• Dr. Jitendra Singh chaired the meeting as IIPA president
  • Executive council thanked Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ and announced awards for academic excellence

Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Prime Minister’s Office, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, and Space and Atomic Energy, Dr. Jitendra Singh chaired the 328th executive council meeting of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) in New Delhi on Monday.

As council chair, Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized the need to expand IIPA’s training and capacity‑building programmes. He urged greater focus on capacity building in governance and administration for university and hospital administrators as well as science and technology personnel.

The executive council praised efforts to improve the Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA), enrich its curriculum through greater institutional collaboration and increase participation of experts from reputed institutions. The council also discussed bringing more diversity to the programme by involving participants from various government sectors and services.

The executive council also commended efforts to increase faculty participation in the institute’s administrative decisions and to fund incentives linked to research projects. With the ‘One Nation, One Subscription’ scheme in place, faculty will gain access to a larger number of journals, research papers, books, project reports and other academic publications.

The structured internship programme of IIPA was also praised. It was launched in May 2026. The executive council suggested expanding the internship’s scope and encouraging trainees to contribute to IIPA’s research papers and projects. Attention was also drawn to efforts to provide staff support from the Personnel and Training Department and the Comptroller and Auditor General to strengthen institute administration.

The executive council also announced the annual awards. The 2026 Paul H. Appleby Award will be presented to retired IAS officers S. S. Kshatriya, D. P. Tiwari and B. R. Sharma. The Dr. Rajendra Prasad Award for academic excellence will go to former vice‑chancellor Professor Dr. K. Chokalingam of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.