New Delhi: Even as the UPA hopes to put controversies and scams behind it on the completion of its 4 years in power, the government may be looking at another row, this one over the selection of the new Comptroller and Auditor General of India. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma is set to take charge as the new CAG and his appointment is already being questioned with the Opposition calling it a case of conflict of interest.
Sharma handled several defence acquisitions and the government has given no reasons for appointing him as CAG. "A large amount of the GDP is spent on procuring defence equipments. There is a conflict of interest when the person auditing the case is a part of the case itself," BJP leader Arun Jaitley said.
Sharma will take over from Vinod Rai whose tenure as CAG ends on Wednesday. It was under his watch that the 2G and coal allocation reports were tabled.
...
more
01:59 PM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Vinod Rai's tenure as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India ends on Wednesday. Rai's five years in office are seen as controversial given the CAG reports on the coal scam and the 2G spectrum allocation scam. Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma will take charge as the new CAG, but his appointment is already being questioned. Vinod Rai is the man who caused a big embarrassment to the...
11:00 AM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday criticized the appointment of former defence secretary Shashi Kant Sharma as the new Comptroller and Auditor General, accusing the United Progressive Alliance government of accusing of weakening constitutional institutions. "Government is slowly but continuously appointing persons who are weak and who don't have spine to watchdog bodies like CAG, CVC (Central Vigilance Commission), CIC (Central Information Commission), Election Commission which keep an...
04:29 AM, May 22, 2013
New Delhi: Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma was on Tuesday named as the new Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG). The 1976 Bihar cadre officer will succeed Vinod Rai, who superannuates tomorrow after five and a half years of eventful tenure as the head of the Constitutional financial watchdog. "The President of India has appointed Shashi Kant Sharma, IAS, as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in terms...
07:47 PM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai, who demits office on Wednesday, will be remembered for turning the statutory body into a pugnacious watchdog of good governance and administrative integrity at a time when India is experiencing the need for greater transparency and a rebalancing of power that has tilted over the years towards the executive. Rai's five-year tenure (2008-2013) has been a tad controversial because of the unprecedented...
12:45 PM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: A day before CAG Vinod Rai demits office, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Monday accused him of "fiction writing" on some figures of alleged corruption, saying that the country's top auditor had done the greatest disservice to the nation by tossing "mystical numbers". Tewari, who delivered a keynote address after launch of an opinion poll conducted with samples across India at Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in...
05:38 AM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: Taking on CAG Vinod Rai over the 2G spectrum loss figure of Rs 1.76 lakh crore, Union Minister Manish Tewari on Monday said the chief auditor had done a "disservice" to the India story by bringing out "hugely exaggerated and mythical numbers" in public discourse. Tewari also invited Rai to a public debate over the loss estimate in the allocation of 2G spectrum. "We've seen this great debate...
07:52 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: Delhi BJP on Friday took to streets to protest against scarcity of water in various parts of the city during summer and blamed poor water management by Congress government for the situation. BJP activists led by Delhi unit chief Vijay Goel held a demonstration near ITO with police using water cannons and lathicharge to disperse them. "The crisis is so acute and the common people are in such...
01:33 AM, May 18, 2013
Karan Thapar discusses the future of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), called a caged parrot by the Supreme Court of India, with a panel of experts. ...
09:55 PM, May 15, 2013
Chandigarh: Former IPS officer and social activist Kiran Bedi on Saturday alleged the growing interference of the Union government in the functioning of the CBI had turned the premier investigating agency into a "caged parrot". The Central government was also not enacting strong laws to enable the CBI function like an independent body, she told reporters in Chandigarh. "The CBI has turned into a caged parrot owing to growing interference...
02:52 AM, May 12, 2013
New Delhi: CAG report commands respect and cannot be brushed aside but it cannot be the final word on an issue, the Supreme Court said on Thursday while noting that the auditor's findings cannot be gospel truth as it is subject to scrutiny by Parliament. A bench of justices KS Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra said that CAG's report is always subject to parliamentary debates and it is possible that Public...
10:40 PM, May 09, 2013
Chicago: In a shocking incident, a 5-year-old toddler in the US accidentally shot and killed his 2-year-old sister with a rifle that was given to him as a gift. The shooting happened on Tuesday afternoon inside a home on Lawson's Bottom Road, near Burkesville, Kentucky. The State Medical Examiner's Office in Louisville is expected to perform an autopsy on the two-year-old girl. Police say the toddler was shot by her...
04:49 AM, May 02, 2013
New Delhi: A parliamentary panel has criticised the government for undue delays in allotment of coal mines through auction route amid dry-fuel crunch faced by the country. "The Committee cannot but deplore these prolonged consultations delaying the allocation through bidding system and strongly recommend the government to complete the process of consultation without any further delay to ensure early allocation of identified coal blocks through competitive bidding process to boost...
01:20 PM, Apr 28, 2013
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has tabled its report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, as it was utilised across India. CNN-IBN has accessed the report which says only 30 per cent of 129 lakh works worth over Rs 1.26 lakh crore approved in 14 states were completed. ...
11:49 PM, Apr 23, 2013
Catch the day's top stories on India @ 9 with Rajdeep Sardesai. ...
11:16 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: Downplaying CAG's report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said that it is a performance and not a financial audit. Ramesh said, "It is CAG's job to find shortcomings and if they don't show, it means they are not doing their job." Ramesh further said that the audit was conducted only after the government requested for it. The clarification comes after...
03:50 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: Intensifying it attack on the government over the Joint Parliamentary Committee's 2G probe report, the BJP on Monday demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation. The demand comes after prime accused A Raja claimed that the Prime Minister was in the loop in 2G spectrum allocation. The former Telecom Minister wants a hearing with the JPC. However, rejecting the demand for the Prime Minister's resignation, Congress leader Kamal Nath...
01:50 PM, Apr 23, 2013
New Delhi: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has tabled its report on the Rural Employment Guarantee Act or NREGA, as it was utilised across India. CNN-IBN has accessed the report which says only 30 per cent of 129 lakh works worth over Rs 1.26 lakh crore approved in 14 states were completed. Barely 30 per cent of NREGA works completed, while Bihar, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh used only 20...
12:37 PM, Apr 23, 2013
Rome: Napoli tightened their hold on second place and a direct Champions League berth with a last-minute 3-2 win over visiting Cagliari on Sunday. Lorenzo Insigne, a 21-year-old forward born in Naples, scored the winner with a long, angled shot four minutes into added time at the San Paolo stadium. Victor Ibrabo had given Cagliari the lead in the 18th before Napoli struck back with an own goal from Davide...
09:28 PM, Apr 21, 2013
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Cloris Leachman, Clark Duke, Chris Sanders, Randy Thom Director: Kirk De Micco, Chris Sanders Set in prehistoric times, 'The Croods' is what you might describe as "Ice Age with Humans". The film's message - that being adaptable is the key to one's survival - is conveyed through the story of a close-knit family of cave dwellers. Grug (voiced by Nicolas Cage)...
10:43 PM, Apr 19, 2013
