The Comptroller and Auditor General (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 CAG said in its 2019-20 performance report.
https://thewire.in/government/transparency-in-modi-era-cags-working-shows-it-remains-opaque
But Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s stranglehold on institutions has shown 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%. The fall was sequential: going from 55 to 42, 45, 23, 21 and 14.
So, what has been happening on this front in recent times? Where people inside it 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.
by Aakar Patel
17/10/2023