In the backdrop of the Comptroller and Auditor General's scathing reports on award of 2G telecom licences and projects related to the Commonwealth Games, an extra-cautious Ministry of Home Affairs is seeking the audit of the processes of the proposed Rs 30,000-crore housing project for the paramilitary forces by the country's statutory auditor. This would be the first instance of pre-award scrutiny by the CAG. "We have received the reference,"...

-The Telegraph   The Comptroller and Auditor General has found gross deficiencies by the food and supplies department when the Left was in power in Bengal. The CAG report for 2009-2010 says the state food and supplies department could not claim central subsidy worth Rs 133.66 crore as it failed to furnish annual accounts of the public distribution system for the period 2005-2010. The report also says the finance department, through which the Centre...

-The Telegraph   A Comptroller & Auditor General’s report, tabled in the Assembly today, has pulled up the state for poor implementation of a central government scheme for rural roads, pointing to substandard work, fraudulent payments to unscrupulous contractors and serious financial irregularities. Only nine per cent of rural habitations were connected with all weather roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) between 2005 and 2010, the five years that saw three...

The Anna Hazare fast has seen an outpouring of support across the country. The government Lokpal Bill is unacceptable. A fresh Bill is needed for an effective Lokpal. There has been an outpouring of support all over the country in favour of the fast conducted by Anna Hazare for the Jan Lokpal Bill. The agitation has found support predominantly from the urban middle classes and a substantial section of youth belonging...

-The Times of India   The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed unhappiness over the progress of investigations into irregularities in the purchase of intelligence equipment and recruitments by the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), which was set up in 2004 to provide crucial data on threats to the nation. A bench of Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik asked solicitor general R F Nariman about the status of the probe into...