9 April,2010

Getting it right
Each year, around this time, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India comes out with its report on State governments, Goa being one among them.  Unfortunately, public memory is short, and so is media attention. A few days after it is submitted, everyone seems to forget the document. Discussion on it is usually scant, and restricted, at best, to a day or two. Over recent years, the CAG has shown its ability in digging up a whole lot of interesting facts about how Goa is governed. Or, rather, misgoverned. For instance, it’s just-released 2009 report had five chapters — on police modernisation, computerisation of the directorate of accounts, audits and misappropriation, fisheries, revenue receipts, and the Kadamba Transport Corporation.
 Confirming the worst fears of the citizen, the CAG Report comes out with startling facts. Since this is an official audit, it is well investigated, and backed up with solid facts and figures. The State Government cannot easily dismiss its findings, as it does with critical media reports. Often, the official response is just silence. Which works, because everything is forgotten with time.  Take the case of the police force. While politicians have been clearing “vacancies” and packing the force with their supporters, so much have been left undone when it comes to modernising the police.
 The Modernization of the Police Force Scheme, approved by the Government of India, saw the Goa government unable to utilize funds allotted by the GoI. (This covered the 2000-05 period, even when the otherwise seen-as-efficient Manohar Parrikar was chief minister.) Funds could not be utilised, as the perspective plan was not prepared and annual plans were submitted late to the GoI every year!  Implementation of various components of the scheme were tardy. The Police Communication Network (POLNET) installed by the GoI was not functional.
 In 2000-01, Rs 2.45 crore was provided by the Centre for a Forensic Science Laboratory for the police. Goa badly needs this, to probe unexplained deaths, specially those of foreigners. Only in 2008 was the building constructed by the PWD and handed over to the police. But no manpower, machinery and equipment were provided upto August 2009 — resulting in the Forensic Science Lab remaining non-functioning, as the CAG puts it bluntly.  This kind of mal-administration — regardless of which party, or set of dissidents is in power — continues in other departments too. The police is not the only one that gets singled out by the CAG. Such a report could play an important role in making our administration more responsive to the citizen. But, for that to happen, two more conditions need to be fulfilled. Firstly, more attention needs to be paid to a report of this kind. Its availability — specially in public libraries, colleges and the varsity — should be assured, so that it can be dissected, digested and discussed widely.
 Secondly, and more importantly, the CAG needs to take a wide-angle perspective on governance in Goa, and try to widen the scope of the departments which it focuses on. Only a few departments are studied each year.  While one can understand the staffing restrictions of the CAG — and audits are time-consuming processes — some ways and means need to be urgently found to place all major departments under close scrutiny.  It is important that the departments which get a larger financial allocation should get greater attention. Likewise, the CAG should focus on procedural problems which continue to make over governance ineffective and inefficient.
 Unfortunately, while government departments get the rap, hardly any attention is paid by the CAG to the politicians who often play the role of the unaccountable masters of our administrators. CAG should delve deeper into whether the age-old format of keeping government accounts is suited to ensure accountability. It might not be a bad idea for the CAG to zero-in on the right to information applications that come up before each department, so that they get clues — from the citizen — as to what might be going wrong. All in all, the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office in Goa is doing work that deserves more attention; but it also has a lot of unfinished tasks ahead of it.