Hours before the anticipated cabinet reshuffle, union education minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has resigned from the ministry, citing health concerns, according to sources.
It may be recollected Nishank had tested positive for the Covid-19 virus in April and was later admitted to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi as he had post-covid complications in June. Later, the 61-year-old resumed office and continued duties, mostly attending online conferences and virtual meetings.
Nishank, was, in 2019 appointed the union minister for human resource development in 2019. His designation was later changed after the nomenclature of the ministry was changed in 2021 as the union education minister. During the second term of the prime minister Narendra Modi headed BJP government, Nishank replaced Prakash Javedekar who had held the portfolio in his first term.
His political journey began in 1987 as the central spokesperson of the Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand) Sangharsh Samiti. Later, in 1991, he was elected as an MLA from the Karnprayag Assembly. In 1996, for the first time, he was appointed as a cabinet minister in Uttar Pradesh.
A member of the 16th Lok Sabha, Nishank served as the fifth chief minister of Uttarakhand and represents the Haridwar constituency of Uttarakhand.
Initially, Nishank served as a teacher in a school affiliated to the Rashitraya Swayamsevak Sangh and has also worked as a journalist in the past. He is also the author of over 75 books which have been translated into various Indian and foreign languages.
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