Delhi: Modi government’s big action amid student agitation! Education Secretary removed, now this IAS officer will take charge

By Sandy Verma On Jul 24, 2026

Amid student protests across the country over the NEET exam and alleged paper leaks and exam irregularities, the central government has made a major administrative reshuffle in the Ministry of Education. The central government has removed higher education secretary Vineet Joshi from his post and replaced him with Rajasthan cadre senior IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar. The decision comes at a time when students have been protesting continuously demanding accountability and reforms in the examination system.
Appointments and transfers of several senior officers have been approved by the Appointments Committee (ACC) of the Central Government. Naresh Pal Gangwar will now take charge as the new Secretary of Higher Education Department. Earlier he has served in many important positions in Rajasthan Government as well as Central Government. On the other hand, Vineet Joshi has now been appointed as Secretary in the Panchayati Raj Ministry. Kerala cadre senior IAS officer T.K. Anil Kumar has been appointed as Secretary, School Education Department.

Union Higher Education Secretary Vineet Singh departs in a major move by the central government amid protests in Delhi #delhiProtest #neetpaperleakprotest #Studentprotest #Read pic.twitter.com/W51Mz64bIN— TV13 Gujarati (@Read) July 23, 2026

Naresh Pal Gangwar is an engineer by training. He has B.Tech in Electronics and Communication from University of Roorkee, M.Tech in Communication from IIT Delhi and MA in Economics from University of Rajasthan. In his long administrative career, he has held many important responsibilities in the Rajasthan and Central Governments. He has also served as Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in addition to the Chief Secretary level responsibility in Rajasthan. He has also worked on important issues like pollution control and management of hazardous substances.
This administrative change is considered important amid the ongoing student agitation over alleged irregularities in the NEET examination. Students and opposition parties are demanding accountability in the examination system. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey welcomed the government’s decision and called it a ‘Modi guarantee’. He said that strict action would be taken against those responsible for the paper leak or negligence. Now the new Higher Education Secretary Naresh Pal Gangwar will have a huge responsibility to restore confidence in the examination system.