DST announces new quota system for INSPIRE scholarship

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has introduced changes to the Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) Scholarship for Higher Education (SHE) scheme. According to a report by Hindustan Times, the Department has implemented a new method for scholarship allocation in the year 2025, where the quota is now determined based on the total number of Class 12 examinees of the respective board, instead of the number of student applications. Due to this change, a significant decrease has been observed in the number of scholarships available to students of states like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, while students of CBSE and some other state boards have benefited.

Until the year 2024, the allocation of 12,000 scholarships by the DST was being done based on the valid applications received from across the country. In this old method, the board that submitted more applications received a larger share. Consequently, Uttar Pradesh board students held a 49% share out of a total of 21,392 valid applications in 2024 and received 6,129 scholarships out of 12,000. However, with the implementation of the new calculation method in 2025, despite Uttar Pradesh having 25.4 lakh Class 12 examinees, its students could only secure 2,095 scholarships, representing a decrease of approximately 66% compared to before.

Looking at the situation in other states, the quota for the Rajasthan board has decreased by 70%, receiving only 725 scholarships. Similarly, in Madhya Pradesh, it decreased from 762 to 532, in Uttarakhand from 297 to 88, and in Chhattisgarh from 300 to 196 scholarships. On the other hand, the allocation for CBSE board students has increased from 86 to 1,397. In Maharashtra, it increased from 52 to 1,234, in Bihar from 260 to 1,056, in Tamil Nadu from 5 to 654, and in Karnataka from 8 to 541 scholarships. These figures are based on the 2024 chart released by the DST on 31 December 2025 and the announcement released on 7 November 2026.

Concerns are being observed among students regarding this new formula. Pranit Sohan, a student of a college affiliated with Bundelkhand University in Jhansi, stated that this change could harm students in states where the number of applicants is high. Sohan himself scored 87% in the Uttar Pradesh board examination, which is higher than the 81% cut-off for the top 1% of students in the state. Experts believe that the new formula does not take into account how many students from which board enroll in science graduate courses. Additionally, the current rules do not clarify how a quota from any board that remains vacant should be distributed to other boards.

Under the INSPIRE-SHE scheme, 12,000 students are awarded scholarships every year, who are pursuing undergraduate or postgraduate studies in basic and natural sciences. For this scheme, students who fall in the top 1% in the Class 12 board examination or those who pass national-level entrance examinations are considered eligible. The main objective of this scholarship has been to encourage bright students towards research and higher education in the field of science.