-The Hindu Congress president, Prime Minister call for timely payment of wages Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday brought up the alleged embezzlement of funds meant for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — an issue that has put the Mayawati government in the dock — at a function commemorating the completion of six years of the job entitlement scheme. Holding the State governments responsible for the shortcomings, Prime Minister Manmohan...

-The Indian Express   The cancellation of 2G licences by the Supreme Court has further exposed the big scam, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy said today. He said the scam was a "collective failure" of the government, which "overlooked" warnings given by the CAG and the CVC on the issue. "Everyone had warned including the CAG and the CVC but the government overlooked it," Swamy said soon after the Supreme Court cancelled the 122...

-The Indian Express Pitching for immediate reforms in the Centre's flagship rural job scheme MGNREGA, Congress President Sonia Gandhi today said the complaints of corruption and irregularities regarding the scheme cannot be ignored. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gandhi also expressed concern over the delay in wage payment to MGNREGA workers, emphasising the need to ensure that they get it within 15 days. "Talks about reform in MGNREGA have been on for quite...

-The Economic Times   A government-appointed committee has recommended a complete overhaul of government accounting norms with a view to enforcing transparency and better monitoring of public spending.  In its report submitted to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the C R Sundaramurti Committee has suggested rationalisation and reorganisation of the existing account classification of list of major and minor heads of accounts (LMMHA) of centre and states."  The proposed accounting classification structure will provide a...

-The Times of India   The CBI will take into consideration the CAG report on National Rural Health Mission fund implementation in Uttar Pradesh, which has pegged the irregularities to be around Rs 5,000 crore, and is likely to register some more preliminary enquiries (PEs). Agency sources said detailed analysis by the country's auditor will be helpful in ascertaining further losses to the exchequer.  Based on the observations by Comptroller and Auditor General,...