PU vice-chancellor Prof R C Sobti and Dr Surishtha Sehgal, founder and president of Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Foundation, presented the merit certificates to the winners at a function held in the Senate Hall on Sunday.

In her address, Dr Sehgal said, “The students are breaking new grounds in India by applying what they learn. This award will act as a powerful motivation for other students of the university.”

The first project — Bachpan: The Foundation of an Individual’s Personality — was proposed by Japuneet Kaur, Mitali, Puneeta Behl and Upneet Rangi under the guidance of Prof Mohinderjit K Teja as faculty advisor and community partner Atul Khanna, director, Durga Das Foundation. The project involved an education program for children below 5 years of age from the socially and economically backward families of Dhanas and Dadu Majra.

The second project — Conserving the Traditional Water Resource: A Lifeline for the Remote Villages of Morini Hills — was completed by Amarpreet Singh, Lamgouthang Chongloi, Leingakpa Ningthoujam, Arvind Kishore and Parveen Kumar under the guidance of Gaurav Gaur, faculty advisor and community partner in the project, Nirmal Beniwal, president, Society for Training and Rural Development.

The project involves rejuvenating the Bavadis to provide safe drinking water to the villagers, plantation of trees and fast-growing grasses like the Napier grass around water sources.

The third project — Waste Newspapers: A Source of Sustenance for Slum Children — under the guidance of Prof Mohinderjit K Teja as faculty advisor and community partner Zulfiqar Khan, director, Theatre Age, saw the students combine newspaper recycling and training for enacting plays and theatre activities.