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The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) submitted 21 Audit Reports for the year ended March 2006 on Union Government Departments to the President, which were laid before the Parliament during the last budget session. Additionally, nearly a dozen Commercial Audit Reports of the CAG on Central Government companies and corporations were also tabled in the Parliament during the same session.

The Audit Reports contain the result of audit appraisals of the programmes, schemes and activities of Government departments and undertakings focusing on the economy and efficiency of their implementation as well as the extent of achievement of their objectives. The Audit Reports also contain transaction audit paragraphs commenting on significant and high value cases of wasteful, extravagant and infructuous expenditure and loss of Government revenue. Nearly 1500 cases feature in the Audit Reports on Government Departments every year. The Commercial Audit Reports generally comment upon about 200 cases.

Under the Rules of Business of the Lok Sabha, the Audit Reports on Government Departments stand automatically remitted to the Parliament’s Committee on Public Accounts for follow up action. The Commercial Audit Reports are remitted to Committee on Public Undertakings. The committees are empowered to call for Government records and summon Government secretaries for their oral submissions.

The committees represent the Parliament in miniature and function on nonparty lines, and their reports are almost always unanimous. Government is required to respond to the recommendations of the committees, generally within a period of six months, and the committees may make further reports in the light of Government replies. The committees’ reports are tabled in the Parliament.

In view of the very large number of Audit Reports that are presented every year and the limited time available for their detailed follow up in the manner aforesaid, the committees have devised a selective approach. The committees undertake detailed follow up action and summon the departmental secretaries for oral evidence in selected cases only.

The action on the remaining Audit Reports and paragraphs rests almost entirely with the action taken notes which the Government Departments are required to furnish suo moto to the committees’ secretariat within four months after the Audi Reports are laid before the Parliament.

The follow up action by the PAC and the COPU with reference to the Audit Reports represent the culmination of legislative oversight over the public purse since it is the legislature that authorizes the incurring of Government expenditure and levy of taxes in the first instance.

The effectiveness of the CAG as an instrument of promoting accountability of the executive and good governance depends entirely on the action taken on audit observations and comments.

While the follow up action through the mechanism of self-explanatory notes without direct and oral examination of the departmental secretaries had started as an exception to the general practice, it now seems to have become the rule. Only a very few cases featured in the Audit Reports are currently taken up for detailed oral evidence of the secretaries and report to the Parliament. For example, the PAC discussed only 25 cases during 2006-2007 as against nearly 1500 cases that had featured in the Audit Reports presented during that year. The COPU followed up only three cases against more than 200 cases featured in the Audit Reports on Government companies and corporations.

The selective approach inevitably creates an anomalous situation that whereas the CAG’s Audit Reports are in the public domain, very little is known about the action taken by Government Departments on the cases that are not taken up for oral examination by the PAC and the COPU  and consequently, on which there is no report to the Parliament.

Although the annual reports of the ministries are required to give information on the status of action taken on the Audit Reports, the information provided is generally very sketchy and not very meaningful. It is therefore, time that it is made mandatory that Government Departments shall table action taken reports on Audit reports within four months of their presentation to the parliament.

 Since the Audit Reports are based on test check of selected cases only, any such action taken report should also disclose the result of Government’s review of similar other cases besides the corrective action taken to remedy the underlying system deficiencies.

This will have several advantages:

First, it will ensure that the Government Departments take remedial and corrective action based on the Audit Reports.

Second, it would contribute to greater earnestness and rigour in the quality of, departmental response to Audit Reports since the Department’s action taken report would require approval and authentication of the Minister before it is presented to the Parliament.

Third, it opens up the possibility that an alert and interested member of the Parliament may raise the matter on the floor of the House if the action taken on the Audit Report is inadequate or unsatisfactory.

 Fourth, the Parliament’s Committee on Papers will chase the Government if the action taken report is not presented in time asking the Government to explain its position.

Fifth, it will impart the much needed transparency to the accountability process and provide assurance to the civil society that Government is alert and responsive to the concerns highlighted in the Audit Reports.

Sixth, an indirect spinoff will be an improvement in the quality of Audit Reports.

The period of four months for presenting an action taken report, as suggested above, is considered sufficient since the CAG’s Audit Reports are prepared in a highly transparent and participatory manner and ample opportunity is provided to Government Departments to present their side of the case at each stage of processing of audit comments.

The above system needs to be implemented in the States as well. Although many of the State PACs/COPUs follows up each and every case included in the Audit Reports by summoning the departmental secretaries, the flip side is the accumulation of arrears. Since the PAC/COPU is in arrears, the Departments do not display any great hurry. Consequently not merely the action in the instant case is unconscionably delayed but also the underlying system and other deficiencies continue to persist.

Harbhajan Singh had just become the first Indian to take a Test hat-trick. It was against Steve Waugh’s Australia on a mission of stringing for themselves a record 17 Test wins at the Eden Gardens in early 2001. With the first three balls of his 16th over, he had Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist out leg-before and then a sharp catch by Sadagoppan Ramesh at short-leg got rid of Shane Warne sending Harbhajan off on a run like a footballer celebrates after scoring. Eden already had something to cheer about on the first day of the Test.

The post-match media conferences used to be held in the lobby between the dressing rooms then. In a lighter vein, skipper Sourav Ganguly, on way to the Home Team room said something about ‘Bhajji’ taking questions in English.

“Kya dada, aap bhi Na” the 21-year-old had said, with an aside that was not a bad mimicry of an Amitabh Bachchan film dialogue, “I can walk English.” He had only begun with typical spontaneity but checked himself with a wink and a mischievous smile when he realized he had to settle down for a press conference.

It is this very North Indian and full-of-life air about the ‘Turbanator’ that lifts spirits in a dressing room. But that’s only when Harbhajan is taking wickets. During dry spells he can, according to some of his Punjab Ranji Trophy teammates, be very temperamental and moody.

An emotional time:   The Eden success came against the run of a series of downsides for the off-spinner. He had been called for chucking and had to pass the Fred Titmus test in England after being dropped from the side. He had lost his father, then his only friend, philosopher and guide and this was how he responded. In that three-Test series against Australia, he bagged a whopping 32 wickets when all the other bowlers’ combined haul was just over half that number.

“He worked day in and day out on the machines himself,” Harbhajan said of his father in an interview. His hands would be caked and sore, his face would be grimy and he would keep working to make sure we had a better life. “We were very close. I miss him, he loved cricket and was so involved in it. He would have been so proud of me if he was here,” he had said after the Eden hat trick.

Harbhajan’s pranks and banter can sometimes be irritating to teammates depending on their personal form or mood but it’s just so difficult to ignore such a character. “He can get under the opponents’ skin very fast with his attitude,” Ravi Shastri, who was the cricket manager of the India team for a while, last year, says of him. And he was not wrong when the Aussies got back some of their own medicine.

The monkey talk: A certain Justice John Hansen will debate on whether ‘monkey’ was said or not but the next day after dismissing Ricky Ponting, Harbhajan sure celebrated like one twice rolling over after a celebratory run.

But that’s Bhajji, a doosra to Samuel Eto’o, who after getting monkey chants in Madrid celebrated like one after -coring against their arch rivals.

This is conjectural but perhaps- Harbhajan’s jubilation and the way he acted it out had something to do with the monkeys not rare close to the Ferozeshah Kotla, one of which ran riot on the news desk of a media office some years back.

Harbhajan still lives in the Jalandhar house he grew up in. Around 20 minutes by an auto-rickshaw from the station through dingy lanes and bylanes, the nameplate says Harbhajan Singh Plaha, where not many days ago neighbours had slapped posters after India’s first-round exit in the World Cup. They now rally behind him and mother Avtaar voices support for her son. But this is not a first for Bhajji, whose mouth works faster than his mind.

He had escaped sanctions from the Punab Cricket Association and the board after telling the media that the then coach Greg Chappell’s strict regime had instilled security among players.

But now that Harbhajan has spent over years with the India team, he is already a senior even if his age does not quite match it. He needs to be a trifle more mature when it comes to handling himself on and off the field and more so in India because he is an icon to a generation that throng the nets in academies all over the country putting in that extra bit every time they fail to turn their doosra.

The beginning of a New Year demands that we list out our priorities for the year ahead and resolve to pay attention to them. I am sure you have guessed what I am going to put first in the list of priorities- consumer safety.

Yes, in a country where accidents caused by the negligence of service providers and the administration are commonplace, consumer safety is a major concern. Consumers should pay utmost attention to this aspect in 2008. We, as consumers, need to become safety conscious and begin to look at everything from a safety perspective, and demand safer goods and services. We can focus on four main areas - homes, educational institutions where our children study, our work place and public places like markets, cinema halls, airports, railway stations and bus stations.

Whether it is your gas cylinder, electrical and electronic gadgets or your bathroom flooring, make sure that safety precautions are always adhered to. You must be extra cautious if there are elderly people and children in the house. If you have a room heater on, ensure that it is not close to your curtains or near your carpet.

Keep mosquito repellents, medicines, matchboxes and gas lighters, kitchen knives and scissors, out of the reach of children. Ensure that the toys that they play with are safe, don’t have sharp edges or toxic paints.

When you buy electrical goods such as wires, switches, plugs and bulbs, look for the ISI mark. In a multi storied housing complex, you need to look at the safety of the lifts installed there is it regularly serviced? Does it have all modem features incorporating safety? Similarly, if there is a swim ming pool in the complex, you need to ensure that it is properly fenced and locked to keep out small children.

Even when children swim, it is always good to ensure that they are under adult supervision.

Check the safety of your child’s school, school bus and the playground. Have a meeting of the parents’ association, inspect the school and all the facilities that it offers to see if there is any lacuna. Is the school built in such a way as to ensure the safety of children studying there? Do they have firefighting equipment? Do they have proper exits for the children to escape in case of a fire or any other emergency? Is the playroom equipment safe? What about the canteen? Is the cook safety conscious?

Find out; if you are in a seismically high-risk zone, whether the building is earthquake proof and has a lightning conductor. Just make a checklist and confront the school if you think that the school does not pay attention to safety. The Bureau of Indian Standards has published a safety code for educational institutions. You can use that for reference. You can also speak to the fire officers in your area or some other experts for guidance.

Look at the cinema theatres, malls and shopping complexes and any other place that you may be visiting, from the point of view of safety. In case of a fire, are there arrangements for extinguishing the fire? Can the place be evacuated in the shortest possible time? If 10 people make such enquiries, the authorities start thinking along those lines. These days most large malls have cinema halls on the top-most floor. Usually, there is one entrance to a series of halls. How safe is it? Remember, you are paying a steep price to see movies at these halls. It is your right to demand that the hall owners ensure your safety. Do not hesitate to ask questions or boycott unsafe halls and malls.

Form a safety group in your residential colony and also at your place of work. You can even us the internet to get support for your work from citizens around the country.

By proposing A.B. Vajpayee’s name for the prestigious Bharat Ratna award, L.K. Advani has tried to politicise the annual national honours, which are announced on the eve of the Republic Day. As if on cue, a section of the CPI (M) has also demanded a similar recognition its grand old patriarch, Jyoti Basu.

While it is for the government and the awards panel to debate the merits and demerits of awarding the Bharat Ratna to the two senior politicians, Advani could have avoided a controversy at this stage. In fact, by demanding this award for Vajpayee, he has ensured that the former Prime Minister is dragged into a political debate. This would benefit Advani since his relationship with Vajpayee has never been smooth.

This move is also aimed at helping Advani successfully woo the Brahmins to his side and embarrass the Manmohan Singh government. If the government awards the Bharat Ratna to Vajpayee, which many feel he deserves, the credit will go to Advani. However, it will make the Left and other secular parties unhappy. If the government declines, Advani will have the option to say that a senior parliamentarian like Vajpayee was ignored because of petty political reasons.

The Congress and its UPA allies are trying to handle this issue diplomatically. But someone should have said clearly that no matter whether Vajpayee gets the Bharat Ratna or not, Advani has surely qualified for the Nishan-e-Pakistan, that country’s highest honour, by praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah and that too at his mausoleum.

The RSS, which cleared Advani’s name for being the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate, will second such a proposal. We can safely assume this because the Sangh parivar has endorsed Advani though he has not changed his stance on Jinnah. It will be a coincidence and a moment to cherish for the parivar if it’s ‘Vikas Purush’ gets the Bharat Ratna and its ‘Loh Purush’, the Nishan-e-Pakistan. After all, according to the Sangh’s ideology, we are one people and one nation. And, the end is, of course, ‘Akhand Bharat’. Some of the aides who helped in Advani’s image makeover - from a staunch Hindutva supporter to a moderate leader - can also be given some other award for trying to bring together the people of India and Pakistan.

If one keeps the sarcasm out, Advani, by proposing Vajpayee’s name for the Bharat Ratna, has tried to strengthen the suspicion that many” had: Padma awards and the Bharat Ratna are given out of political considerations. The Bharat Ratna is devalued when it is awarded to undeserving candidates. Each year, the long list of Padma awardees has names who are known more for their political connections than their contribution in their respective fields.

When Vajpayee was the PM, a certain gentleman’s name was added to the list of Republic Day awardees in a separate gazette notification a day later. By recommending Vajpayee’s name, Advani wants to be seen openly lobbying for him.

There are many who may argue that if a certain Congress politician from a southern state could get it, why not Vajpayee? It is true that Vajpayee is the only parliamentarian of the Nehruvian era who is still around. It is also true that he was the only PM from outside the Congress fold. It is also true that under his leadership, the BJP could not go beyond 182 seats in 1998 and 1999 and he led the NDA to defeat in the 2004 polls.

However, some questions could be raised about his past if the awards committee examines his case. While the charges levelled against him and fellow Sangh colleague Nanaji Deshmukh by Balraj Madhok, the co-founder of the Bharatiya, Jana Sangh, may be overlooked because of lack of evidence, his performance as the PM can come under scrutiny.

The Kargil intrusions, the Kandahar episode, the failed Agra summit and the attack on Parliament (with Advani as the Home Minister), all happened while he was the PM.

Vajpayee is often hailed as the only top leader who has represented the maximum number of constituencies in Lok Sabha, including Balrampur, New Delhi, Vidisha, Gandhinagar and Lucknow.

His supporters say that he could pull this off because of his wide acceptability. But critics feel that since Vajpayee never nursed his constituencies, he had to constantly look for new pastures. And, being the top leader, the RSS would then ensure his re-election from another place. But the most critical point which would be examined is that Vajpayee also represents an ideology that many feel is in variance with our Constitution and secular polity. Honouring him with such an award would mean giving credence to an ideology that has been branded as fascist and communal, though Vajpayee himself has never been a stickler, given his fondness for good things in life.

Many may want to know what were Advani’s true intentions in recommending Vajpayee’s name. Like all politicians, Advani does not do anything without a game plan. Vajpayee has earned a lot of respect and is regarded as an elderly statesman. He would be happy if his name does not get dragged into a needless controversy. In any case, he does not need a Bharat Ratna to secure a place in history. But Advani certainly needs him to further his own agenda.