Who is India’s new education minister Pralhad Joshi?

What the report says

Al Jazeera reported that Pralhad Joshi has been named India’s education minister following the resignation of Dharmendra Pradhan, whose exit came after weeks of youth-led protests over an exam leak scandal. The protests had spread across India and became a significant political challenge for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Joshi, 63, is already minister for new and renewable energy as well as consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and will now take on the education brief.

The report described Joshi as a long-serving Modi cabinet member and a politician viewed as close to the prime minister. Born in Bijapur, Karnataka, in 1962, he studied arts at KS Arts College in Hubballi, later co-founded a chemicals business, and became associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Hindu nationalist organisation often seen as ideologically linked to the BJP. His political career developed through the Hubballi Idgah Maidan dispute, and he entered parliament from Dharwad in 2004, winning five consecutive elections.

Joshi has held several senior BJP and government roles, including Dharwad district BJP president in 1998, Karnataka BJP president in 2014, and cabinet posts from 2019 covering parliamentary affairs, coal and mines. Al Jazeera noted that his emphasis on coal production drew criticism from climate activists and local communities before he moved to renewable energy-related responsibilities in 2025.

His immediate challenge is the fallout from the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test controversy. Al Jazeera reported that about 2.3 million candidates took NEET on May 3 for fewer than 130,000 medical college places, before the government voided the exam on May 12 after paper-leak allegations and ordered a retest. Joshi held his first meeting as education minister on Sunday to review the situation and new measures.