Book Review of 'Not Just an Accountant'

Vinod Rai writes about the major scams that shook the nation

 

Vinod Rai, the 11th and most assertive comptroller and auditor general (CAG) that India has seen, is the man behind uncovering major scams over the past few years: the 2G scam, coal block allocations, the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam, Air India scam and so on. Rai, in his book Not Just an Accountant, asserts that after several red flags were raised, the government had a chance to alter its direction and avoid obvious malfeasance. However, it turned a blind eye and continued along the same path.

 

According to Rai, the scams showed astonishing mis-governance with a clean man at the top. In the chapter on the 2G saga, he points out, “Unbelievably, the prime minister (Manmohan Singh) chose to ignore the red flags of deviation from policy, and questionable facts and figures offered by the minister (A Raja, the then telecommunications minister).” Commenting on Dr Singh’s statement in January 2014 that “spectrum allocation should be transparent,” Mr Rai writes that had the PM stood by his beliefs, the fate of the UPA-2 would have been different. However, Dr Singh “engaged in a routine and ‘distanced’ handling of the entire process, in spite of the fact that the A Raja had indicated, in writing, the action he proposed to take,” Rai writes.

 

The PM was aware of Raja’s intentions as far back as November/December 2007, but he only ‘acknowledged’ the ‘developments’ and did not question the minister’s intentions. Rai states that, if only Dr Singh had responded differently and asked the minister not to take any action ‘till they or the GoM have discussed this’, it would have changed the course of the UPA-2.

 

This case was “the first in the unfolding of a series of misguided actions of a government that seemed to have forgotten its oath to preserve and protect the interests of the nation,” laments Rai.

 

While the government initially claimed that there was no malfeasance and the CAG had erred, Rai states, “This is a story of the misguided belief that the underlying objective of all action is to remain in power, and keep a coalition secure—the nation and its people be damned.”

 

Similarly, in the CWG scam, despite the detailed and obvious highlighting of flaws and irregularities, there was no credible attempt to establish accountability. “The big fish get away and only some lowly engineers and officers land up in the CBI net,” remarks Rai.

 

On the coal scam, Rai comments that “those entrusted with safeguarding the nation’s natural resources… allowed it to be frittered away to agencies who were neither capable of exploiting the resources or had the intent to do so.”

 

Another area of scam was public-private partnerships (PPPs) which are not transparent and are skewed in favour of the private party. Such deals do “not assure us that the nation’s resources are indeed being exploited in the best interest of the nation,” Rai argues.

 

Further, he writes about the tragic tale of civil aviation which was once the pride of the nation. In the Air India deal, he questions why Boeing (B 777) aircrafts, that were meant to fly for the next 25 years, were sold within five years of the delivery of the aircraft at one-fifth the price. This was done despite the policy-makers being aware of the fact that such a purchase would create a financial crisis for Air India.

 

He also laments the incapability of joint parliamentary committee (JPC) and the public accounts committee (PAC), which were to probe the suspected irregularities of the government, but could not prepare a unanimous report and present it to Parliament.

 

Rai is the first of Indian CAGs who will be remembered for showing us that the government and politicians can be made accountable, if statutory bodies simply do their job. In a powerful speech, at Moneylife Foundation’s third anniversary function on 15 February 2013, Rai reminded the citizens about the responsibility of ensuring good governance saying that too much is at stake for this duty to be ignored. While private institutions as well as individuals need to be accountable, Rai said that more is required of the government. He said, “Accountability becomes more important when public funds are involved. This is because public funds come from taxes, which we have to pay.

 

Because there is compulsion to pay, we need to know how the money is spent. This is why governments have higher accountability to its citizens.”

Comments
Mahesh patnala
9 years ago
A man who had courage to show India "The truth". Many thanks to Vinod Rai
Ralph Rau
1 decade ago
The term "middle class morality" defines the aam admi who is quite disinterested in the lack of transparency in governance.

Aam admi faces stiff penalties and confiscation of assets if there is tax evasion.

Recently the honourable Finance Minister said the Swiss Bank names would embarass the Congress party. The worst that Arun Jaitley can threaten these thieves with is embarassment ?

I am praying for a new avataar of the AAP who will shake us out this complacency with an ISIS like approach.
Nagesh Kini
1 decade ago
nagesh kini

great review jason. keep it up.
Nagesh Kini
1 decade ago
nagesh kini

great review jason. keep it up.
Nagesh Kini
1 decade ago
nagesh kini

great review jason. keep it up.
MG Warrier
1 decade ago
“Not Just An Accountant” has opened debates on several issues concerning governance and the games people holding power play. It needs a lot of courage and ‘will to live for the country’ for individuals like Vinod Rai to speak out on issues raised in the book. The debate should be taken forward for real ‘cleaning up’ to happen. Moneylife has done its bit by publishing this review.
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