New Delhi (Gurpreet Singh): The Central Government has executed a major senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle within the Ministry of Education, transferring Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi amid sustained public and political protests over alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examination. According to an official order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, 1994-batch IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar has been appointed as the new Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, stepping into the role as administrative scrutiny over national competitive tests continues to intensify across the country.
Vineet Joshi, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre who previously headed the National Testing Agency and Central Board of Secondary Education, has been reassigned as Secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. He will succeed Vivek Bhardwaj upon his superannuation on July 31, 2026. The administrative transition follows weeks of student demonstrations demanding structural accountability and systematic overhauls within the national entrance examination framework.
Alongside Gangwar’s appointment, the central government named T.K. Anil Kumar as Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy. Kumar, a 1995-batch IAS officer who previously served as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Rural Development, fills the post following the superannuation of Sanjay Kumar on June 30, a role Joshi had temporarily held under additional charge.
The newly appointed Higher Education Secretary, Naresh Pal Gangwar, previously served as Secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. An alumnus of IIT Roorkee and IIT Delhi with degrees in Electronics and Communication Engineering as well as Economics, Gangwar brings extensive administrative experience from prior roles in the central government and the Rajasthan state administration, including service as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The leadership overhaul signals the administration’s effort to address administrative challenges and restore public trust in the national examination system.
