Naresh Pal Gangwar Appointed Higher Education Secretary; Vineet Joshi Moved to Panchayati Raj

The Centre has appointed senior IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar as the new Secretary, Department of Higher Education, replacing Vineet Joshi, as part of a major Secretary-level bureaucratic reshuffle approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

Gangwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, was serving as Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying before his transfer.

Vineet Joshi, a 1992-batch IAS officer of the Manipur cadre, has been appointed Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj. He succeeds Vivek Bhardwaj, who is due to retire on 31 July 2026.

The appointments were notified by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) on 23 July 2026.

Education Ministry Gets New Leadership

The reshuffle also brings new leadership to the Ministry of Education's other key department.

T.K. Anil Kumar (IAS: Karnataka, 1995) has been appointed Secretary, Department of School Education & Literacy. Before his appointment, he was serving as Additional Secretary in the Department of Rural Development.

With these appointments, both departments under the Ministry of Education will now have new administrative heads.

The Department of Higher Education oversees policy relating to central universities, IITs, NITs, the University Grants Commission (UGC) and other higher education institutions. The Department of School Education & Literacy is responsible for school education, teacher education, literacy programmes and the implementation of key school education initiatives.

Who Is Naresh Pal Gangwar?

An engineer by training, Gangwar holds a BTech in Electronics and Communication from the University of Roorkee, an MTech in Communication from IIT Delhi, and an MA in Economics from the University of Rajasthan.

During his career, he has served in several senior positions in both the Rajasthan government and the Centre. His previous assignments include serving as Principal Secretary in the Rajasthan government and Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, where he handled pollution control and hazardous substances management.

Most recently, he headed the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying before being appointed to the Ministry of Education.

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Appointment Comes Amid Focus on Education Ministry

The reshuffle comes at a time when the Ministry of Education is under public scrutiny following the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and the nationwide protests that followed.

However, the ACC order does not specify any reason for the appointments or link them to the ongoing controversy. The transfers are part of a wider Secretary-level reshuffle across multiple ministries.

Other Key Appointments

The ACC also approved appointments across several ministries, including:

• Katikithala Srinivas as Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER).

• Keshav Chandra as Secretary, Ministry of Mines.

• Chandra Bhushan Kumar as Secretary, Ministry of Labour & Employment.

• D. Thara as Secretary, Department of Capital Development, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.

• B. Rajender as Director of the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in the rank of Secretary.

• Piyush Goyal (IAS) as Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

• Satendra Singh as Secretary, Department of Urban Development.

• Suchindra Misra as Secretary, National Commission for Minorities.

The reshuffle also includes the in-situ upgradation of four senior officers to the rank and pay of Secretary to the Government of India while they continue in their current assignments.

TL;DR | News At A Glance

• Naresh Pal Gangwar has been appointed Secretary, Department of Higher Education, replacing Vineet Joshi.

• Vineet Joshi has been transferred as Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj.

• T.K. Anil Kumar will head the Department of School Education & Literacy.

• The appointments are part of a major Secretary-level IAS reshuffle approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).

• The reshuffle comes as the Ministry of Education remains under scrutiny over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak, though the government has not linked the appointments to the controversy.