The HRD Ministry has named scientist and former DRDO chief Vijay Kumar Saraswat as the next chancellor of JNU. A full time member of NITI Ayog, Saraswat will be replacing ISRO Chief K. Kasturirangan, who completed his term on 30 March, 2017. Saraswat was conferred Padma Shri in 1998, Padma Bhushan in 2013 and had served as a chief scientific advisor to the Minister of Defence.