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    Scams in UPA government weren’t the failure of Manmohan Singh only: Vinod Rai

    Synopsis

    Vinod Rai, in his book, calls for strong actions to break paradigm of nepotism & cronyism that has crept into India’s governance over past decade.

    ET Bureau
    In his book, Not Just An Accountant, former Comptroller Auditor General Vinod Rai has called for strong actions to break the paradigm of nepotism and cronyism that has crept into India’s governance over the past decade. It took Rai 10 months to get a water connection for his private residence in South Delhi after retirement, he told ET’s Vikas Dhoot, pointing out how difficult it is for ordinary citizens to play straight without being harassed by the system. Edited exercpts:

    Why have you written this book and what do you want readers to imbibe from it?

    When I retired, I had no intention of writing this. But even after I retired (in May 2013), lots of innuendos were made about me and the office of the CAG that is totally apolitical, competent and robust. To call us untrained and incapable of performance audit was very unfair as we were doing a better job than the auditors of most countries. I wanted the young generation to know how government is being run and boost the morale of young CAG officers who are extremely proficient at their work. So I picked up five cases (oil and gas, Air India, 2G Scam, CWG Scam and the Coalgate case) where the failures were for different reasons such as lack of cohesion, missing leadership, mid-way rule changes.

    You have been critical of the PM, but said that all responsibility doesn’t lie on his door. Please explain.

    A leader always has to take responsibility for actions under his watch. But the scams in UPA weren’t the failure of PM only as he can’t be overseeing every small thing. A lot depends on the information and analysis fed to him by the ministers and secretaries. But yes, the buck stops with the PM.

    You have said that Congress MPs pressurised you over naming the PM in audit reports.

    What I said was that Ashwini Kumar talked to me when a couple of other MPs were around. They were saying that please don’t drag the PM into the Public Accounts Committee meetings (not the audit report). If the PM is writing to Raja and two letters are written on the same day, how can audit not take note of it. It is a fact that in a PAC meeting that I was absent, Congress MPs were so acerbic (about me) that other PAC members protested and the PAC head Murli Manohar Joshi had to complain to the speaker. They wanted CAG to be in the witness box. For the first time, the PAC was grilling the CAG.

    You have made some sharp comments about the oil ministry favouring RIL that go beyond the CAG report...

    An audit report is very structured and cannot have opinions. I have interpreted the production sharing contract (PSC) in my own way and analysed it indepth. It is a fact that the Director General of Hydrocarbons and Government of India have been bending over backwards for Reliance. The PSC may be a result of our inexperience in the past, but now the government must think about reviewing it. The CAG, the Ashok Chawla committee on natural resources’ allocation as well as former PMEAC head C Rangarajan have recommended this.

    How hopeful are you that the new government would correct the cronyism pervading governance?

    It’s far too early to say, but they have come to power on an avowed declaration of ending crony capitalism and corruption. Corruption can’t be eliminated, but it can be curbed
    The Economic Times

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