Don't Expect us to be Your Cheerleader - CAG to Government

By Vijay Kumar

COMPTROLLER and Auditor General, Vinod Rai told his officers yesterday, "We cannot don the role of cheerleaders. We strive to provide objective feedback on the functioning of the various departments of the government".

He admitted that the increasing aspiration of citizens coupled with their increasing demand for better services from the government, the phenomenal expansion of media and the right to information available to the people demand a new accountability paradigm in our country. Today, all institutions including ours are in the public eye.

Addressing the same meeting, President Pranab Mukherjee said,

All constitutional authorities should introspect their respective roles.

All constitutional authorities need to adhere to the fine and calibrated system of checks and balances, which form the bedrock of governance structures.

Any attempt by any organ of the state to overreach will unnecessarily lead to dissonance within the system.

There will be moments in a nation's life when institutions would appear to be under stress but as long as we have faith in our basic democratic values and the supremacy of our people and Parliamentary processes, we shall be able to tide over any crisis that we may face.