"Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge" (MANAK), a scheme under the flagship programme, Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), caters to:

The "Million Minds Augmenting National Aspirations and Knowledge" (MANAK) scheme is a key component of the INSPIRE program, managed by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in collaboration with the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) [1]. The scheme specifically targets school children in the age group of 10–15 years who are studying in classes 6 to 10 [2]. Its primary objective is to foster a culture of creativity and innovative thinking by targeting one million original ideas rooted in science and societal applications. While the broader INSPIRE umbrella covers individuals aged 10–32 through various components like Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) for undergraduates and Assured Opportunity for Research Careers (AORC) for researchers, the MANAK component is exclusively designed for early-stage talent at the school level [3]. Selected students receive a financial award of Rs. 10,000 via Direct Benefit Transfer to develop their projects [2].

Sources

1. [1] https://www.inspireawards-dst.gov.in/download/NLEPC/2017/7th-vol-2.pdf
2. [2] https://www.online-inspire.gov.in/Content/SHEPostofferImplementationGuidelines.pdf
3. [3] https://www.myscheme.gov.in/schemes/iamanak