IIPA Names Paul H. Appleby 2026 Awardees at 328th EC Meet

The Executive Council of the Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA) met in New Delhi for its 328th meeting with Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh in the chair as Chairman of the institute, and announced the institute's annual awards.

The awards announced

Who chaired, and in what capacity

Jitendra Singh holds independent charge as Minister of State for Science and Technology and is also Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office and for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the Department of Space and Atomic Energy. He presided over the council as Chairman of the IIPA, a post that goes with the personnel portfolio.

What the Chairman asked for

The minister said the institute should widen the scope of its training and capacity-building work, with greater attention to groups that are rarely the subject of administration courses: university administrators, hospital administrators, and scientific and technological personnel who need grounding in governance and administration.

The flagship course

The council took note of the work done on the Advanced Professional Programme in Public Administration (APPPA), the institute's long-duration course for serving officers, including tie-ups with reputed institutions to enrich its content and the use of outside experts. It held that the programme should draw participants from more sectors of government and from a wider range of services instead of a narrow set.

Journals, interns and staff

• Faculty will gain from One Nation One Subscription (ONOS), which opens access to a larger pool of journals, research papers, books and project reports, and the council recorded its thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the scheme.
• The structured internship programme started in May 2026 was praised, and the council asked that its scope be widened and interns be drawn into the institute's research work.
• Steps to strengthen the institute's administration with staff support from the Department of Personnel and Training and the Controller General of Accounts were noted.
• The council welcomed the move to involve faculty in administrative decisions and to release incentives tied to their research projects.

Why it matters for aspirants

The IIPA is the country's premier body for research and training in public administration, and its two annual awards are a standing question type: one honours distinguished service by retired civil servants, the other academic excellence. The names, the number of the meeting and the chair's designation are the details most often tested.