Dr. Raj Nehru assigned three key responsibilities in Haryana govt

JAMMU, MAY 03: Dr. Raj Nehru has been entrusted with significant responsibilities in Haryana Chief Minister’s Office. He has been appointed as Officer on Special Duty (OSD) in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), increasing the total number of OSDs from one to two. Until now, HCS officer Vivek Kalia was the sole OSD in the CMO.
Dr. Nehru has been entrusted with significant responsibilities of three crucial departments: Future Department, Higher Education, and Youth Empowerment & Entrepreneurship — each pivotal to Haryana’s development agenda and flagship initiatives.
A visionary in skill development and education, Dr. Nehru is the founding Vice Chancellor of Shri Vishwakarma Skill University, India’s first Government Skill University in 2016. He pioneered the dual model of skill education, now adopted by several states across the country. Prior to that, he also served as Mission Director of the Skill Development Corporation. This expertise has been recognised by the Haryana government, which has assigned him the Youth Empowerment and Entrepreneurship portfolio to leverage his experience in building a robust skill ecosystem for youth.
In addition to Youth Empowerment, Dr. Nehru will oversee the Higher Education Department, focusing on integrating skill-based learning to align education with employment outcomes. This move aims to transform higher education into a more practical and job-oriented system.
Furthermore, Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has also handed over the charge of the Future Department to Dr. Nehru, with the goal of crafting and executing the state’s long-term vision and roadmap.
With a track record of pioneering educational and governance reforms, Nehru is expected to bring innovative frameworks, dynamic collaborations, and a holistic approach to anticipate and address emerging global and local challenges. The department is designed to function as a strategic think-tank for the state — focusing on forecasting risks, analysing global trends, and shaping policies around critical areas such as climate change, Artificial Intelligence, automation, economic resilience, demographic shifts, and technological disruption.
Under his leadership, the Department of Future will work across government verticals to promote policy integration, foster innovation, and build Haryana’s readiness for a rapidly evolving socio-economic and technological landscape. His experience in bridging academia, governance, and industry is seen as instrumental in turning the department into a catalyst for proactive governance, transforming Haryana into a future-ready state.