Dumping CAG: Shooting the messenger?

In a utopian world the government will use its full might to deal with the headless monster called corruption. We know very well that we do not live in a perfect world and governments are morally bankrupted in most cases if not in all cases. Going by what Minister of State PMO said that govt. is pondering over the idea of making CAG as a multi member body, it sounds to be a rage against the central auditing body. Now what prompts some body to say this, even a lay man would guess it. Marred by the revelations of monumental scams from CWG to 2G and beyond, it is becoming increasingly challenging to convince the voters whose allegiances and loyalties are fast changing and it is necessarily dynamic. UPA as a coalition did loose its credibility in the recent years, the drubbing in UP in the recent past is one such example. And new discoveries of impropriety of politicians mostly associated with congress are eroding the hard earned vote bank. Narayanaswamy must have used an appropriate thinking hat and concluded that “Let’s shoot the messenger”. Is it the most demanding issue for the country? No. But yes, it’s an issue for congress and government. To think about messing up with CAG is a result of guilty consciousness. Comptroller and auditor general must be allowed a free hand in making sure that the public money is spent for the intended purposes or to verify whether nation’s assets are left at the mercy of vested interests. If some one cannot digest the truth then we shall conclude that it is a guilty feeling. The clean would not degenerate to such a level of thinking (ie. to dump the CAG). It heartening to see that people across political spectrum have condemned the attempts to dump CAG in the name of multi member body.

Attention must be diverted to whether all that is said in the CAG reports can be substantiated. It is startling to hear from CAG that constitutional and statutory bodies like CAG/EC/CVC/CBI are not free from government’s intervention. For some it may sound like a known secret so no wonder. Credibility of congress as a party has taken a severe beating after the release of CAG reports on 2G, Coal scam etc., But the thought of keeping the CAG at bay under the garb of reforms is an act of uncivilized behavior. Now that we know there are not many takers of CAG reform even with in congress and government.