Narendra Modi and Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan to hold virtual meet with IIT directors today

The newly appointed Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan is going to meet the directors of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) along with the Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conferencing at 11 am. Pradhan has been appointed the new Education Minister in the Cabinet reshuffle and will also hold the portfolio for the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship. With Pradhan holding both the ministries, it is expected that the gap between education and employment in the country will reduce. Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank resigned from the position of Education Minister yesterday. This is the first cabinet reshuffle for the Modi-led government. After he was given a berth in the cabinet, Pradhan tweeted said that he will be dedicated to the construction of an educated, skilled and Aatmanirbhar Bharat. He also congratulated other newly appointed ministers, including Harshdeep Puri, Anurag Thakur and G Kishan Reddy, among others. In the 2014 Union cabinet, Pradhan was the Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas with independent charge. Later in 2017, he was appointed as the Union Minister for the same ministry. Dharmendra Pradhan was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004. Currently, he is the representative of Madhya Pradesh in the Rajya Sabha. With the cabinet reshuffle, as many as 43 leaders were made ministers. Along with Pokhriyal, health minister Harsh Vardhan, IT minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and environment minister Prakash Javadekar also resigned from their positions on 7 July.