For decades, the image of the CAG remained as an agency that only ran after files. But today, the CAG is now an important part of India’s development, said PM Narendra Modi.
“For decades, the image of the CAG remained as an agency that only went after files. But today, CAG is now an important part of India’s development,” said PM Narendra Modi. (file photo)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday, November 16 said that the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has become crucial for the systematic reform of the government.
“For decades, the image of the CAG was like an agency running after files. But today CAG is an important part of India’s development.
“There was a time when auditing was viewed with suspicion and fear. CAG vs. Government had become the common mindset of our system. Sometimes officials thought that CAG finds fault in everything. But today, that mindset has changed. Audit is considered to be an important part of value addition,” said PM Modi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was speaking at the first ‘Audit Day’ at the CAG office in New Delhi.
“Data is important in the 21st century. In future, our history will be told through data and there is no bigger agency than the CAG to assess data,” he said.
“When I was the CM of Gujarat, I used to tell the officials to provide the files related to my work to the CAG apart from all the documents demanded by the agency. This leads to better work and improved scope for self-evaluation. This is a practice that I have followed till date,” he said.
Modi gave the example of banking sector. “Lack of transparency in the banking sector gave rise to various malpractices, resulting in increase in NPAs” [non-performing assets], These NPAs will be covered by the previous governments. But we exposed them. We need to acknowledge the problems to solve them,” he said.
Highlighting his government’s motto of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’, Modi said that the Center is introducing new policies to do away with the old concept of ‘Minimum Government, Maximum Governance’.Sarkar Sarvam, Sarkar Janam, Sarkar Grihanam‘ (Government is everything). He listed some of the policies brought by his government in this direction. “Measures like contactless customs, automatic renewal, faceless assessment and online application for service delivery have eliminated unnecessary interference by the government,” he said.
He also said that India has now become the third largest startup ecosystem due to the policies of the government.
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