Amidst the ongoing Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests over NEET paper leak, the Central government removed Secretary of the Department of Higher Education Vineet Joshi. Through an official notification issued late Thursday night (23rd July), the Centre replaced Joshi with Naresh Pal Gangwar.
A 1992-batch officer from the Manipur cadre, Vineet Joshi has been appointed Secretary in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Joshi had taken charge as Secretary in the Department of Higher Education in January 2025.
Naresh Pal Gangwar is a 1994-batch officer of the West Bengal cadre, who earlier served as Secretary in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying under the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
The Central government has also appointed TK Anil Kumar, additional secretary in the Department of Rural Development, as the secretary in the Department of School Education and Literacy.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday night posted a video message on his official X handle, announcing that stricter measures against paper leaks would be taken up in the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday. Speaking directly to the camera in an informal style from his office, the Prime Minister described paper leaks as a matter of deep concern that has caused immense pain to lakhs of students and their parents across the country.
He recalled that over the past two-and-a-half months the government had already taken several firm steps, including the arrest of those involved in the wrongdoing, many of whom are now in jail. The Prime Minister stressed that the foremost responsibility had been to ensure that students did not lose an entire academic year. Accordingly, the Centre had swung into action with full force and arranged for examinations to be held for nearly 22 lakh students in the shortest possible time. Results were declared on 19 July, and reports of joy among successful candidates have been pouring in from different parts of the nation. Yet, PM Modi made it clear that the government was not content with these measures alone.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister had already signalled the government’s intent through a post on X, and had announced setting up fast-track courts for speedy trial of paper leak cases.
