Government of India has decided to celebrate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore and has constituted a National Committee under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and a National Implementation Committee under the Finance Minister, to plan and take up commemorative programmes and projects at the national and international level. The National Committee has decided that Ministry of Culture may support initiatives by civil society organizations in organizing appropriate commemorative programmes. The National Implementation Committee has decided that the Ministry may launch a scheme on the lines of the Cultural Functions Grant Scheme of the Ministry of Culture, but with a decentralized structure of operation and hence this scheme.

The scheme will be known as the ‘Scheme of Financial Assistance for Cultural Programmes Organized by Not-for-profit Organizations to Commemorate 150 Years of Rabindranath Tagore’, and its short name is ‘Tagore Commemoration Grant Scheme (TCGS)’.

Under the scheme, financial assistance will be provided to the following:

It shall come into force with immediate effect, extend to all parts of the country and continue to be in operation from the date of notification of the Scheme upto May, 2012.

The scheme will cover assistance to all forms of ‘not-for-profit’ organizations, including Societies, Trusts, Universities (including University’s Centres and Institutions), Schools, Colleges, Research Institutions, Government-assisted Organizations etc. The Organization should have been functioning and registered under the Societies Registration Act (XXI of 1860), Trusts Act, Companies Act or any Central or State Act, Notification or Order, for at least three years prior to application, and must have professional experience and expertise in the field of art & culture, preferably in the sectors associated with Nobel Laureate Tagore and his works, or should have been functioning as an educational institution for at least three years prior to application.

The Scheme will, however, not be applicable to religious or political organizations. Nor will the Scheme be applicable to individuals, except that well-known solo performers will be eligible for consideration under the scheme if the concerned ZTCC is fully satisfied that such individual artiste(s) are of high standing and deserve special treatment.

1. The applicant Organization should, in order to qualify for the grant, have a properly constituted Managing body or Governing Council with its powers, duties and responsibilities clearly defined and laid down in the form of a written Constitution.
2. It must have tied up or planned the matching resources at least to the extent of 25 % of the project cost.
3. It should have facilities, resources, personnel and experience to take up the programme/proposal for which it requires a grant.
4. It must have knowledge and professional experience, expertise in the areas associated with Tagore and his works in different fields.

Preference will be given to organizations having:

1. long association with Tagore related subjects.
2. record of expertise in the suggested event or programme.
3. capacity to execute the programme in tune with the mandate of the Commemoration organized by Government of India.

Grant will be provided, inter alia, for supporting the following types of programmes or proposals, concerning any area/theme related to the preservation and promotion of the cultural heritage, and other multiple creative endeavours, to suitably commemorate the 150th Birth Anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore and to perpetuate his enduring and unique legacy:

1. Lectures, Seminars, Conferences, Workshops, Symposia;
2. Poets’ and Writers’ meets, Festivals, etc.;
3. Production and/or performance of Cultural shows;
4. Exhibitions;
5. Documentaries, audio-visual presentations (CDs, DVDs, Digital products);
6. Publications;
7. Any other commemorative proposals, that may be considered support worthy and approved by the ZTCC.

Preference will be given to the following programmes:

1. Projects of Tagore that would reach different corners of India and world.
2. Interpretation/re-interpretation/adaption of any of Tagore’s works (in any of the forms) in languages other than Bengali.
3. Revisiting and emphasizing Tagore’s pioneering contributions on subjects that are of contemporary relevance, like:
   1. Gender inequalities.
   2. Agricultural Development.
   3. Co-operative Movement.
   4. Rural reconstruction.
   5. Village and Craft enterprises.
   6. Caste discrimination and its negative impact.

Grant for specific proposals or programmes under para 6 above shall be restricted to 75% of the estimated cost, subject to a maximum of Rs.5.00 lakhs per proposal or programme. In deserving cases, where an organization (in India) proposes to conduct events both within the country and in the neighbouring countries, the grant may go upto Rs. 10 lakhs with a sub- ceiling of Rs. 5 lakhs each for the domestic component and the foreign component of such integrated project proposals.

The Ministry may (only in exceptional circumstances and where strongly recommended by the ZTCC) increase the assistance to any proposal of outstanding merit and relevance, subject to prescribed guidelines.

1. The Scheme shall be operated in a decentralized manner through designated Authorities of the Ministry of Culture, to be known as ‘Zonal Tagore Commemoration Offices (ZTCOs)
2. For this purpose, 8 ZTCOs have been formed with their names(headquarters) and jurisdiction as under:
   1. Delhi Zone (Delhi) : NCT of Delhi, NCR including Gurgaon, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad;
   2. East Zone (Kolkata) : West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand,Bihar, Andaman & Nicobar Islands;
   3. North East Zone (Guwahati) : Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura;
   4. North Central Zone (Allahabad) : Uttar Pradesh (except NCR), Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh;
   5. North Zone (Chandigarh) : Punjab, Haryana (except NCR), Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh;
   6. West Zone (Udaipur) : Rajasthan (except NCR), Gujarat,Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu;
   7. South Central Zone (Mumbai) : Madhya Pradesh,Maharashtra, Goa; and
   8. South Zone (Chennai) : Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Puducherry, Lakshadweep.
3. Grant of financial assistance and quantum thereof will, in each case, be based on the recommendations of an Expert Committee to be set up at the Zonal level for each ZTCO to aid and advise it in implementation of the Scheme. These Zonal Committees will be known as ‘Zonal Tagore Commemoration Committees (ZTCCs).
4. The Executive head of the ZTCO shall be the Convener of the relevant ZTCC, and will sanction grants under the Scheme, upon the recommendation of the ZTCC.
5. Unless and until otherwise ordered, the composition of Zones, their headquarters, and the list of respective ZTCOs shall be as given in the Schedule (appended hereto). Composition of the ZTCCs will be separately ordered by the Government and placed on the website of the Ministry of Culture (www.indiaculture.gov.in).

Separate accounts shall be maintained in regard to the grants released by the Central Government; and

1. The accounts of the grantee Organization shall be open to audit at any time by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India or his nominee at his discretion.
2. The grantee Organization shall submit to the Government of India, through ZTCC or otherwise, a Statement of Accounts audited by a Chartered Accountant or Government Auditor, stating the expenditure incurred on the approved proposal and indicating the utilization of the Government Grant. If the Utilization Certificate is not submitted within the prescribed period, the grantee Organization shall arrange to refund immediately the whole amount of the grant received together with interest thereon at the prevailing borrowing rate of the Government of India unless specially exempted by the Government.
3. the grantee Organization will be open to a review by the Government of India, Ministry of Culture, through any Official or Committee specially appointed for the purpose or in any other manner decided by the Government, as and when deemed necessary by the Government.
4. The grantee Organization shall not invite any foreign delegation without obtaining permission from the Ministry of External Affairs, application for which shall invariably be routed through the Ministry of Culture.
5. It will be subjected to such other conditions as may be imposed by the Government from time to time.

An advertisement will be placed both on the website of the Ministry, as well as in the print media, inviting applications under the Scheme. Applications may be made at any time during the operation of the Scheme (as per the procedure specified in the advertisement). All applications will be addressed to the Convener, ZTCC of the relevant Zone and sent to the relevant ZTCO, mentioned in the Schedule.

1. Copy of the Registration Certificate/ Act/ Government Resolution or Order whereby the Organization became a legal entity.
2. Constitution of the Organization, Memorandum of Association, Rules and Regulations, where applicable.
3. Present composition of the Board of Management and/ or Governing Body.
4. Copy of the latest available Annual Report.
5. A detailed proposal including:
   1. description of the proposal for which assistance is requested along with its duration and the qualifications and experience of the staff, if any, to be engaged for the project ; and
   2. Financial statement of the proposal giving item wise details and the source(s) from which counterpart funds will be obtained.
6. A Statement of income and expenditure of the applicant Organization for the previous three years and a copy of the Balance Sheet for the previous year certified by a Chartered Accountant or Government Auditor.
7. An Indemnity Bond in the prescribed proforma on a stamp paper of appropriate denomination, duly signed by the authorized signatory of the applicant Organization.
8. Details of the bank account in the prescribed proforma to enable electronic transfer of sanctioned funds.

Note: For proposals from individual performers, out of the documents specified above, documents mentioned at (a) to (d) will not be required and the applicant will instead furnish his/her personal particulars and a brief description of the performance/work done by him/her in the last one year. Similarly, in lieu of the documents mentioned at (f) and (g) above, the individual applicant will furnish a statement of his/ her income and expenditure for the previous three years along with a copy of the Income Tax Return last filed and an Indemnity Bond in his/her individual capacity.

The Grant will be released in two instalments of 75% (first instalment to be released at the time of sanctioning the proposal) and 25% (second instalment to be released after the proposal/programme is completed and the required documents including a statement of actual expenditure and Utilization Certificate alongwith share of the organization are furnished to the satisfaction of the Sanctioning Authority).

The Government will place funds at the disposal of each ZTCO and the same will be drawn and disbursed by the Convener, ZTCC for purposes of the Scheme based on the advice of the ZTCC. All payments will be made either through electronic transfers or through cheques bearing the name and the bank account number of the grantee Organization.

A bound printed Report of the programme executed under the Scheme will be submitted in triplicate - one copy directly to the ZTCO and two copies to S&F Section of the Ministry of Culture (out of which one copy will be passed on to the C&M Section of the Ministry).

Incomplete Applications not supported by the required documents will be summarily rejected.