The Institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has completed 150 years of its existence. Hon’ble President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil inaugurated the celebrations of completion of 150 years of this institution by releasing the Commemorative Postage Stamp, here today, at a function in Vigyan Bhavan. Hon’ble Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh released the Vision and Mission Statement of the Indian Audit and Accounts Department (IA&AD) on this occasion. The Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Chairman, Public Accounts Committee, Shri Murli Manohar Joshi and Minister of State, Communications and Information Technology, Shri Gurudas Kamat were also resent on the occasion.
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Shri Vinod Rai delivered the welcome address at the inaugural function. Following is the text of his speech:
“It is a matter of great honour for each one of us in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, to have the opportunity to welcome you to the inaugural function associated with the completion of 150 years of the Institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. It was on 16th November, 1860 that Sir Edmund Drummond took charge as the first Auditor General of India. The importance of such an institution was realized by the then British Government immediately after they assumed power from the East India Company in 1858. This Department is one of the earliest institutions in the evolution of democratic processes in India and set up to bring about transparency, accountability and probity in public life. Our mission is to promote excellence in auditing and governance. Whilst distinctive roles were envisaged for the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary; to ensure checks democracies worldwide have relied on Supreme Audit Institutions for providing assurance to the Legislature and public at large.
India is a vibrant democracy. With the reforms introduced in the economy and government, our institution also has kept pace in its approach to audit and the methodology of audit. We no longer submit to Parliament Reports which are dated and of limited relevance to the present day administration. We have shed our age old fixation of postmortem to merely extract petty faults in government functioning. Today, we bring to bear a holistic approach focusing on the macro picture. Our attempt is to present the Audit Report at the earliest so that mid course corrections can be undertaken. The mindset is positive so as to make recommendations for improvement. We undertake Performance Audits to provide government an objective and clinical analysis of the efficiency and outcomes of budgetary plan expenditures. We no longer focus merely on audit of government expenditure. Our audit focus is on the outcome of such expenditures.
I am proud that this institution, in about 60 years of its existence post independence, has withstood the test of its independence and objectivity. We have an excellent pool of professionals. We continuously upgrade their skills to keep abreast with international best practices. Our training institutions are highly acknowledged by other Supreme Audit Institutions. We train about 200 foreign Audit Officers every year on different aspects of audit. The institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has, by its professional excellence and pool of knowledgeable experts attained a pride of place in the international audit community. It is in recognition of our skill sets that we have been chosen to audit large international agencies like the Food & Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, World Food Programe and the United Nations among others.
Within the country, we have been aspiring to partner the Government to improve governance at the Centre and the States. The Government, through every Five Year Plan has improved on the delivery process of its flagship programmes. With the introduction of newer models of implementation such as Public Private Partnership, using Panchayati Raj Institutions for delivering social sector schemes and setting up specialized non-governmental institutions for better public participation, there is a need for us to revisit our legal mandate which did not envisage any such models earlier. It has to be recognized that more than 50% of central plan funds are now being routed through these channels. The Parliament and the Government, have to take a view on whether parliamentary oversight has to be maintained over such spending. It was in this context, and after full discussion with the Government, that we submitted in November last year a revised statute to ensure automatic legal mandate to the CAG on such spending. We await the introduction of the proposed statute in Parliament.
This department is of the firm view that policy formulation is the prerogative of Government. We merely seek to objectively analyse the implementation of those policies and assess the outcomes. We are engaged in this process to build capacity in the Centre and States for transition to Accrual accounting. We have associated ourselves with Government to help in devising efficient delivery programmes. We address systems and processes to ensure optimal utilization of resources. We seek out best practices and disseminate them across departments to partner in upgrading governance.
In conclusion, I am privileged to welcome all our distinguished guests on this occasion. On behalf of each of us in the department and on my own personal behalf, I would like to assure you that we stand committed to support excellence, probity, transparency and accountability.”
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Shri Vinod Rai delivered the welcome address at the inaugural function. Following is the text of his speech:
“It is a matter of great honour for each one of us in the Indian Audit and Accounts Department, to have the opportunity to welcome you to the inaugural function associated with the completion of 150 years of the Institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India. It was on 16th November, 1860 that Sir Edmund Drummond took charge as the first Auditor General of India. The importance of such an institution was realized by the then British Government immediately after they assumed power from the East India Company in 1858. This Department is one of the earliest institutions in the evolution of democratic processes in India and set up to bring about transparency, accountability and probity in public life. Our mission is to promote excellence in auditing and governance. Whilst distinctive roles were envisaged for the Legislature, Executive and the Judiciary; to ensure checks democracies worldwide have relied on Supreme Audit Institutions for providing assurance to the Legislature and public at large.
India is a vibrant democracy. With the reforms introduced in the economy and government, our institution also has kept pace in its approach to audit and the methodology of audit. We no longer submit to Parliament Reports which are dated and of limited relevance to the present day administration. We have shed our age old fixation of postmortem to merely extract petty faults in government functioning. Today, we bring to bear a holistic approach focusing on the macro picture. Our attempt is to present the Audit Report at the earliest so that mid course corrections can be undertaken. The mindset is positive so as to make recommendations for improvement. We undertake Performance Audits to provide government an objective and clinical analysis of the efficiency and outcomes of budgetary plan expenditures. We no longer focus merely on audit of government expenditure. Our audit focus is on the outcome of such expenditures.
I am proud that this institution, in about 60 years of its existence post independence, has withstood the test of its independence and objectivity. We have an excellent pool of professionals. We continuously upgrade their skills to keep abreast with international best practices. Our training institutions are highly acknowledged by other Supreme Audit Institutions. We train about 200 foreign Audit Officers every year on different aspects of audit. The institution of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India has, by its professional excellence and pool of knowledgeable experts attained a pride of place in the international audit community. It is in recognition of our skill sets that we have been chosen to audit large international agencies like the Food & Agriculture Organization, World Health Organization, World Food Programe and the United Nations among others.
Within the country, we have been aspiring to partner the Government to improve governance at the Centre and the States. The Government, through every Five Year Plan has improved on the delivery process of its flagship programmes. With the introduction of newer models of implementation such as Public Private Partnership, using Panchayati Raj Institutions for delivering social sector schemes and setting up specialized non-governmental institutions for better public participation, there is a need for us to revisit our legal mandate which did not envisage any such models earlier. It has to be recognized that more than 50% of central plan funds are now being routed through these channels. The Parliament and the Government, have to take a view on whether parliamentary oversight has to be maintained over such spending. It was in this context, and after full discussion with the Government, that we submitted in November last year a revised statute to ensure automatic legal mandate to the CAG on such spending. We await the introduction of the proposed statute in Parliament.
This department is of the firm view that policy formulation is the prerogative of Government. We merely seek to objectively analyse the implementation of those policies and assess the outcomes. We are engaged in this process to build capacity in the Centre and States for transition to Accrual accounting. We have associated ourselves with Government to help in devising efficient delivery programmes. We address systems and processes to ensure optimal utilization of resources. We seek out best practices and disseminate them across departments to partner in upgrading governance.
In conclusion, I am privileged to welcome all our distinguished guests on this occasion. On behalf of each of us in the department and on my own personal behalf, I would like to assure you that we stand committed to support excellence, probity, transparency and accountability.”
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