The 8th National Level Exhibition and Project Competition (NLEPC) for the INSPIRE Awards – MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) is currently underway. This initiative aligns with the ‘Start-up India’ mission and its implementation is overseen by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation – India (NIF), a DST autonomous body.
INSPIRE Awards – An Overview
The INSPIRE Awards seeks to inspire students across all educational institutions, regardless of their board affiliations- state or national. The program targets students aged between 10 to 15 years, studying in classes 6 to 10, with an objective to encourage them to pursue science and aim for a career in research. The winning students are awarded INR 10,000 which gets deposited directly into their bank accounts under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme.
A Unique Approach
This unique project does not conduct competitive exams to identify talent. Instead, it places its trust in the existing educational structure for identifying innate talents among students and nurturing them accordingly.
Aims and Objectives
The primary aim of the INSPIRE Awards is to stimulate students to become future innovators and critical thinkers. The project aims to catalyze one million original ideas/innovations rooted in science and societal applications. It promotes a culture of creativity and innovative thinking among school children, addressing societal needs through science and technology. Moreover, it guides the children to become sensitive, responsible citizens, and innovation leaders of tomorrow.
The INSPIRE Scheme
The INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) scheme is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Science and Technology & Earth Sciences. The scheme’s objective is to instill in the country’s youth population a creative and analytical approach towards science. It attracts talent to the study of science at an early age, thereby building the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology system and Research & Development base. Implemented by the Government of India since 2010, the scheme covers students in the age group of 10-32 years and consists of five components, with the INSPIRE Awards- MANAK being one of them.
Related Initiatives
The Draft National Science Technology and Innovation Policy, 2020 aims to identify and address the strengths and weaknesses of the Indian Science Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem. The goal is to catalyze the socio-economic development of the country and make the Indian STI ecosystem globally competitive.
The SERB-POWER Scheme is exclusively designed for women scientists to mitigate gender disparity in various S&T programmes in Indian academic institutions and Research and Development (R&D) laboratories.
The Swarna Jayanti Fellowship offers special assistance and support to a selected number of young scientists with a proven track record. This enables them to pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology.