INSPIRE Awards 2025: Muzaffarpur Tops National Innovation Rankings with 7,403 Student Ideas.

In September 2025, Muzaffarpur district of Bihar emerged as the top performer in the National Innovation Rankings under the INSPIRE Award-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge) 2025. The district submitted 7,403 innovative student ideas from both private and public schools, the highest among all Indian states.

      - The top three performers in 2025 were Muzaffarpur, Bihar (7,403 ideas), Bengaluru Urban, Karnataka (7,306 ideas), and Bagalkot, Karnataka (6,826 ideas). These rankings reflect the districts’ active participation and encouragement of student-led innovation.

      - The award is executed by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Ministry of Science & Technology (MoST), and National Innovation Foundation (NIF). DST collaborates with NIF, an autonomous body, to identify and nurture science-based innovations from school students.

      - Students from Class VI to X are eligible to participate. Selected students receive financial assistance of Rs 10,000 to develop their models and projects, which are first showcased at the district level before progressing to state and national levels.

Main Point :-   (i) For the latest 2025 rankings, Jaipur, Rajasthan (6,311 ideas); Vaishali, Bihar; and Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (6,182 ideas) shared the same rank in the top 5, highlighting widespread student innovation across multiple states.

      (ii) The scheme aims to tap top 10 lakh original science- and society-based ideas from schoolchildren across India, promoting creativity, research interest, and innovation among students at the grassroots level.

(iii) Selected ideas progress from district to state-level evaluation, and the top 60 innovations are showcased at the National Level Exhibition of INSPIRE (NLEPC) at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, with awards conferred by the President of India.