In October 2012, he was sworn in as the Union Minister for Human Resource Development. Some of the important milestones during his tenure include the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), which was set up to provide higher education to deserving students. Under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, Fellowships and Scholarships were given to over 100,000 students, by transferring the corresponding amounts directly to their bank accounts. Training was imparted to 207,000 students through Polytechnics as a part of the Community Development Scheme (CDS) during the academic year of 2012–13.