NEW DELHI: Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar will be bestowed with distinguished alumni awards by their alma-mater Jawaharlal Nehru University. The Executive Council of JNU, in its meeting on Wednesday, decided to honour Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar with the ‘Distinguished Alumni Award’ on the third convocation of the university, which will be organised in August.
“Their highly distinguished career and achievements have made the University very proud and they are a great source of inspiration for all JNU students and researchers,” the university said in a statement.
Sitharaman completed her MA and M Phil degrees from the School of Social Sciences and School of International Studies, respectively.
She was the first woman to be appointed full-time Defence Minister of India in September 2017. She is also an alumnus of London School of Economics.A graduate of St Stephen’s College, Jaishankar is an MA in Political Science and an MPhil and PhD in International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU).
In 2019, he was conferred with Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award of the country. He was appointed as foreign secretary in January 2015.The two ministers will be the first recipients of the ‘Distinguished Alumni Award,’ which is to be conferred by the university.