About Aditi Vyas
Aditi Vyas is a social researcher working in this field from past three years after pursuing MA (Clinical Psychology) and Post Graduate Diploma in Management. Currently she is employed in a premier research institution of India prior to which she has worked with an NGO established by former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Ex-Governor of Assam. She has also worked with a state level nodal agency for a project carried out by the Government of India. She holds quality experience in documentation, with special focus on report writing and proposal making.
Introduction
Budget is the most important part of any proposal. The budget depicts a clear picture of all expenditures involved in carrying out a research project. Any research project, right from its very inception, requires several activities
involving the financial aspect. Therefore, it becomes necessary to
focus on the budget and to ensure that it is clear and all the
expenditures proposed are justified. Though, developing a budget is not
much tedious task, provided the concepts regarding all expenditures
involved are clear.
Components of Budget
To develop a budget, is a step by step
procedure. A budget is majorly categorized into four parts viz. Staff,
Recurring expenses, non recurring expenses and institutional overhead.
Recurring expenses are those which are variable and which keep on
occurring throughout the entire project duration. Non recurring expenses
are those which are one-time in nature or which do not occur at regular
intervals. Various activities or particulars in a budget are
categorized in recurring or non recurring expenses. At the end of the
budget, a particular amount is provisioned as institutional overhead
charges.
The table below depicts a picture of
basic layout of a research budget. Changes in the particulars and break
up of the duration of study of the budget can, however, be made as per
the needs of the study.
