The Centre is up for a toss, as the CJP’s protest over the alleged NEET-UG 2026 paper leak drags on, the government has kept rolling out fixes to the exam system while flatly refusing to give protesters the one thing they actually want — Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation.
The CJP’s position hasn’t shifted an inch: no reform matters, they say, until someone at the top is held accountable. Instead, it’s leaning into process. As per reports, talks of tightening anti-paper-leak laws, harsher penalties for exam fraud, and a shift toward computer-based testing for NEET-UG. A fast-track court has already been constituted at Delhi’s Rouse Avenue complex specifically to hear cases under the Public Examinations Act, with a judge transferred in to run it. The Supreme Court, meanwhile, has told the Centre to produce a proper CBT roadmap and says it’ll be playing the watchdog.
Then came the reshuffle today morning. Naresh Pal Gangwar, a 1994-batch IAS officer who was heading the Ministry of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, has been named the new Higher Education Secretary. He replaces Vineet Joshi, who’s been transferred to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. The government insists this is routine bureaucratic movement, not fallout from NEET — though Joshi was the man running Higher Education through the entire scandal, so the timing hasn’t convinced everyone. Gangwar’s appointment has its own baggage. A media report revealed his wife, mother, and son together received over ₹1.16 crore through the National Horticulture Board’s subsidy scheme for commercial horticulture — enough to raise eyebrows about conflicts of interest and disclosure.
The same investigation flagged Union Minister of State for Agriculture Bhagirath Choudhary too, who received close to ₹99 lakh under the same scheme for a farming project. Choudhary’s response has been straightforward — he applied before he became a minister, and the approval followed standard procedure.
However the centre hinted that the Union Education will not resign while the CJP protesters are not ready to convince with recently announced reforms, bills and legislations. The time will tell who will win the most discussed battle of India.