Explore Business Standard
In a first, India has won the presidency of the Belgium-based International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS), an official statement issued on Wednesday said. The IIAS, a global non-profit organisation, is a federation of 31 member countries, 20 national sections and 15 academic research centres jointly collaborating for scientific research on public administration. The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) has represented India as a member state of the IIAS since 1998. For the 2025-2028 presidency of IIAS, Prime Minister Narendra Modi nominated the Indian candidacy of Secretary DARPG V Srinivas in November 2024. The hearings for the IIAS presidency were held in February 2025 at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi. Four nations -- India, South Africa, Austria and Bahrain -- submitted their nominations for the IIAS presidency for the period 2025-2028 and participated in the hearings before the Council of Administration of IIAS, which were held on the .
For students around the world, an acceptance letter to Harvard University has represented the pinnacle of achievement, offering a spot among the elite at a campus that produces Nobel Prize winners, captains of industry and global leaders. That allure is now in jeopardy. In its intensifying fight with the White House, Harvard was dealt its heaviest blow yet on Thursday, when the government blocked the Ivy League school from enrolling foreign students. The move threatens to undermine Harvard's stature, revenue and appeal among top scholars globally. Even more than the government's USD 2.6 billion in research cuts, the administration's action represents an existential threat for Harvard. The school summed it up in a lawsuit seeking to block the action: Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard. Within hours of the decision, the consequences started becoming clear. Belgium's Princess Elisabeth, who just finished her first year in a Harvard graduate programme, is waiting