Guideline for use of UBA funds After registration and selection of the institutes under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan a token amount of Rs.10,000/- per village would be released under the UBA program. The funds are mainly meant for assistance for awareness, Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) study, need assessment, and contingency expenditure. The selected institutions will work for providing suitable solutions which can improve the social and economic well-being of the rural communities. The solutions selected/ customized should be sustainable, innovative, implementable, and scalable. Where the new technological solution is to be developed or an existing technological solution is to be customized, as per the local requirements, an additional grant would be available under the scheme, as recommended by the Subject Expert Groups. Identification of solutions by the Institutions should take place after a qualitative engagement with the rural people, local bodies, district authorities and obtaining a clear insight into the problems and requirements of the adopted villages. The solutions proposed should be uploaded on the UBA portal giving a clear statement of the problem, proposed solution, with proof of requirement & willingness to fund the solution by the District Authorities / Central and State Government/ Corporates/ Philanthropies, cost of the solutions, etc. which would be verified by the Subject Expert Group (SEG). After evaluation of the proposed solutions, assistance would be recommended by SEG up to Rs.1 lakh per technology for the selection of technical solutions and up to Rs.50,000/- for customization of any existing solution in a village. This amount is towards meeting the gap in fund availability. All selected solutions are to be executed in the village with the assistance of the Gram Panchayat and outcomes to be recorded by the institutions. A web-based monitoring system would be in place for all progress uploaded on the Portal by the institutions along with photographs.

There is no scope for mere lab projects or proto-types and the solutions should have been tested at the field level. There would also be no scope for Institutions to suggest the solutions in the form of provision of subsidies, provision of funds for financing research proposals, or projects for construction of infrastructure. Long-term research projects/ Fellowships of any kind, cost on Ph.D. programs, setting up laboratories/centers, exhibitions & similar events, Workshops (except when MHRD conducts Workshops), and capital /construction expenditure of any sort, also do not attract UBA funding.