Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) provides financial assistance to promote research work in the field of Water Resources Engineering. The assistance is provided by way of grants to academicians/experts in the Universities, IITs, recognised R&D laboratories, Water Resources / Irrigation departments of the Central and State Governments and NGOs. Research proposals of applied nature as well as basic research are considered for MoWR support.

Considering wide range of topics covered by Water Resources Engineers, five committees called Indian National Committees (INCs) have been constituted to co-ordinate the R&D programme. The five INCs are:

INC for Hydraulics Research (INCH)

• Management of Floods
• Hydraulic Structures (including masonry and concrete structures)
• River and Estuarine Hydraulics
• River Morphology
• Ground Water Hydraulics
• Instrumentation for Seismic and Geophysical Measurements
• Open Channel Flow
• Pipe Flow
• Hydraulic Machinery
• City Water Supply
• Ports and Harbours

INC for Hydrology (INCOH)

• Meteorology
• Surface Water Hydrology
• Evaporation Control
• Ground Water Hydrology and Management (Excluding Ground Water Hydraulics)
• Instrumentation
• Real Time Systems
• Application of GIS and Remote Sensing

INC for Irrigation & Drainage (INCID)

• Irrigation
• Drainage
• Agronomy
• Water Management
• Environmental Impact and Socio-Economic Aspect of Water Resources Projects
• Plasticulture Development
• Geo-textiles

INC for Geo-technical Engineering (INCGE)

• Rock Mechanics
• Application of High Technology and Instrumentation and Measurement Techniques

INC for Construction Materials & Structures (INCCMS)

• Soil and Materials
• Structures

Research Categories:

Research and related activities for which grant-in-aid from MoWR can be sought shall cover one or more from the following list.

• Basic Research
• Applied Research
• Action Research
• Education & Training
• Mass Awareness on Water Resources Development
• Infrastructure Development
• Creation of Centres of Excellence

Funding is provided to following:

• R&D institutes/labs of the Central or State Government
• Organisations under MoWR
• Universities and Educational institutes, engineering and agricultural colleges; IITs
• WALMIs, NGOs, non-profit making private R&D institutions/ organisations

Funding can be provided for

• Purchase of equipment
• Purchase of books and journals
• Development of other infrastructure necessary for the research
• The salaries of research staff in the grades of JRF/SRF/RA
• The cost of conducting the experiment including cost of consumables
• Travel in connection with the research.

If the host institute is providing any facilities - infrastructure or staff - then overheads upto 15 % of the total cost can also be charged to the project cost. Funding is not provided for foreign travel; salary of the PI, other investigators and non-research staff who are regular employees of the institute; honorarium or cash incentives in any form for the investigators and research staff. Purchase of computers and peripherals may be allowed only in rare cases where the importance of the work so demands.

The proforma for submission of new proposals requires the PI to identify significant stages/mile stones of work and funds to be released on completion of these stages. A progress report is required to be sent to the monitoring INC twice a year; a proforma report in the month of October and a detailed report in the month of April. Release of subsequent installments of funds is subject to satisfactory progress of work.

Application for research grants can be submitted at any time of the year. The proposal is to be submitted on a prescribed proforma given below. Five copies of the application should be submitted to the INC in whose domain the topic of the research is covered. In case of doubt the application can also be submitted to the R&D Division who will forward it to the appropriate INC.

The R&D Division in the Ministry of Water Resources acts as the Ministry's interface with INCs.