Naresh Pal Gangwar appointed Higher Education Secretary

• The Central Government has appointed senior IAS officer Naresh Pal Gangwar as the new Secretary of the Department of Higher Education under the Ministry of Education.

• A 1994-batch officer of the Rajasthan cadre, Gangwar assumed this responsibility on July 23, 2026.

• He replaces Vineet Joshi, who has been appointed as the Secretary of the Department of Panchayati Raj as part of an administrative reshuffle at the Secretary level.

• Naresh Pal Gangwar is an officer with extensive administrative experience; he previously served as the Secretary of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.

• He also possesses a strong and diverse academic background, holding a B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering, an M.Tech from IIT Delhi, and an M.A. in Economics from the University of Rajasthan.

• This combination of technical knowledge and administrative experience could play a pivotal role in accelerating policy decisions and reforms within the higher education sector.