February 28 - National Science Day

Background

Celebrated to honour the C.V. Raman's discovery of the Raman Effect, for which he was awarded Nobel Prize in 1930.
The first celebration took place in 1987

Theme for 2025 - "Empowering Indian youth for Global leadership in Science and Innovation for VIKSIT Bharat"

India ranks 39th in Global Innovation Index, 2024
India ranks 6th in Global IP filings, as per WIPO report
India moved up from 79th to 49th position in Network Readiness Index, 2024
Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) launched for R&D funding
National Quantum Mission received 6003.65 crore rupees investment over 8 years
National Supercomputing Mission expands India's computing power to 32 peta flops from 5 in2024. Target is to reach 77 petaflops
BharatGen AI initiative to develop India's first multi modal large language model. This was launched under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber - Physical systems (NM - ICPS)
PM Early Career Research Grant (PMERCG) - to promote independent research
Partnerships for Accelerated Innovation and Research (PAIR) - follows a Hub and Spoke model, ensuring institutional collaboration in scientific research
Inclusivity Research Grant (IRG) - for SCs and STs, promoting equal opportunities in research fields
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) - under Department of science
"Exposure Visit of Japanese School Students to India," was launched under INSPIRE-MANAK

WISE - KIRAN - supports women in research and STEM careers (Women In Science and Engineering)
WISE - PhD and Post Doctoral fellowship
Vigyan Jyoti program - encourages girls from class 9th to 12th to pursue STEM education
Women's International Grants (WINGS) & Leadership Programs
CURIE (Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence) programme, 22 women PG colleges have been selected to establish state of the art research facilities.