A total of 1,007 students, from various schools and colleges were awarded Nehru scholarships and Mittal Pandey scholarships, of which, a majority were girls. The fact didn’t escape the Delhi chief minister as she expressed happiness that girl were excelling in various fields. According to Rakesh Bharti Mittal, president of the Nehru Sidhant Kendra Trust, a prize money of about Rs 25 lakh was distributed among students.

Apart from this, the Satpaul Mittal National award was handed to Dr S S Badrinath, chairman of Sankara Nethralaya in Chennai, for his service to humanity. Sankara Nethralaya is a not-for-profit charitable eye hospital based in Tamil Nadu’s capital. The New Delhi-based Pardada Pardadi Educational Society bagged the award under the institution category for providing free education to poor students in villages for over 10 years. Both received Rs 2 lakh each along with a citation.

Another Rs 50,000 was awarded to V Thalaimalai from Tamil Nadu for his efforts to protect the environment. He has nurtured 1.25 lakh saplings in different parts of the southern state and conducted the entire campaign on a bicycle. He not only planted the saplings but also took proper care of them.

Later, Sheila Dikshit also went to Satpaul Mittal School and interacted with students of different classes.

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