Not Just An Accountant - Vinod Rai

Once after reading "The Accidental Prime Minister" by Sanjaya Baru I decided to read Indian writing(Political) category book. When I was searching for the next book to read in this category I had options to choose one the the two books  "Not Just An Accountant" by Vino Rai and "One Life is Not Enough" by Natwar Singh. I chose the former one and after reading it I felt my choice was perfect.

I have to admit that I had no idea about the working of CAG. I heard and read that "some report was submitted by CAG" here and there but never read any of their full report. This book really is an eye opener for me. Kudos to the author for his simple language in explaining the process. It will definitely help many to understand CAG as a institution.

The book starts with brief account of his earlier life as a bureaucrat and how he managed to overcome many of the obstacles thrown at him. There is not much discussed about his personal life which we can understand as he discusses five major scams that rocked India in recent history. The five scams are :

1) 2G spectrum allocation

2) Commonwealth Games 2010

3) Coal block allocation

4) Gas Exploration (Production Sharing contracts & NELP)

5) Civil Aviation (Air India's deals to purchase flights)

Except the fifth one , I had read and heard many essays and debates in media. But the author being an insider gives blow by blow account of each of the above mentioned scams.  Most of the above scams have been debated and written about extensively but I was really shocked to find the details of  Air India scam, just outrageous. The civil aviation minister's response and behaviour was disgusting. I do not know whether CAG overreached in these scams or not but their findings were remarkable.  I do have some questions regarding omission of some of the schemes like  Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS) or Aam Aaadmi Bima Yojana for auditing.

Narrative is straight forward with neat explanations though there are many legal jargon. I felt that the author would have delved lit bit deep into some of the events happened during those scams.I think through this book the author has answered all those who questioned him and the institution. He backs himself powerfully with facts and figures.  One disappointing thing about the book is that most part of the book is like a report! But one can not deny the allegations of corrupt practices in various government ministries and agencies.

We can not just point out  CAG as a hurdle to the progress instead the government can use their reports to implement the rules and regulations strictly and pre-empt all the problems before auditing new schemes.The author gives excellent advise on excellence, accountability and probity in the last chapters, hope many will read and pursue these things.

A good book to know more about the working of an excellent institution.