Lok Sabha Question No. 1993 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-07
Subject: Inspire Award Scheme
Ministry: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: R.P. MARUTHARAJAA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

## DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1993 TO BE ANSWERED ON 7/3/2018

## INSPIRE AWARD SCHEME

## 1993. SHRI R.P. MARUTHARAJAA:

Will the Minister of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó  Ùðüëðó be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of S&T Institutional and Human Capacity Scheme currently running in the country;
- (b) the  details  of  new  and  ongoing  institutions  working  for  promotion  in  the  fields  of  research  and  scientific excellence along with the benefits under these schemes;
- (c) the total number of school students from VI to X to be enrolled for Inspire Award scheme; and
- (d) the total number of student scholarships for higher education to be provided for pursuing bachelor and master level education and the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EARTH SCIENCES

(SHRI Y.S. CHOWDHARY)

òãðìððÐð ¡ðøÜ ÑßðøÌðð÷ò±ð¨îó ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó +ÉÉè® ÑðöÆãðó òãðìððÐð ÙðüëððâðÚð Ùð÷ü Üð¸Úð Ùðüëðó

(gÉÉÒ ´ÉÉ<Ç. AºÉ. SÉÉèvÉ®ÉÒ)

- (a) S&T Institutional and Human Capacity Building Scheme is an umbrella scheme covering host of other subschemes,  implemented  by  the  Department  of  Science  &  Technology,  designed  with  a  view  to  create  rightful  S&T Institutions and trained manpower in order to strengthen and expand Research & Development base in the country. The details of programs/sub-schemes under this umbrella scheme are as follows:-
1.      INSPIRE  Program:  The  Department  of  Science  &  Technology  (DST)  is  implementing  a  national  program Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) for attracting talented young students to study Science and pursue career in Research. INSPIRE Program covers students in the age group 10-32 years. It has five components spread over in three major schemes. These are:
- i. Scheme for Early Attraction of Talents for Science (SEATS) - INSPIRE Award and INSPIRE Internship,
- ii. Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) - INSPIRE Scholarship, and
- iii. Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC) - INSPIRE Fellowship and INSPIRE Faculty Awards.

The  first  component  i.e.  INSPIRE  Award  MANAK  (  Million  Minds  Augmenting  National  Aspiration  and Knowledge)  scheme,  previously  known  as  INSPIRE  Award  Scheme,  is  being  implemented  through  State  and  UT governments with an objective (i) to attract young students to study science and pursue research career (ii) to promote creative  thinking  and  foster  a  culture  of  innovation  among  them.  Under  INSPIRE  Award  MANAK  scheme,  in  a financial year, ten (10.0) lakh ideas are being targeted from more than five (05) lakh middle and high schools across the country, out of which one (1.0) lakh ideas are to be shortlisted for an initial award of Rs. 10000/- each, for preparation of project/model/showcasing of idea and participation in the District Level Exhibition & Project Competition (DLEPC).

INSPIRE Internship arranges Science Camps for about 50,000 youths ( 16-17 years) to provide opportunities for Class XI science students who are within top 1% of Class X board examinations to interact with leading researchers and scientists including Nobel Laureates for experiencing the joy of innovations on annual basis.

Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE)  provides 12,000 scholarships 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.

Opportunity for Research Careers aims to attract, retain and nourish talented students for strengthening the R&D  base.  It  has  two  sub-components.  INSPIRE  Fellowship  (age  group  of  22-27  years)  offers  1000  INSPIRE Fellowships  every  year,  for  carrying  out  doctoral  degree  in  both  basic  and  applied  sciences  including  engineering,

agriculture,  veterinary  &  medicine.  INSPIRE  Faculty  Scheme,  the  second  component  of  Opportunity  for  Research Careers offers assured opportunity every year for 200 in the age group of 27-32 years,

2.   Scheme for Young Scientists and Technologists (SYST): Under the Scheme for Young Scientists and Technologists (SYST), Department of Science and Technology (DST) nurtures young scientists and technologists to take up Science & Technology  (S&T)  based  projects  of  societal  relevance  with  lab-to-land  approach.  The  beneficiaries  are  given budgetary support up to Rs.40 lakhs in project mode for up to 3 years. The scheme also supports young researchers employed in R&D institutions/Universities/Colleges with a budgetary support not exceeding Rs.30 lakhs.
3.   Swarna Jayanti Fellowships Scheme: Under this scheme a selected number of young scientists under 40 years of age with excellent track record, are provided special assistance and support to enable them to pursue research in frontier areas of science and technology. The fellowship is scientist specific and not institution specific, very selective and has close academic monitoring.

The support covers all the requirements for performing the research and includes a fellowship of Rs. 25,000/per month for five years.

4.   Schemes under SCIENCE ENGINEERING RESEARCH BOARD (SERB): The Science and Engineering Research Board,  a  Statutory  body  of  the  Department  of  Science  and  Technology  has  running  some  significant  schemes  and programmes to build human capacity and thereby accelerating the pace of progress in the field of scientific research and development in the country. Substantial funding has been provided to potential scientists through Extra Mural Research Funding Schemes like Core Research Grant (CRG) and Start-Up Grant for Young Scientists in the form of Early  Career  Research  Award  and  National  Postdoctoral  Fellowship.  A  number  research  fellowships  (JC  Bose  & Ramanujan)  have  been  awarded  to  practicing  scientists  to  enhance  the  research  capability of the country. Empowerment and Equity Opportunities for Excellence in Science Scheme of the Board is a special scheme to ensure enhanced participation of weaker sections of the society in research and development.
5.   DST FIST Program: FIST is a complimentary support for the R&D project received by an individual researcher. The Programme is operated at three levels i.e. Level -0, Level-I & Level-II for six (06) Subject Areas i.e. Life, Physical, Chemical, Engineering, Earth & Atmospheric, Mathematical Sciences and Post Graduate Colleges. The Programme covers  all  sectors  of  Science  &  Technology  Departments  including  Agriculture,  Veterinary,  Pharmacy  and  Medical having Post-graduate teaching & research program of 3 years in existence.

DST PURSE Program: PURSE program aims to promote value added proactive  measures through introduction of R&D Incentive Grant. It provides substantive research grant to universities based on scientific publications in Science Citation  Indexed  Journals  through  SCOPUS  Database.  PURSE  Scheme  has  provided  a  triggering  mechanism  for promoting publication oriented research in the University sector deploying evidence based approaches. There has been significant increase in R & D outputs in PURSE supported Universities.

DST  SAIF  Program:  The  Department  of  Science  &  Technology  has  set  up  Sophisticated  Analytical  Instrument Facilities (SAIFs) in different parts of the country to provide the facilities of sophisticated analytical instruments to the researchers in general, and specially from the institutions that do not have such high end instrumentation facilities, to enable them to pursue R&D activities and keep pace with developments taking place globally. The instrument facilities at the SAIFs are accessible to all the users irrespective of whether they belong to the host institutes or are from outside the host institutes and are being used extensively by the researchers from all parts of the country.

- (b The  details  of  new  and  ongoing  institutions  supported  under  various  S&T  Institutional  and  Human Capacity Building programs and schemes of the Department of Science & Technology and working for promotion in the fields of research and scientific excellence are as under:-

During the last 04 years, more than 980 Departments (including more than 200 PG Colleges) have received FIST support. Under PURSE Program 50 Universities at different locations of the country are being supported. At present there are 18 Nos. Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIFs) being supported by DST.

- (c) Under INSPIRE Award MANAK scheme, in a financial year, 10.0 (ten) lakh students, studying in class VI to X,  from  more than five lakh middle and high schools in the country are being targeted, out of which 1.0 (One) lakh students are to shortlisted for an INSPIRE Award of RS. 10,000/- each. The award money is being transferred directly into the bank account of the students through Direct Benefit Transfer mode.
- (d) Scholarship for higher education for pursuing bachelor and master level education is being provided under SHE scheme of INSPIRE Program. The scheme aims to enhance rates of Attachment of talented youth to undertake higher  education  in  science  intensive  programmes  by  providing  scholarships  and  mentoring  through  summer attachment to performing researchers. The scheme would offer 12,000 scholarships 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.

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