The President Mrs. Pratibha Devisingh Patil today gave away the prestigious Lal Bahadur Shastri National Award for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management for 2010 to the renowned social activist, Mrs. Aruna Roy at a glittering function at Rashtrapati Bhawan. The award carries a cash prize of five lakh rupees, a citation and a plaque and the awardee will be designated as Lal Bahadur Shastri Fellow. Replying to the felicitation, Mrs. Roy, a former civil servant, said the award is in recognition of the value and the importance of the Right to Information (RTI) law and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Recalling the Lal Bahadur Shastri's principles, Mrs. Roy said persons who practice, what they preach will be the best leaders. AIR Correspondent reports that prominent persons including Sam Pitroda, Dr M S Swaminathan and Dr E Sreedharan were among some of the recipients of the award in the recent past.