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 public profile the CAG's office - which the average Indian knew little about previously - acquired and the political storms it generated, with many of the audit reports proving troublesome for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.
The CAG's reports on the 2010 Commonwealth Games and allocation of licenses for 2G telecom spectrum and coal mining blocks have severely dented the UPA government's image and provided ammunition to the opposition. There have been also suggestions of the CAG has exceeded its brief.
"Nobody in the political class, except for saying that I have political aspirations or that I am looking for a post-retirement career in politics, has actually made any substantive criticism of my work...Saying that I want a political career is an easy allegation to make," Rai said in an interview. ...
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12:45 PM, May 21, 2013
New Delhi: CBI will tell the Supreme Court on Tuesday about the arrest of its Superintendent of Police Vivek Dutt who was the Chief Investigator of the coalgate scam. The apex court had in its last hearing on coalgate scam said no officer will be taken off of the case without informing the bench hearing the scam case. Dutt was arrested by CBI sleuths along with an Inspector Rajesh for...
07:58 PM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is expected to file a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday against the investigating officer in the coal allocation scam, who was caught taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh on Friday. The CBI Internal Intelligence Unit nabbed Vivek Dutt in an operation that was personally supervised by the agency's director Ranjit Sinha. However, CBI sources said the bribe was not...
10:56 AM, May 20, 2013
New Delhi: After Samsung, now it's time for LG to unveil a flexible display. The company has announced that it will unveil an unbreakable and flexible 5-inch plastic OLED panel for mobile devices. The development comes at a time when smart devices are being used more than ever and at increased risk for damage from drops, hits, and other accidents. LG Display will also introduce 5-inch and 7-inch HD LCD...
10:21 AM, May 20, 2013
Mumbai: City police registered a case of theft after diamonds worth Rs 3.91 crore that were to be exported to Belgium went missing from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport. According to the complaint, filed with Sahar Police, the complainant, who happens to be the employee of a diamond trading firm, sent a consignment containing 24 packets of diamonds to Belgium by air cargo on May 16. The representative of the Belgium-based...
11:22 PM, May 19, 2013
New Delhi: A Delhi court on Saturday sent Vivek Dutt, a CBI officer heading the probe into the allocation of coal blocks, to the custody of the probe agency till May 21 for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 7 lakh from a businessman for settling a land dispute. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Judge VK Gupta sent Dutt, inspector Rajesh Karnatak, alleged middleman Rajesh Pachisia and businessman Dinesh...
04:41 AM, May 19, 2013
Chandigarh: With the Punjab and Haryana High Court coming down heavily on the lewd lyrics of songs sung by singer-rapper Honey Singh, the Punjab Police Friday booked him for singing vulgar songs in public. A case was registered against the singer under provisions of Section 294 (singing, reciting or uttering any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place) of the Indian Penal Code in Punjab's Nawanshahr...
08:45 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: Two officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), including one reportedly investigating the coal scam, were arrested in Delhi while taking a bribe of Rs 7 lakh for settling down a land dispute, an officer said on Friday. Superintendent of Police Vivek Dutt and Inspector Rajesh Karnatak were arrested by the internal vigilance unit of CBI from Lodhi Colony area in south Delhi. "Dutt was taking bribe...
12:12 AM, May 18, 2013
New Delhi: A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) official, who is also the Chief Investigating Officer probing the coal block allocation scam, was caught taking a bribe of Rs 15 lakh on Friday. The CBI Internal Intelligence Unit nabbed Vivek Dutt in an operation that was personally supervised by the agency's director Ranjit Sinha. However, CBI sources said the bribe is not related to the coal scam. Rs 15 lakh...
10:08 PM, May 17, 2013
Rome: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic improved his clay-court record this season to 8-1 and reached the Italian Open quarter-finals by beating Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1, 6-4 Thursday. The only danger Djokovic faced came while serving at 3-2 in the second set. He saved two break points - one with a big serve down the middle and the other with some crisp shot-making that forced Dolgopolov to net a backhand. The start of...
06:10 PM, May 16, 2013
San Francisco: Google launched a music service on Wednesday that allows users to listen to unlimited songs for $9.99 a month, challenging smaller companies like Pandora and Spotify in the market for streaming music. With its new service, announced at its annual developers' conference in San Francisco, Google has adopted the streaming music business model ahead of rival Apple, which pioneered online music purchases with iTunes. Google's "All Access" service...
02:53 PM, May 16, 2013
New Delhi: When it had started to seem that the Google Nexus 4, will be yet another Nexus phone to skip India, LG has announced the launch of the Google Nexus 4 smartphone in the Indian market at a price of Rs 25,999. Online shopping site Flipkart had also listed the phone for pre-orders on May 15 at the same price. The Nexus 4 was first announced in October last...
12:53 PM, May 16, 2013
Mumbai: Demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP today said an independent probe in the coal allocation scam was not possible till he occupies the top post. Party Vice-President Balbir Punj told reporters here that the CBI which had acted swiftly in the Rail scam, involving Pawan Bansal, has chosen not to show enough activism in the coalgate investigation. "Some action has been taken against bribe givers, but...
08:59 PM, May 15, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea seeking to restrain government authorities from taking any coercive action against anyone for posting alleged objectionable comments on social networking sites. An application was filed before the apex court seeking its direction to the authorities not to take action for posting such comments during the pendency of a case before it pertaining to constitutional validity of section 66A...
01:01 PM, May 15, 2013
Chandigarh: The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered Punjabi rapper-singer Honey Singh to be present in court on Tuesday to respond to allegations of vulgarity in one of his songs. Uttar Pradesh IPS officer Amitabh Thakur had filed an FIR against Singh for offensive songs, saying that he should be punished for his obscene anti-women lyrics. The singer's New Year concert at a Gurgaon hotel was also cancelled following...
10:29 AM, May 14, 2013
Moscow: A 23-year-old man beaten to death in Volgograd in south Russia was the victim of a homophobic gang, Russian investigators have said. The naked body of the man with various injuries, including to his genitalia, was found in the courtyard of an apartment building May 10. The victim's skull was smashed with a 20-kg rock and he appeared to have been raped with beer bottles. The suspects also tried...
10:09 AM, May 14, 2013
New Delhi: There have been speculations of the growing rift between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. After CNN-IBN reported the inside story of how a section of the Congress wants the Prime Minister to make way for new leadership, the Congress clarified that Dr Manmohan Singh will be the Prime Minister till 2014. "There is absolutely no rift between the party and the Prime Minister. Prime...
07:50 AM, May 14, 2013
Sringar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Monday stressed that peace and tranquility hold the key to groom and grow the tourism industry in the state for which over Rs 383 crores have been sanctioned during the last four years by his government. "People from all the three regions of the state are equal stakeholders in the tourism industry. Balanced approach has to be taken to rope in...
05:18 AM, May 14, 2013
Hyderabad: A special court on Monday issued summons to Andhra Pradesh Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy in a disproportionate assets case involving YSR Congress party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Taking cognizance of the fifth charge sheet filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the special court dealing with CBI cases issued summons to Sabitha and 12 others, directing them to appear before the court on June 7. The...
04:30 AM, May 14, 2013
