Vinod Rai, a 1972 batch IAS officer of Kerala cadre, took oath on Monday as the country's new Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Rai, who replaced V N Kaul, was administered the oath of office by President Pratibha Patil at a brief function at Rashtrapati Bhawan. Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram were among the dignitaries present at the ceremony.
'Event management can distract from, but not permanently mask, execution failures,' points out Rathin Roy, director, National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
11 private firms would be involved in the ambitious project.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India plans to focus on infrastructure companies and banks for special audit during the current financial year.
Seeking the government's assurance to the House that it would not henceforth enter into "such dubious deals" with the United States, Basudeb Acharia of the Communist Party of India-Marxist asked why the government bought the 1971 vintage vessel for $50 million when the US Navy had decided in 2003 that it was not suitable for modernisation and should be decommissioned in 2006.
According to the recent report, IAF's Air Officer Commander at one of the stations was approached by the Reliance Infocomm for installation of a booster antenna within the station complex in May 2004 and the permission was granted by the concerned authorities. The company was asked to pay Rs 5,000 as rent and allied charges to the government, which was subsequently reduced to Rs 1,000 in September 2005.
For the first time in its history, the department of the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has conducted a cleanliness audit for the Indian Railways.
ONGC, Hindustan Petroleum, Bharat Petroleum, Indian Oil and Oil India listed the spending as part of their mandatory CSR commitment, but CAG noted that the Sardar Patel statue did not qualify for CSR funding.
Equity investments in 82 public sector enterprises have been completely eroded due to accumulated losses, an audit of financial statements conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India revealed.
"At the end of the year, we will do better than the budget estimates," Finance Minister P Chidambaram told reporters when asked about sharp rise in fiscal deficit in April-May as per the figures released by the Comptroller General of Accounts on Monday. The fiscal deficit for two months touched Rs 73,201 crore (Rs 732.01 billion), 54.9 per cent of estimated fiscal deficit of Rs 1,33,287 crore (Rs 1,332.87 billion) for the fiscal, mainly on account of rising oil import bill.
The recent draft report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) which pointed to misuse and non-utilisation of funds for the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme doesn't mean the programme is a write-off. The audit will act as a deterrent and spur state governments to work more efficiently, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has said.
Opens operations in high-speed train, freight and suburban corridors to private sector
With the photo-identity card issue in the capital kicking up a major controversy, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday said that if there are any practical problems, these will be resolved. "I do not want to go into the motives. If there are any practical problems, we will resolve them," he told reporters on the sidelines of a function where the new Comptroller and Auditor General of India was sworn-in at the Rashtrapati Bhawan.
A Congress minister has defended the former Ghulam Nabi Azad-led Congress government in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the Comptroller and Auditor General's disclosure that it framed rules in violation of the Roshni Act under a Rs 25,000 crore land-transfer scam.
His appointment will be effective from the date he assumes charge of his office, an official statement said on Monday. An Indian Administrative Service officer of Kerala cadre, 1972 batch, Rai will take over from V N Kaul.
The compensation would be met through levy of a cess called 'GST Compensation Cess' on luxury items and sin goods like tobacco, for the first five years.
The Indian board (BCCI) will consider a further increase in salaries for its contracted players after leading cricketers expressed dissatisfaction with the pay raise announced last month.
Government is framing a rule that will make it compulsory for regulators like Sebi, Irdai and PFRDA to deposit a significant portion of their reserves into the Consolidated Fund of India.
Jaitley said the CAG report has reference to the shortage of ammunition in relation to a point of time.
'Will Mr Jaitley listen, or is that expecting too much in pre-election season?' asks T N Ninan.
The CAG report noted that availability of 55 per cent types of ammunitions was below minimum inescapable requirement to be maintained for operational preparedness and 40 per cent types of ammunitions were in critical level, having stock of less than 10 days.
The Central Board of Excise and Customs has decided to prescribe time limits for various activities following representations from the trade and recommendations from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
After ex-Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai attacked Manmohan Singh on 2G issue, Congress leader Kamal Nath on Friday said the former Prime Minister may have made a "mistake" in not acting despite his letter to him expressing concern over the spectrum allocation process.
United States Secretary of Navy Donald C Winter said he did not think the sale of of USS Trenton to India was a deal gone wrong. A poisonous gas leak on the ship had killed six people in February. The UPA government was criticised for spending so much on the aging carrier after the CAG's report labelled the buy as 'hasty' and done without 'proper physical assessment'.
The auditor also raised doubts over the safety procedures.
The CAG, who blamed what he called a lack of accountability in bureaucracy for delays in action on audit reports, said officials who sit over them should be punished.
For the first time in its history, the department of the comptroller and auditor general (CAG) has conducted a cleanliness audit for the Indian Railways.
"Why is it that whenever there are no political overtones to a case, the CBI does a good job?" he said.
Handing out a reprimand to the Navy for the lapse, the CAG said this was 'seriously limiting their operations capabilities.'
Reacting to the hike in power rates, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that the Comptroller and Auditor General's report on discoms would ascertain the lack of funds as stated by power distribution companies.
The defence ministry's new procurement policy is causing delays.
Implementation of Lodha Committee recommendations in the Board of Control for Cricket in India will be complete in the next four-five months, said Vinod Rai, head of the Supreme Court-appointed panel of administrators to manage the cricket board's affairs.
The Congress has launched an offensive against the Bharatiya Janata Party government over the Rafale deal, alleging corruption and violation of rules by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and demanded answers from him.
The Comptroller and Auditor General on Tuesday slammed the Defence Ministry and Air Force for "several instances" of deviation from rules in the procurement of VVIP choppers in the Rs 3,727 crore AgustaWestland deal.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India on Friday criticised the previous National Democratic Alliance government for undervaluation of a number of public sector units, including Balco and VSNL, where equity was divested.\n\n
I will quit Rajya Sabha as well as public life if any allegation against me is proved in AgustaWestland controversy, said Congress leader Ahmed Patel.
In a new twist to the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter scandal, it has now come to light that the helicopter design and manufacturing company never returned the full down payment made by the Indian authorities for procuring the 12 choppers.
Having cut off the "umbilical cord" that tied him to the Board, the former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) spoke to PTI on a range of issues from "giving a free hand" to the Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri duo, Anil Kumble's exit as national coach, his frosty relationship with colleague Diana Edulji, sexual harassment allegations against BCCI CEO Rahul Johri and difficulties in implementing the Supreme Court-mandated Lodha recommendations.
The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Muslim organisations in the country, on Friday took serious note of Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi's claim that an intelligence officer had told him that 'people from Pakistan were talking to the relatives of Muslims killed in the August 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.
Comptroller and Auditor General found that they have been given wrong benefit of income deduction.
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