Pralhad Joshi is now India's education minister. He replaced Dharmendra Pradhan, who resigned on July 25, 2026, after weeks of protests over a scandal involving India's medical school entrance exam, called NEET. Joshi officially started the job on July 26, 2026, according to Al Jazeera and The Hindu. Joshi will handle education along with two other jobs he already has: minister of new and renewable energy and minister of consumer affairs, food and public distribution.

NEET is the exam that decides who gets into medical school in India. Think of it as one giant test that controls the future of every aspiring doctor in the country. Recently, people accused the exam system of unfairness, and protests grew for weeks. The pressure built until Pradhan, the minister in charge, had to step down.

Joshi is 63 years old, born in 1962 in Bijapur, Karnataka. He has been a member of parliament for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2004, winning five elections in a row from the Dharwad district. He has worked in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet since May 2019, first handling parliamentary affairs, coal, and mines. Joshi wrote on social media that he was grateful to Prime Minister Modi for trusting him with the education role.

Government records suggest the switch was planned before the public found out. The Press Information Bureau (PIB), which is India's official press-release office, published a release on July 23, 2026, linking Joshi to the education minister role. A specific PIB release (PRID=2277706) mentions Joshi alongside the Education Minister for events scheduled for August 10–20, 2026. An earlier PIB release from November 30, 2023, shows Pradhan as the education minister when Joshi launched a White Rabbit Technology-based Indian project, which helps trace the timeline of how the two ministers interacted.

Joshi's recent work shows the range of what he already does. On July 19, 2026, Prime Minister Modi shared an article Joshi wrote about e-Jagriti, a platform that handles consumer complaints online. In June 2026, Modi also shared an article Joshi co-wrote with the head of the International Solar Alliance about solar energy, farming, and shared prosperity.

The broader context here is about how the government chose to handle a difficult moment. Instead of bringing in someone new just for education, the administration gave the job to Joshi, who already manages energy and consumer affairs. This means one trusted person now oversees several important areas at once. It also means that decisions about food distribution, renewable energy, consumer complaints, and now education will all come from the same minister. How this setup affects the ministry's handling of the NEET scandal fallout and future education reforms will be something to watch as the August events described in government documents approach.