Government of India has approved the INSPIRE Scheme in November 2008 at a total cost of about Rs 1979.

25
crores in the 11th Plan Period and Honourable Prime Minister launched the programme on 13th December 2008.
The programme is continuing in the 12th Plan period at a budgetary allocation of Rs. 2200 crores.

The development of science is important for the development of any nation and to improve the
standard of human life. Today the science sector is feeling unable to attract sufficient amount of
students due to lucrative career in information technology and BPO sector. Today in the country
young meritorious need to be attracted to science since school days and provide them with a
students, collaborative, creative and challenging educational environment, so that they can
develop a broad understanding of science.

Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) is an innovative

programme sponsored and managed by the Department of Science & Technology for
attraction of talent to Science. The basic objective of INSPIRE is to communicate to the
youth of the country the excitements of creative pursuit of science, attract talent to the
study of science at an early age and thus build the required critical human resource pool
for strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology system and R&D base.

A striking feature of the programme is that it does not believe in conducting competitive
exams for identification of talent at any level. It believes in and relies on the efficacy of
the existing educational structure for identification of talent.

INSPIRE
The strength of the innovation infrastructure of a nation has enormous significance in the
competition among emerging knowledge economies.The realization of Vision 2020 calls
for action and a well designed innovation infrastructure.

Generation and nurturing of a human talent pool capable of utilizing and developing first
principles in science is both a pre-condition and integral part of such an innovation
infrastructure. An India specific model for attracting talent with an aptitude for research
and innovation, for a career in Basic & Natural sciences is required. INSPIRE is an
innovative programme developed by the the Department of Science & Technology to
attract talent to the excitement and study of science at an early age, and to help the
country build the required critical resource pool for strengthening and expanding the S&T
system and R&D base. It is a programme with long term foresight.

INSPIRE has three components:

1. Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent     (SEATS)

2. Scholarship for Higher Education           (SHE)
3. Assured Opportunity for Research Careers  (AORC)

Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS)

Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent (SEATS) aims at attracting talented youth to study
science by providing INSPIRE Award, to experience the joy of innovations, of Rs.5,000/-
to one million young learners in the age group 10-15 years. There shall be annual
Summer/Winter Camps for about 50,000 youth at more than 100 locations, for toppers in
Class X board examinations for exposure with global leaders in Science, through
INSPIRE Internship.

INSPIRE Award

In order to seed and experience the joy of innovation, every year two lakh school
children in the age-group of 10 to 15 years i.e., 6th to 10th standards are being identified
for the INSPIRE Award. Each INSPIRE Award envisions an investment of Rs.5,000/- per
child. The scheme plans to reach at least two students per secondary school during the
next five years.

Basic Guidelines for MANAK Awards

INSPIRE Award shall have following guidelines for its implementation:

 The Award for the students in the class of 6th to 10th Standards.
 No examination in the identification process. Names of the Students will be
nominated by the Principal/Headmaster/Headmistress.
 One million awards in five years spread over to about 4.5 lakhs Middle &
Secondary level schools in the country.
 Each student will get an amount of Rs 5000 for making a Project and
transportation cost for displaying the exhibits/ project in the exhibition.
 There will exhibitions at the District Level, State Level, Regional level and
National
 Level for displaying the best exhibit/project of each level. Separate budget
provision will be made to District/ State for arranging the exhibition of projects
of INSPIRE
 Awardees at District & State level.
 Award money will be released directly to the Awardees by an arrangement
with SBI.
 The concerned State will provide the list of all Middle & Secondary level
Schools including in Government/Government aided/Private etc.
 Names of one selected student each from Classes 6th, 7th & 8th in one
Group and 9th & 10th in another Group of each School with an indication of
preferred one name from each Group, viz. 6th -8th Std. and 9th -10th Std. will
be provided by the Headmaster/Headmistress/Principal of each School
through respective State Education departments.
 State Education Department will exercise their convenient method of selection
of students from each school in the State. Both academic records of the
student and exhibition/project done by the student would be preferred in the
selection process.
 Criteria used by the State will be shared with DST.
 DST shall bear the cost of organizing the Exhibitions at the District & State
Level and also make the necessary arrangements for engaging
Scientists/Academicians as Jury in these Exhibitions.
For more information : INSPIRE Award

INSPIRE Internship

"Motivating talented youth to take-up research as a personal undertaking" by rubbing

shoulders with global icons of science including Nobel Prize Winners, is the objective of
INSPIRE Internship. This component of the programme aims at working as a life-long
catalysing experience for the 11th graders in science stream.

For more information INSPIRE Internship

Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE)

Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) aims at attracting talented youth into
undertaking higher education in science intensive programmes, by providing
scholarships and mentoring through 'summer attachment' to performing researchers.
The scheme offers 10,000 scholarships every year @ Rs 0.80 lakh per year to talented
youth in the age group 17-22 years, for undertaking Bachelor and Masters level
education in Natural and Basic sciences.

However, the 18 Science subject such as (1) Physics, (2) Chemistry, (3) Mathematics,
(4) Biology, (5) Statistics, (6) Geology, (7) Astrophysics, (8) Astronomy, (9) Electronics,
(10) Botany, (11) Zoology, (12) Bio-chemistry, (13) Anthropology, (14) Microbiology, (15)
Geophysics, (16) Geochemistry, (17) Atmospheric Sciences and (18) Oceanic Sciences,
either as major/honours or their combination in BSc/Integrated MSc/Integrated MS
course will be under the scope of INSPIRE Scholarship. The main feature of the scheme
is mentorship support being planned for every scholar through INSPIRE scholarship.

For more information on SHE

Assured Opportunity for Research Careers

Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC) aims at attracting, attaching,
retaining and nourishing talented young scientific Human Resource to strengthened the
R&D foundation and base by offering doctoral INSPIRE Fellowship in the age group 22-
27 years, in both Basic and Applied sciences (including engineering and medicine). It
also aims at assuring opportunities for post-doctoral researchers through a scheme
(similar to the New Blood programme of the Royal Society of UK) through contractual
and tenure track positions for five years in both Basic and Applied sciences areas
through an INSPIRE Faculty Scheme.

For more information on AORC

INSPIRE Fellowship

INSPIRE fellowship aims at enhancing research fellowships for doctoral studies and
opening up partnerships with private sector for topping the Government's efforts in
nurturing talents for scientific research. This scheme is applicable to Basic and Applied
sciences as well as Medicine, Agriculture etc. with provision of multiple entries. The
fellowship will be offered to (1) University 1st Ranker in a particular subject at PG level
examination in Basic and Applied Science courses as well as (2) INSPIRE scholar, who
have secured aggregate marks of 65 % are above at the 2 year MSc or 5 year
Integrated MSc/MS.

For more information on INSPIRE Fellowship

INSPIRE Faculty Scheme

INSPIRE Faculty Scheme opens up an 'Assured Opportunity for Research Career

(AORC)' for young researchers in the age group of 27-32 years. It is expected to
augment high quality scientific manpower in scientific and educational institutions. It
provides attractive opportunities to young achievers for developing independent scientific
profiles and intends helping them emerge as S&T leaders in the long term. The Scheme
offers contractual research positions. It provides career opportunities, but it is not a
guarantee for tenure positions after 5 years.

For more information on INSPIRE Faculty Scheme

INSPIRE programme is to communicate to the youth population of the country the excitements of
creative pursuit of science and attract talent to the study of science at an early stage and build the
required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology
system and R&D base. During 2018-19, about 12,000 INSPIRE scholarships with 57% women has
been offered to the selected candidates based on their performance (top 1%) in higher Secondary
Boards

INSPIRE AWARDS - MANAK PROGRAMME MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration
and Knowledge) is a national programme implemented by the Department of Science and
Technology in which the thrust is on ‘Original ideas’ having potential to address societal needs
through Science & Technology especially in context of National flagship programmes such as Swachh
Bharat, Digital India, Swasth Bharat, Make in India, Energy, Environment, Sanitation etc. • In so far as
INSPIRE AWARDS–MANAK programme is concerned, during the year 2018-19, 50,279 INSPIRE
Awards have been sanctioned. About 43.41 % of the awardees are girls and 25.66% SCs/ STs. The
Department has so far conducted six National Level Exhibition and Project Competitions (NLEPCs)
starting from 2011, every year. A total of 4716 awardees have so far exhibited their projects/models
in these exhibitions held so far. Patent Facilitating Centre (PFC) of TIFAC along with its team of
patent experts scrutinized the exhibits and scouted the patentable inventions for patenting. 20
projects were filed with complete specification. • Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) under
the SAKURA Science High School Program invites INSPIRE Awardees to visit excellent Universities,
research institutions in Japan and also to experience Japanese culture. In 2018, a total of 32 INSPIRE
Awardees and 7 supervisors have successfully participated in the Programme during 20-26 May,
2018 and visited Japan. INSPIRE PROGRAM Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research
(INSPIRE) is one of the innovative programs by the Department of Science & Technology, GOI for
attraction of talent to science. The basic objective of INSPIRE is to communicate to the youth
population of the country the excitements of creative pursuit of science and attract talent to the
study of science at an early stage and build the required critical human resource pool for
strengthening and expanding the Science & Technology system and R&D base. INSPIRE Internship is
the second component of the Scheme for Early Attraction of Talent for Science (SEATS). It aims at
providing exposure to young science students by organizing Science Camps either in summer or
winter days. During 2018-19, more than 25,000 students of Class XI pursuing science in any school
are invited to participate at the 5 days’ science camps and provided opportunity to interact with the
Science icons from India and abroad including Nobel Laureates to experience the joy of innovations
through INSPIRE Internship. Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) aims at enhancing the rate of
attachment of talented youth to undertake higher education in science intensive program by
providing scholarships and mentoring through summer attachment to performing researchers. The
scheme offers 12,000 Scholarship every year @ Rs 0.80 lakh per year for undertaking Bachelor and
Masters level education in natural and basic sciences for the talented youth in the age group 17-22
years. The main feature of the scheme is in mentorship support 2 BRIEF STATEMENT OF ACTIVITIES
2018 to carry out research during vacation period for every scholar through INSPIRE Scholarship.
During 2018-19, about 12,000 INSPIRE scholarships has been offered to the selected candidates
based on their performance (top 1%) in + 2 examination of State/Central School Education
Examination Boards and through competitive examination basis, for pursuing academics at
undergraduate /integrated post graduate levels in basic and natural sciences. Out of the total
offered INSPIRE Scholarship candidates 57% are women. INSPIRE Fellowship is offered to students
having secured 1st Rank in Basic & Applied Sciences including engineering, medicine, agriculture,
veterinary at the University/ academic institute of national importance i.e. IITs, NITs, IISERs level
examination as well as Inspire Scholars having secure 70% marks in aggregate at the M.Sc. level
which are eligible for admission to the PhD Program in any recognized University/ academic
Institutions in the country. The Fellowship shall be tenable maximum for 5 years (2 years as JRF and
3 years as SRF) or completion of PhD, whichever is earlier to pursue full-time PhD program. The
Fellowship amount including the contingencies is equivalent to CSIR-UGC NET Fellowship and is
governed time to time as per GOI norms & regulations. During 2018-19, 1000 fellows are awarded
the INSPIRE fellowship and are pursuing their Ph.D. in Basic & Applied Sciences including
engineering, medicine, agriculture, veterinary at the University/ academic institute of national
importance. Out of the awarded INSPIRE Fellows 61% are women. Nearly, 30-35% INSPIRE Scholars
have come back to pursue their doctoral degree in science after availing 5 years INSPIRE scholarship
to study science subjects. Besides this, 8 INSPIRE Fellows working as Senior Research Fellows have
been selected for participating at the HOPE meetings at Japan and ~26 INSPIRE Fellows working as
Senior Research Fellows and ~03 UK fellows are selected for participating short-term Research
Internship Program at the various Laboratories/ Universities of UK and India respectively through
Newton-Bhabha Program of DST and UK. INSPIRE FACULTY AWARD assures opportunities for post-
doctoral researchers in the age group of 27-32 years through contractual and tenure track positions
for 5 years in both basic and applied sciences area including engineering, agriculture, veterinary and
medicine. It aims at following: • To provide attractive opportunities to young achievers for
developing independent scientific profiles and launch them in fulfilling long term careers. • Expected
to augment high quality scientific manpower for scientific and educational institutions, specially the
Central and State universities. • While the vertical migration among students in different INSPIRE
components would be encouraged, the Scheme would also provide opportunity to students for
lateral entry into this component. • This component would provide an independent research
opportunity and not a guarantee for tenure positions after 5 years. During 2018-19 about 159
fellows are provided an opportunity to pursue post- doctoral researcher through contractual and
tenure track position for 5 years in both basic and applied sciences area including engineering,
agriculture, veterinary and medicine. Out of the total INSPIRE Faculty awardees 31% are women
beneficiaries.

Press Information Bureau

Government of India
Ministry of Science & Technology
17-May-2012 16:58 IST
Inspire Programme
Minister of State for Planning, Science &Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Ashwani
Kumar stated in Lok Sabha today that Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired
Research (INSPIRE) was approved by Government of India for implementation
through Department of Science & Technology to promote science and attract talents
for pursuing career in research. The scheme was launched by the Hon’ble Prime
Minister on 31st December, 2008.

The Minister said that the basic objective of INSPIRE is to attract talents and motivate
them for studying science from an early age and pursuing career in research and help
to build the required critical human resource pool for strengthening and expanding the
S & T and R & D base in the country. It is a program with a long term foresight.

The Minister further stated that the program has three components i.e., i) Scheme for
early Attraction of Talent (SEATS) for Science, ii) Scholarship for Higher Education
(SHE) and iii) Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC) covering an age-
group of 10-32 years of students. The INSPIRE Fellowship for pursuing doctoral
research is the first component of “Assured Opportunity for Research Careers
(AORC)” scheme of the INSPIRE program. This component was initiated in January
2010 and during the last two years of implementation, 1417 Fellowships have been
awarded for pursuing doctoral research at the various Universities/ Institutes and
Laboratories in the country.

Dr. Ashwani Kumar said that this has already been extended for researchers doing
post-doctoral activities. INSPIRE Faculty Award, which is the second component of
the ‘Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC)’ scheme of INSPIRE
Program, provides opportunity to the students of Indian origin including NRI/ PIO
status, who are within 32 years of age and completed their doctoral research from any
recognized University/ academic institution in any part of the World. Each INSPIRE
Faculty Awardee receives an amount of Rs. 80,000 per month with an annual
increment of 3.3% along with Rs. 7 lakh per year as Research Grant for 5 years. This
component was initiated in July, 2011 and during one year of its operation, a total 74
INSPIRE Faculty Awards were offered. Out of this, 14 candidates were from abroad
pursuing their doctoral as well as post-doctoral activities.
Scope of inspire programme
t is a scholarship scheme that comes under Innovation in Science Pursuit
for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), a flagship programme of DST. Meant for meritorious
students undertaking bachelor's and master's courses in Natural and Basic
Sciences, INSPIRE Scholarship offers 10,000 scholarships every year