-The Hindu The work of India’s supreme auditor cannot be put through an audit unless the institution itself initiates one The relentless campaign against the Comptroller and Auditor-General, of an unprecedented ferocity, compels me to write again on the subject. First, has the CAG caused a political and constitutional crisis, as some have argued? All that the CAG does is to submit audit reports. Any audit report, if it is a good report,...

-The Economic Times "Are we knowledge-proof?" asked the late Prof Raj Krishna. As memorable as his other coinage, the Hindu rate of growth, this question is relevant, given our current growth strategy. The SME sector is a vibrant part of the economy, accounting for 40% of manufacturing and generating jobson a scale second only to agriculture. The figures are similarly significant for handicrafts and handlooms. According to the Tenth Plan, GDP from handicrafts...

-The Hindu Building ‘capitalism with Indian characteristics’ means decisions cannot ignore concerns of voters and communities As the economy slows down and the rupee wilts, Manmohan Singh has bitten the ‘reforms’ bullet with both eyes on the credit rating agencies whose negative reports have done much to dampen the ‘animal spirits’ of investors, foreign and native. Last November, when the Congress party made a push to introduce foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail,...

-The Telegraph New Delhi/Ranchi, Sept. 20: Land reforms and revenue minister Mathura Prasad Mahto today accused Bihar government of not handing over 82,000 land maps of 32,615 villages in Jharkhand even though the new state was carved out in 2000. At the state revenue ministers’ conference titled Modernisation of Land Records, Mahto, in the presence of Union minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh, said Jharkhand had taken up the issue with Bihar...

-The Hindu The CAG has a lot of explaining to do on the methods used to reduce the loss it estimated in its draft report Comptroller & Auditor General Vinod Rai, who has maintained a dignified silence despite being in the government’s line of fire for his controversial report on coal, now has no choice but to break his silence. On Thursday, he appears before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) where he is...