President Pranab Mukherjee has said that areas for research activity should align with the developmental challenges of the nation. Speaking after presenting Visitor's Award at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Mr Mukherjee said, the best minds of the universities should apply themselves to work out solutions in areas like sanitation, urban transportation, sewage disposal, clean river systems, healthcare and drought-resistant farming. <br/><br/>He said, they should also convert new knowledge into innovative products that are directly beneficial to the common population. The President said, innovative minds should create tools and implements that alleviate the drudgery of farmers, workers, artisans and weavers. He said, the number one barometer for successful outcome of research and innovation should be its beneficial applicability to a wider section of the population. <br/><br/>He said, the honours recognize the single-minded devotion and painstaking work in the pursuit of excellence of the winners. <br/><br/>The President presented the Visitor's Award for the Best University to Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. The Visitor's Award for Innovation was presented to Dr. Deepak Pant, Department of Environmental Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Central University of Himachal Pradesh for development of a reactor for direct conversion of waste plastic to LPG in small scale. <br/><br/>The Visitor's Award for Research was jointly received by Dr. Shyam Sunder, Department of Medicine, Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University for his work in the area of diagnosis and treatment of Indian Kala-azar and Prof. Niranjan Karak, Department of Chemical Sciences, Tezpur University for development of renewable resource based bio-degradable hyper-branched polymer nano-composites as self-cleaning, self-healing and bio-compatible smart sustainable futuristic material.