As a first major fallout of the continuous protest against the NEET paper leak, the central government that replaced its higher education secretary. Naresh Pal Gangwar, who is serving as Secretary, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has been called in to replace Higher Education Secretary Vineet Joshi, who has been shifted to as Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Joshi will assume his new assignment following the retirement of Vivek Bhardwaj on July 31.
Joshi had earlier served as CBSE Chairman and Director General of National Testing Agency (NTA), which conducts NEET examination. He had also served as Chief Secretary of Manipur from where he was summoned to join department of Higher Education as Secretary.
He has been now replaced by Naresh Pal Gangwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, who is known to be an efficient and result oriented officer.
Gangwar takes charge of the Higher Education Department at a time when the education sector remains under intense scrutiny in the wake of the controversy surrounding the NEET examination paper leak. Although the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA), an autonomous body functioning under the Ministry of Education, the episode has brought renewed attention to the ministry's oversight of the country's examination ecosystem.
Who is Naresh Pal Gangwar?
Gangwar holds a BTech in Electronics and Communication from the University of Roorkee, an MTech in Communication and Radar Engineering from IIT Delhi, and an MA in Economics from the University of Rajasthan.
During his career, he has held several key positions in the Rajasthan government, including Principal Secretary of the School Education, Energy, Agriculture, Industries and Information Technology departments. He also served as Chairman of Jaipur DISCOM and Chairman and Managing Director of the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation. Gangwar played a key role in framing Rajasthan's early solar energy policies during the initial phase of the National Solar Mission between 2010 and 2014.
In another important transfer, K. Srinivas, a 1989-batch Gujarat cadre IAS officer and the current Secretary in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, has been appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).
The government has also elevated TK Anil Kumar, presently Additional Secretary in the Department of Rural Development, as Secretary of the Department of School Education and Literacy under the Ministry of Education. His appointment comes at a crucial time as the Centre continues to push reforms in school education and literacy programmes.
Among other senior-level appointments, Piyush Goyal, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Nagaland cadre and Secretary in the Ministry of Mines, has been appointed Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), carrying the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India.
Sushil Kumar Lohani, a 1995-batch Odisha cadre IAS officer serving as Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, has been named Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. He will subsequently take over as Secretary of the department after Gangwar assumes charge of the Higher Education Department.
The ACC has also approved in-situ promotions for four senior IAS officers by temporarily upgrading their existing posts to the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India. Archana Varma, a 1995-batch AGMUT cadre officer and Mission Director of the National Water Mission under the Ministry of Jal Shakti, has been granted Secretary rank. She is slated to become Secretary of the Department of Official Language in the Ministry of Home Affairs after the retirement of Ansuli Arya on September 30, 2026.
