Paper dolls? The government's CAG takeover

‘The CAG is the supreme audit institution of India and is expected to promote financial accountability and transparency in the affairs of the audited entities,’ the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in its 2019–20 performance report.

But Narendra Modi’s stranglehold on institutions shows in the decay at the government’s internal watchdog — the CAG has stopped functioning effectively. The total number of CAG reports relating to Union government ministries and departments came down from 55 in 2015 to 14 in 2020, a fall of 75 per cent. The fall was progressive, going from 55 to 42, then 45, 23, 21 and 14.

Defence audit reports went from 7 in 2017 to 0 in 2020. This was the same body that had done much to undo the Manmohan Singh government’s reputation through its several strong reports, including on the 2G auction, coal block auction and the Commonwealth Games.

So what has been happening on this front in recent times? When people inside the CAG attempt to make it function independently, they are punished. A few weeks ago, in the monsoon session of Parliament, 12 CAG reports were presented to the people's representatives. Days later, CAG officers who were responsible for the audits that revealed corruption were transferred.

One of those transferred, Dattaprasad Suryakant Shirsat, was in charge of the performance audit of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. He audited 964 hospitals in 161 districts of all 28 states and found that in 2.25 lakh cases, the date of the ‘surgery’ done was shown to be later than the date of discharge. More than 1.79 lakh such cases were found in Maharashtra, for which the claimed amount was over Rs 300 crore. The Wire, which broke this story reported that lakhs of claims continued to be made for people who were already deceased. The audit also found 1.57 lakh instances of duplicated beneficiaries.

Atoorva Sinha, who audited highway projects was transferred after his report found overrun costs in the Dwarka Expressway project. The report said a change to elevate a portion of the Expressway pushed up costs to Rs 250 crore per kilometre as against the cost of Rs 18 crore per kilometre approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs.

The Opposition tries to raise these issues, but is not able to get the government to accept wrongdoing, much less act on the reports. The media, as we know, has no interest in holding the government to account. It is the Opposition and civil society who are the primary targets of their coverage.

Readers might be interested to know how the CAG was subverted from within. The CAG of India is Girish Murmu, a Gujarat officer so loyal to Modi that, in the past, he has been caught on tape intimidating senior officials from testifying against his boss.

DGP of Gujarat RB Sreekumar, who headed the State Intelligence Bureau from 9 April 2002 to 17 September 2002, in an affidavit to the Nanavati Commission probing the Godhra riots, said Murmu ‘tutored, intimidated, forced and pressured’ him to depose in favour of Modi. Murmu was then principal secretary to Modi.

Sreekumar named another bureaucrat who was also present at the meeting and said he was told not to give his deposition in such a way that ‘more names would be opened up, leading to their summoning for cross-examination’.

‘I was also threatened that if I gave a statement contrary to the government’s interests, I will be declared a hostile witness and dealt with suitably later. I told them that I would depose before the Commission as per the statutory requirements and will not suppress truth, because that would be an act of perjury.’

Murmu had been ‘authorised and entrusted with the task of tutoring and briefing government officials deposing before the Nanavati Commission by the highest authorities of the government and Home Department’ and ‘such a posture by Shri Murmu is possible only if he has the specific support and clearance from the higher authorities in the government, i.e., the Hon’ble Home Minister / the Hon’ble Chief Minister’, the affidavit says.

Modi then made him governor of Kashmir and then the CAG of India. The government’s website, pmindia.gov.in, has a section on transparency which reads: ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi firmly believes that transparency and accountability are the two cornerstones of any pro-people government.

‘Transparency and accountability not only connect the people closer to the government but also make them equal and integral part of the decision making process.’

It is hard to reconcile these words with the actual actions of Modi and his government on vital issues where opacity was preferred and promoted.

This entire section, headlined ‘Quest for transparency’ on the PM’s site, has only 184 words and reads as if they were strung together by someone with little intellectual capacity: ‘Rules and policies were not framed in AC Chambers but among the people,’ it says. ‘Draft policies were put online for people to give their feedback and suggestions’ is apparently an instance of transparency.

It also states that Modi’s ‘strong resolve to transparency backed by the manner in which he put this commitment to practice indicates an era of open, transparent and people-centric government for the people of India’.

No, it doesn’t.

The Modi years have been as opaque as those of any government before him. Indeed, in many ways, even more so.

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