NEP 2020.
Current Semester: The call is specifically open to students in their 3rd or 4th year—specifically those currently traversing their 6th or 7th semesters.
Team Structure Mandatory: The program values peer collaboration over solo projects. Proposals must be submitted by a team of at least 2 or 3 students coming from the exact same institution.
Leadership Roles: The cohort must pick one lead applicant designated as the Lead Researcher, with peers serving as Researcher-1 and Researcher-2.
2. Faculty Mentorship Rules
Every student cohort must be supervised, guided, and mentored by a regular faculty member of their current affiliating institution.
The designated Project Supervisor must hold a valid PhD degree in Social Sciences or Humanities and possess verifiable research experience (demonstrated via publications in high-impact journals or authored textbooks).
3. Eligible Institutions
Applications are processed through public or recognized educational structures, including:
Publicly funded Central and State Universities.
UGC-recognized deemed universities.
Government/Public-funded colleges.
Recognized ICSSR Research Institutes.
🔬 The 8 Essential Research Themes
Proposals must adopt a strongly Indian-centric approach and frame their study plans strictly within the following tracks:
Decolonising Narratives: Indo-Aryan Theories
Re-examining historical agency from local perspective lenses.
Merging linguistic, physical archaeological, and modern genetic evidence to challenge archaic colonial migration models.
Beyond Macaulay: Education and Research Methodology
Cognitive decolonisation and implementing native Indian pedagogical frameworks.
Crafting research models relying on internal perceptual validity and indigenous social parameters. Integrating folklore and oral histories into learning.
Decolonising History, Culture and Language
Rewriting Bharatiya history using authentic local regional archives rather than relying solely on colonial gazetteers.
Advancing linguistic de-anglicisation across systemic administrative governance and education.
Health, Mind and Mental Well-being
Mapping Indian psychology rooted deeply in traditional systems, Yoga, and Buddhist philosophical structures.
Gathering rigorous scientific evidence for AYUSH platforms and executing cohesive "One Health" societal frameworks.
Economic and Financial Sovereignty
Looking past traditional Western capital indices to introduce community-centric social parameters.
Formally analyzing and boosting the informal sector/gig economy and reviving indigenous credit cooperatives.
Decolonising Finance, Trade and Commerce
Evaluating financial literacy systems via regional joint-family structural lenses.
Investigating Indian Ocean and ancient Silk Road mercantile connections inside modern commercial maritime templates.
Decolonising Governance, Law and Political Thought
Investigating the structural transition from colonial codes to the freshly implemented Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Enhancing legal pluralism via Lok Adalats and customary law integration; promoting local political thought traditions (Kautilya, Mahatma Gandhi, Savarkar, etc.).
Rural Development, Environment and Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS)
Overturning old colonial narratives of India's structural "rural backwardness" by establishing village autonomy models.
Utilizing Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to combat modern environmental concerns (forest preservation, local climate urbanism, and organic pollution control).
📅 Important Dates & Application Process
Ensure your team coordinates effectively to meet these non-negotiable windows:
Commencement of Online Applications: June 06, 2026
Closing Window for Submissions: July 06, 2026
How to Submit: Student cohorts, along with their Project Supervisor, must draft a comprehensive research proposal summarizing their target theme, review of literature, methodology, and direct social application. Submissions are processed entirely online via the official ICSSR web portal.
For additional policy frameworks, formal notification PDFs, and the electronic application tracking matrix, visit the official page directly:
