‘Nishank’ takes charge of HRD Ministry

Dr. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ took charge of the HRD Ministry Friday with the senior ministry officials handing him over the draft of the much awaited National Education Policy (NEP).

The policy, an ambitious project of the previous Modi government, is expected to be on the agenda of Nishank, who started his career as a teacher in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-affiliated Saraswati Shishu Mandir.

The former Uttarakhand chief minister told reporters that he will be meeting officials of the Ministry of Human Resource Development and will chalk out a plan of action soon.

A committee headed by former ISRO chief K Kasturirangan was formed to draft the new education policy by the HRD Ministry previously headed by Prakash Javadekar, who is now Information and Broadcasting minister.

“I have got the draft and it will now be put up in the public domain and feedback will be invited from various stakeholders,” Nishank told reporters after assuming charge.

New national education policy, filling five lakh vacant faculty positions in higher education and add 10 institutes to the Institutions of Eminence list, are part of the 100-day agenda of the HRD Ministry under the new government.

Nishank, a PhD from Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna University in Garhwal, has authored over 35 books.

Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, also part of the Narendra Modi-led cabinet, assumed charge as the Minister of State for Human Resource Development.

Dhotre is a three-time MP from the Akola constituency in Maharashtra.

Next Parliament session from June 17

The budget session of Parliament is likely to be held from June 17 till July 26, in which regular budget will be presented, a senior official said on Friday.

The dates of the session were discussed at the first cabinet meeting of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government which was sworn in on Thursday.

The interim budget for the year 2019-20 was presented by then Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on February 1, 2019.