Deepti Gaur Mukerjee Appointed India's Higher Education Secretary

The Indian government has appointed senior bureaucrat Deepti Gaur Mukerjee as the new Secretary of the Department of Higher Education, completing a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle announced on Monday, August 10, 2026. The appointment, made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the country's education system following the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) paper leak controversy.

Mukerjee, a 1993-batch Indian Administrative Service officer from the Madhya Pradesh cadre, succeeds Vineet Joshi, who was transferred to the Ministry of Panchayati Raj last month. The Personnel Ministry issued a partial modification of its earlier July 23 order to finalize Mukerjee's new role. She was most recently serving as the Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The reshuffle also involves several other key positions. Pallavi Jain Govil, the current Secretary of Youth Affairs, will take over as the Corporate Affairs Secretary from Mukerjee. Sunil Paliwal, Chairman of the Inland Waterways Authority of India, has been named the new Youth Affairs Secretary, while Sushil Kumar Lohani will succeed Paliwal as the new Chairman of the Inland...