-Live Mint   It has cost me followers on Twitter, forced the government’s auditor to take the extreme step of sending an official (he misrepresented himself as an Election Commission official) to a Mint reporter’s residence, and attracted criticism about Mint being the government’s lapdog. So, why have we been writing about irregularities in the way the Comptroller and Auditor General of India conducted its audit of the so-called 2G scam? After all,...

-The Times of India   Rural development ministerJairam Ramesh has written to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) Vinod Rai seeking focused attention to the government's Rs 40,000-crore expenditure on MGNREGS, the flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, and to evaluate funds utilization by states.  The minister has highlighted some deviations made by some states in his communication to the CAG, while requesting the auditor to make suggestions that could help the government "establish...

The relentless campaign to discredit the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and diminish the institution is continuing. One is not surprised; this has happened before, for instance in the Bofors case. However, one is dismayed because the campaign, unwittingly aided by some elements in the media, seems to be succeeding to some extent. It seems urgently necessary to dispel certain doubts and misperceptions before they gain ground and...

The internal documents of the CAG present a different picture to the one presented by PAC’s chairman Murli Manohar Joshi The chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) tried repeatedly to get the government’s auditor to share with him details of its audit of the controversial allocation of second-generation telecom spectrum in 2008 (known as the 2G scam), according to documents reviewed by Mint. The internal documents of the Comptroller and Auditor...

Exact math used by the government’s auditor in its calculation of losses and the process it followed still unclear The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) may have taken a cue from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) while calculating losses arising from the improper allocation of second-generation spectrum to telecom companies in 2008 (or the so-called 2G scam), according to documents reviewed by Mint. This is not to suggest that the...