In order to promote scientific attitude among children, attract students to study science and pursue careers in research, the Department of Science & Technology under this Ministry has initiated two inter-related schemes namely `Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)’ and the `Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE)’ in the current Plan Period. The main features of these schemes are i) to attract one million young innovators in the schools; ii) to provide exposure to youngsters with global science leaders; iii) to offer scholarships for bright students in science stream during their B. Sc. / M. Sc. Courses; and also iv) to provide an assured opportunities for proven talent forces for pursuing doctoral and post-doctoral research. All these initiatives are aimed at generating interest in youth to conduct more and more research and produce valuable results towards countering rapid strides of other countries.
Apart from these a number of ongoing schemes are also in operation by these Ministries in the form of Programme for Young Scientists and Fellowships like Swarnajayanthi Fellowships, Shyama Prasad Mookerjee Fellowships, KS Krishnan Fellowships, Ramanna Fellowships and J.C. Bose & Ramanujam Fellowships for practicing young scientists & technologists, and CSIR programme on Youth for Leadership in Science (CPYLS), Diamond Jubilee Research Interns Award Scheme, Junior/Senior Research Fellowships (JRF/SRF), Biotechnology Post Doctoral Research Associate-ship & Overseas Fellowships , Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana (KVPY), National Science Olympiad Programme etc. for attracting and retaining young talented students in R&D. In addition, the young scientists including students have been exposed to new technologies through schools, workshops etc. to encourage them to discover and/or experiment on new technologies including the emerging fields like Nano-science & Nanotechnology, Biotechnology etc.
This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences Shri Ashwani Kumar in a written reply to a question by Shri A. A. Jinnah and Shri Shivanand Tiwari in Rajya Sabha today.