UP Tops in Inspire Award Manak Scheme | 03 Oct 2025
Why in News?
Uttar Pradesh has achieved the highest number of nominations (2.8 lakh) under the INSPIRE Award MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge) scheme, setting a new national benchmark in student-led innovation.
Key Points
- Record Achievement: UP recorded 2.8 lakh nominations this year, the highest since the scheme began, marking a 70,000 rise from last year’s 2.1 lakh.
- Inclusive Participation: Active participation was witnessed with nominations from all 75 districts, involving students from Secondary, Junior High, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas, Composite, and Sanskrit Schools.
- Top Performing Districts: Pratapgarh (7,085), Prayagraj (6,929), Lucknow (6,721), Hardoi (6,689), Jaunpur (5,930).
- 22 districts of UP feature among the top 50 districts nationwide in nominations.
- National Comparison: Uttar Pradesh is followed by Rajasthan with 1.41 lakh nominations and Karnataka with 1.01 lakh nominations at the national level.
- INSPIRE Award MANAK Scheme:
- About: It is a flagship scheme jointly implemented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) – India, an autonomous body of the DST.
- Target Group: Students of Classes 6 to 12.
- Objective: To foster innovation, originality, and creative thinking among school students.
- Process: Students submit innovative ideas through online nominations.
INSPIRE Scheme
- The INSPIRE (Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research) scheme, a flagship programme of the Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, aims to attract youth towards science from an early stage and build a strong human resource base for strengthening India’s Science, Technology, and R&D ecosystem.
- The Government of India has been implementing the INSPIRE scheme since 2010, covering students aged 10–32 years through five components, including the INSPIRE Awards-MANAK.
