Gangwar Appointed Education Secretary as NEET Row Broadens Reshuffle

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved a broad bureaucratic reshuffle, transferring Vineet Joshi from the Education Ministry to the Panchayati Raj and naming Naresh Pal Gangwar as the new Secretary of the Department of Higher Education. Gangwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer, was previously Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. The changes come amid intense scrutiny over the NEET-UG 2026 paper leak and continuing protests affecting education ministry reforms. Joshi will be succeeded at the Panchayati Raj by Vivek Bharadwaj, who is set to retire, while other senior postings across ministries were announced, including Piyush Goyal as Secretary General of the NHRC and Keshav Chandra in the Mines Ministry. The reshuffle underscores the government’s governance response amid the NEET controversy and protests by groups such as the Cockroach Janta Party, signaling a broad realignment of key administrative roles.