Beware of what you put in your Facebook messages or your tweets. Your friends and followers may not be the only ones reading them. Chances are government sleuths would be vetting these private messages. This follows a home ministry directive to the department of telecom, asking it to "ensure effective monitoring of Twitter and Facebook". While "effective monitoring" has not been defined, sources said the MHA's intention is complete surveillance of...

-The Business Standard   Asking questions does not amount to passing judgements Just as correlation does not establish causation, asking questions does not amount to passing judgements. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) is an important constitutional office that has a role to play in improving governance. However, going beyond one’s brief can always harm an institution in the long run and be counterproductive. An auditor’s dharma is to see if...

The centre of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) scam has shifted from Suresh Kalmadi to Sheila Dikshit, the high-profile Delhi Chief Minister who brought the Congress electoral victory three times consecutively in the capital. And it’s not only because the BJP is demanding her head in return for offering BS Yeddyurappa’s in Karnataka. Two reports on the conduct (or misconduct) of the Commonwealth Games — one by VK Shunglu and another by the...

The Comptroller and Auditor General has hauled up the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh for spending much more than the initially sanctioned amounts on construction activities at the Chief Minister's two dream parks, Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Parivartan Sthal and Kanshiram Smarak Sthal, in Lucknow. In a report tabled in the UP assembly on Friday, CAG also said that it was unable to ascertain the "correctness" of the expenditure made on erecting...

-NDTV   The report of the government's auditor - the Comptroller and Auditor General - has been tabled in Parliament. Among those it faults for mismanagement are Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and the Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna. These are the highlights of the 800-page report:     * There are 33 audited entities; 33 chapters, 743 pages       * The unique challenge of monitoring activities of multiple agencies should have been met...