COMPTROLLER AND AUDOTOR GENERAL - AN IMPORTANT PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY

" People sometime think as though the democracy in itself is a
certainty of a welfare state but,what is feared is a comfortable
delusion ".
Often,the perception of a governance system comprising people -adopted by the citizens for taking care of every need of the countrymen is a half baked conclusion.Devoid of it's mainframe structures,the most advanced system of governance is reduced to just another tool for exploitation in hands of the rulers .
The way spokes keep the wheel intact and in shape ,so does strong supportive institutions in a democracy required to have the desired deliveries to all it's people.Besides a constitution- which ensures people's participative involvement,it is of utmost importance to an independent election commission , a fair judiciary ,a free press ,an active civil society and a watch-dog to keep an eye on vast amount of funds the govt. in power spends regularly on various schemes for periodical scrutiny of how the people's money is being used and whether the rules laid down are being adhered to or not .COMPTROLLER AND AUDITOR GENERAL in our country is entrusted with the task of doing just that .
CAG has played as vital role by “encouraging for good governance through qualitative audit” The role of audit on a national basis is very important as transparency and accountability are to be established in different sectors of the country through it. The CAG makes sure that auditing of the spending of all public funds is done in such a way that it ensures the best possible use of limited resources to be delivered for maximum benefit to people.
The institution of the CAG has had a distinguished history in India. Its role since independence in public financial accountability and probity have been widely recognized and appreciated. The importance of CAG is easily understand by the following words of Baba Ambedkar “I am of the opinion that this dignitary or officer (C&AG) is probably the most important officer of the Constitution of India. He is the one man who is going to see that the expenses voted by parliament are not exceeded, or varied from what has been laid down by Parliament in what is called appropriation Act. If this functionary is to carry out the duties- and his duties, I submit are far more important than the duties than the duties of the Judiciary”.
CAG not only ensures the economic justice to all but looks into the social aspects that are concerned with it as well. There are various dynamic functions that the CAG has to deal with : -To prescribe, with the approval of president, the form in which the accounts of union and states are to be kept -To perform such duties and exercise such powers in relations to accounts of union or states or any other body , as many prescribed by any law made by parliament. -To report the president or governor of the state on the account of country or state.
Now a days a new demand is emerging out ,should CAG be given an additional role of looking into the affairs of other players in private sector too.Given it's track record - YES ,it sure must be assigned this new role ,the need of the hour has made it all the more urgent.How could it be forgotten ,Satyam's Raju episode - where a big manipulation came to the light ,crony capitalism has shown the world :given a window .corporates are too eager to deceive masses whether by design or through deceit.The recent disclosures of scams in 2G spectrum allocations and the hue and cry on swindled black money parked by Indians in foreign banks situated in tax heavens of Switzerland ,Mauritius etc. demands that the institution of comptroller and auditor general be further strengthened for even more efficient deliverance .

Need For Changing The System

We made a choice at the dawn of our independence and Pandit Nehru's famous tryst with destiny under compulsions, where the national capital was not strong enough to shoulder the great responsibility of building the new born country.Thus mixed economy was thrust-ed upon us ,all core sector projects - which needed huge funds and long gestation ,were picked up by state capital and rest of the things were left for Indian business houses.



Thus the local capitalist flourished in connivance with state machinery which needed vast sums of money for funding electoral process every five years , so it was bound to result in creation of parallel economy for which mind boggling figures, now being around 1400 billion US Dollars.It seems we have successfully created black economy ,far too large for even the state to compete or control and the credit for building such a unique model must be given to our high entrepreneurial skills along with resourceful politicians.a few seconds ago .

The fate of a billion plus people of this country must not be left to market forces ,whose sole motif is profiteering ,the people of this country sure need a better life - at least a life which could be humanitarian if not dignified.So ,far we have seen the other side of the coin with a blurred vision and now it is getting imperative to mend the mess and to do it timely or we stand a chance of missing the global advantage at our doorsteps.The country's ills will worsen every day ,till we do not formulate a new economic ,social and political order and socialism has the answer to most of our curses .

AT THE CUSP OF HISTORY - RamDev .

Dear RamDev ji,

This is to request u to kindly not make an identical mistake of falling upon these NGOs who work more for funds then for the cause.World social forum at Mumbai removed that haze that these people are selfless volunteers.The second pit is : ignoring that this time you will be dealing with scoundrels at their worst game of politics and you sure deserve applaud for raising such a sensitive cause and it seems that you are not attached to any political groupings - which is good but to denounce politics will be your biggest folly.You being a yoga healer must remember that poison is the cure for poisoning and diseases due to life-style are cured only through change of life-style. During the course of your Satyagrah - be bold to continuously release your agenda for building a new system and concrete steps for bringing back our funds stacked abroad. We ,the people ,the common man on street has been cheated too often ,so withdraw your agitation right now but for the sake of this common man - don't ever ditch the movement .The moment of nations journey has brought you to this glorified stage ,either way you will go to the pages of history but few only ever get such an opportunity - may it be emphasized that you don't have to leave the scene till the task of building a new order is not completed and the 1st step in this direction will be keeping existing political forces out of parliament .