What New IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw's Wharton Classmate Says About Him

Ashwini Vaishnaw, 51, will head the ministries of Electronics & Information Technology, Communications as well as Railways, the government announced late on Tuesday evening.

India has named a former bureaucrat who graduated from the country's top engineering school its new Information Technology minister, appointing a new point person in an increasingly fractious relationship with the world's largest technology giants. Ashwini Vaishnaw, 51, will head the ministries of Electronics & Information Technology, Communications as well as Railways, the government announced late on Tuesday evening. The incoming minister has an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and attended the Indian Institute of Technology, which counts tech leaders like Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai as alumni. A major restructuring of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet saw the exit of Ravi Shankar Prasad, who had been battling U.S. social media giants like Alphabet Inc.'s Google, Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. in one of the world's fastest-growing internet markets. As recently as last week, Mr Prasad had been vociferously defending the government's moves to exert control over user data and online discussions. The reshuffle comes as India joins governments around the world in tackling what they regard as an inordinate amount of power by Silicon Valley giants, particularly as free speech protections conflict with politics and domestic security. Rules issued in February requiring social giants to take down posts deemed offensive and divulge the originators of messages have been a particular sticking point in the tussle between Modi's government and the technology firms.