The first National Level Exhibition and Project Competition under the INSPIRE Award scheme begins here on this Saturday. About 750 students, who have been selected at the State Level Exhibitions and Project Competitions are expected to participate in this 3-day exhibition Along with them,about 150 mentor teachers and officials from the respective States/UTs will attend it. The models/projects made by the student participants will be exhibited in it. This exhibition will be open for public viewing on 14th and 15th August, 2011 from 11.00 am to 5.00 pm.
Government of India approved the INSPIRE Programme in November 2008 at a total cost of about Rs. 2000 crore in the 11th Five Year Plan Period. It was launched on 13th December 2008.
INSPRE Award Scheme, which has the maximum spread all over the country, has taken off well and would be scaling better performance in the coming years. So far more than 4 lakh INSPIRE Awards have been sanctioned to students across the country. An amount of Rs.59 crores have been sanctioned to States / UTs for conduct of District Level Exhibitions & Project Competitions. The States/UTs have held the Exhibitions and Project Competitions at District and State levels for about 2 lakh awardees.
An eminent jury will assess the projects exhibited at the exhibition halls and select awardees for national (one gold, one silver and two bronze), regional (one first prize and one second prize) and state awards(one first prize and one second prize).
INSPIRE is expected to reach at least 3 million young people to create awareness in science, scientific research, leaders in science and the joy of learning science. This initiative is expected to bring the scientific manpower to 300 per million populations by the end of the next five years. By the end of the Eleventh Five Year Plan period, it is hoped that at least 0.5 million young people would have entered the science stream.
There will be an inaugural function at 4.00 pm on 14th August. The Minister of Science and Technology is the Chief Guest for this function. Another function is scheduled on 15th August at 4.00 pm, in which the Minister of State of Science and Technology will give away the State Awards. The National Level Exhibition and Project Competition will conclude with an Award Ceremony at Hall No. 12 from 11.00 am on 16th August, in which a Compendium on the projects nominated for exhibition and competition by the States/UTs will be released and the national and regional awards will be given away. Her Excellency, The President of India is the Chief Guest in this function.