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Created on Wednesday, 20 October 2021 14:29
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Hiding Data (Image Courtesy: taxindiaonline.com)
Rajiv Mehrishi, former Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), last month disclosed that Modi Government has held back a report he had submitted in April 2020 to end “a nightmare of accounts that militates against good governance”.
Mr. Mehrishi, who retired in August 2020, quoted Article 150 of the Constitution as saying “The accounts of the Union and of the States shall be kept in such form as the President may, on the advice of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, prescribe”, according to a story in a leading business daily.
He pointed out that none of his predecessors in CAG had offered such advice. “We departed from that to give a detailed advisory to the President on how the form and manner of keeping public accounts should be”.
The instances of dubious governance he cited include 25% of budgeted expenditure classified as expenditure under accounting head “other expenditure”, creation of non-lapsable funds for certain sectors/schemes and lack of uniformity in accounting of welfare and development funds given by the Centre to the States.
Add to this concern the little-noticed fact that Government did not present to Parliament a single CAG report during the monsoon session. The last time when CAG report was presented was 24th March 2021.
CAG already behaves like a lame-duck under the present regime. Its reports lack the usual punch that CAG delivered under UPA and previous regimes. CAG’s quantitative and qualitative output is woefully inadequate as compared to its US counterpart GAO.
The outdated CAG’s (Duties, Powers and Conditions of Service) Act, 1971 must be amended or replaced with a new one in keeping with Mr. Modi’s confession: “India's 21st century needs cannot be met by the ways of the 20th Century”. This vision has been flaunted to rationalize three central farm laws originally sneaked through ordinance route during 2020 lockdown.
The NDA Government should explain as to why it is toeing UPA line by not disclosing its decision on a comprehensive draft of the new act that CAG submitted in November 2009. Nobody knows what the draft bill envisaged.
As it is, Modi Government has kept the public in dark about the flaws in the defence sector by not making online its CAG reports. The restriction has been imposed ostensibly to safeguard national interests.
Read more: Hiding data - A favourite Obsession
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Created on Wednesday, 23 June 2021 15:56
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(PM-DMs meeting, Edited Image Courtesy: PIB)
Humble Covid-19 and Pradhan Corona Warrior Narendra Modi ji have put district magistrate (DM) on the Centre Stage in pandemic management. DMs have issued countless orders under Disaster Management Act, Epidemic Diseases Act and other relevant laws to rein in citizens from joining infection chain.
With second wave waning, it is time to review and pitch for reforming institution of DM. It was created by East India company in 1772 as District Collector; also known as Deputy Commissioner.
Ironical it is, that Modi Government is comfortable this colonial legacy. It is however, feels uneasy with perception that Britishers-designed Parliament was not built for Independent India.
Apart from three designations, the executive head of district wears other hats too. This IAS cadre official wields power under more than 50 central and State laws. He heads many district committees and institutions. DM’s workload keeps rising with the launch of new central and state schemes and new laws.
No wonder some of the DMs don’t know well all the laws and names of committees they preside over. This fact was discovered by 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) in its 15th Report on State & District Administration released in April 2009. Why has NDA Government not revisited the Report’s valuable recommendations that were trashed by UPA?
Read more: Comfortable with Colonial Legacy of DM but Uneasy with Britishers-designed Parliament
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Created on Sunday, 23 May 2021 14:12
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(Image Courtesy: PIB)
“Leadership is About Tackling Adversity and Also Looking Beyond It.” Enlightening is this headline. It perked up an Insight on Covid published by Prime Minister’s personal website narendramodi.in on 29th May 2020.
It should stimulate national introspection as to why many things went horribly wrong during the pandemic. We should debate, without playing the blame-game, as to why many mistakes of the first wave recured with vengeance in the second wave.
As put by the article, “It is said that the true character of people comes out during adversity. It is similar for leadership. Providing leadership in times of normalcy may not be a challenge but it is difficulty that differentiates the best and the rest. Worldwide, the COVID-19 pandemic has been a test of leadership. In this test, India and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have set an example”.
It adds: “The clarion call of self reliance or ‘Aatma Nirbhar Bharat’, followed by a series of historic steps taken over a period of five days, will be remembered by history as a turning point in India’s history.”
The second wave of corona virus infection has indeed put to test the public, the leadership and the institutions. The virus has also rocked vision embedded in catching slogans & schemes such as EK Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, One Nation One Market, Aatma Nirbhar Bharat, Transforming India, Swachh Bharat, Ease of Living and Ease of doing business.
Covid has indeed cast its shadow on several other grandiose slogans coined during the last seven years. The more one reads the news reports from the ground zero; the stronger becomes the evidence of fragility of slogans-driven march towards New India.
No doubt, the second wave continues to bring out the best and innovative initiatives from certain stakeholders for coping with pandemic dynamics. Steel and other process industries, equipped with captive gaseous plants, focussed their efforts on production of medical oxygen, sacrificing their normal business.
Read more: Covid-19 Shakes Many Visionary Slogans Coined for New India
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Created on Thursday, 10 December 2020 04:05
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Let Centre-States Clash over Farm Laws Be a Wake-up Call
(Conflict Avoidance. Image Courtesy: taxinidaonline.com)
“No Central Government, which is wise, will undertake a conflict over small matters….Can checks govern a country; every check means a conflict and every time a proposition is positively made in the Legislative Assembly and shaped into a policy, a check means an invitation to a public meeting, an invitation to an argument, sides being taken, appeals being made and a lot of misunderstanding. Whereas if they meet together, consult together and dispose of things together, we will not have conflicts and checks….It is only against dangers that checks are provided explicitly but in other matters we envisage a complete harmonious self-governing family working together but if we provide checks in a family, we go with a divorce document even before we marry”.
Alas, this Team India vision of late C. Rajagopalachari, Home Minister, is totally forgotten. His sage words, expounded in provisional Parliament during August 1951, are highly relevant today.
This is because conflicts of all sorts at all levels have become synonymous with vibrant democracy. This is due to complex inter-play of various factors notably bad governance and clash of rights.
Central policies, schemes and laws are thrust on the Nation as a fait accompli. Crucial bills are rarely referred to time-tested institution of joint committee/ select committee / standing committee of Parliament.
You name a subject & search for it on the Net. And you would find dozens of weblink to documents on conflicts over the searched subject. Every issue ranging from reserving beds for Covid-19 patients to farm laws turns into conflict to be resolved by the judiciary.
The Constitution is supposed to be the ultimate guide for the Nation. In actual practice, the Constitution itself has become the source of friction between the Centre, States and among the States. It needs to be written specially to avoid its misuse by the Centre and to avoid legislative conflicts. What applies to Constitution also applies to Central and State laws that trigger avoidable litigations.
This issue has been aptly addressed by a 2019 study titled ‘Cleaning Constitutional Cobwebs Reforming the Seventh Schedule’ submitted by Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy to 15th Finance Commission.
For the sake of simplicity, this column would focus on Centre-State legislative conflicts over farm laws & farmers’ protest. Before elaborating on this, we should note that conflict avoidance and resolution has turned out to be the Achilles heel for the NDA Government. This in spite of the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself is actually aware of conflicts & has spoken wisely on them at certain events.
Read more: Conflict Avoidance & Resolution Can Open Gateway to New India
