Book Review: Not Just An Accountant by Vinod Rai

Vinod Rai is definitely a contemporary hero for India. He has immensely inspired not only all the civil servants of India but all the Indians, by showing his sheer courage in going against the winds and exposing the country’s biggest scams that one might have seen or heard of since independence. In his endeavor, he had to face criticism of many, but it was his dedication to hold the esteemed values of constitution and the institution of CAG in highest regard that made him continue his good work, which shall be remembered in years and decades to come.

In his this book “Not Just An Accountant”, Vinod Rai has tried to present a complete picture of the cases that made the news headlines in past few years, and has made an attempt to clear the layer of mist that many parties with vested interests have tried to create over the role of CAG. The author not only gives a vivid account of what happened in these high profile cases and how they were audited by the office of CAG, but using these cases of blatant disregard for probity, efficiency and rule of law, he tries to exhort people, young men and women to wake up and start to hold the governments accountable.

The book is about accountability, transparency and ethics; and aspires to renew in the readers the values: greatness of Ashoka, nobility of Akbar, compassion of Buddha and courage of Gandhi; which are now lost in years of decadence in society, opacity in administration and lack of leadership. The author also reiterates that it is we the people who make a government and hence only we are responsible if we continue to tolerate its inefficiency and malfeasance.

In the first part of the book the author presents a very optimistic and refreshing view of the service and using an autobiographical account of his career gives many precious advices that can be helpful for any administrator. The author agrees that even the best plans meet opposition. But if the plan is explained rationally and transparently, it always finds reason. Also if an administrator’s action is balanced and objective, he has no reason to be paranoid about any kind of scrutiny or fallback.

There is a long drawn debate regarding the mandate of audit institutions as to whether it is only limited to propriety audit or also extends to performance audit. Often bureaucracy and CAG find themselves on opposite sides in this debate. But Vinod Rai goes on to explain that there is no ‘we’ or ‘they’ between audit and administration as both of them are on the same side and share the same goals. He justifies that had the auditing institutions across the world been mandated with limited accounting roles, they would not have been accorded high constitutional status and protections. The author than provides some useful insights into the professional working style of the auditing institution, despite having limited resources and manpower. He tells about the initiatives taken during his tenure, so as to make audit reports more meaningful and also more readable. The reports of CAG were also summarized and distributed in public domains and concept of social audit was institutionalized. He was firm in his view that Performance Audit is not a tool to criticize government but provides an early warning to administrator to take midcourse corrective steps.

The second part of the book is dedicated to the five cases: the 2G spectrum case, Commonwealth Games, Coal Block Allocation, KG Basin case and the Air India’s buy in for Boeing Aircrafts.

2G scam has perhaps been the most talked about case of this decade. It involved leasing out of second generation spectrum licenses to private firms for prices that were way below the market discovered rates. Despite a number of attempts by both the bureaucracy and few ministers to warn PM Manmohan Singh, the process was continued on a pretext of increasing the tele-density at low tariffs. However as Vinod Rai writes, ‘giving finite spectrum to a private party for commercial exploitation, even if it enhances teledensity, requires a balance between revenue generation and achieving social objectives’. Using a number of professional analytical tools CAG calculated the estimate of loss to exchequer to be around 1.76 lakh crore rupees, which was mocked by many for its inconsistency, but the book well explains the rational of CAG while arriving at this figure. Author also argues that the teledensity targets set had already been achieved much before the timeline and therefore it warranted that government should have focused on revenue generation. The silence of the PM bound by coalition dharma however let the nation and its people damned, when a privileged few kept on looting in broad daylight.

Another epic was written during the preparation for CWG, when rules were openly flouted and total control was handed over to an organizing committee composed of a chosen few. The organizing committee showed a complete lack of experience and professionalism in its approach. The result was that not only was the transparency compromised, deadlines missed, structural safety of sporting venues neglected and costs inflated but also that the respect and pride of whole nation was staked. Some eye opening revelations are made in this chapter such as: IOA bid estimated cost of ₨ 1200 crore in 2003, while budget estimate in 2010 was Rs 18532 crore; Revenue projected was ₨ 1780 crore in 2008, but only 174 crores were actually realized; organizing committee projected ₨ 300 crore from donation, less than a crore was realized; and many more technical, financial, and structural lapses. The important question is, how could all this be ignored and how could leadership simply shut its eyes?

The next two chapters on Coal Scam and KG Basin scam also make such sensational revelations which raise doubts on the government’s intentions, show high handedness of people in power and are text book examples of crony capitalism. The whole accounts only vindicate the conclusions arrived at by the CAG in its reports. However personally I found the last case of Air India and its purchase of Boeing Aircrafts over and aboce its purchasing capacity or requirements, as the most disturbing one. Being a young civil servant, I find it outrageous how one person holding political position could take the whole chain of bureaucrats and technocrats for a trip and make them succumb to his pressure. There was complete disregard for Air India’s business interests and cost-benefit criterion, Board of Directors was bypassed and irrational verbal orders were forced upon the MD and Board members.

The last part of the book is called ‘Course Correction’. Here the author has delved into more deliberative issues of excellence, accountability and probity. While having such immense potential in terms of human and natural resources, India still lingers to gain its rightful position. It reflects on our acceptance of jugaad as answer to our problems and lack of pursuit for excellence. While there are umpteen cases to prove that the potential for excellence exists, all that is required is little imagination and initiative. Over and above that, we will have to ensure that the government performs and for that role of institutions like CAG, Election Commission, CVC, CIC, Media, civil society has to be increased. Probity in public life builds character of a nation and a value driven society is hallmark of a progressive nation. It is worrisome that India is rated very low on corruption perception indices. Had India been corruption free, it would have grown at rate of 8% for last 3 decades. But the silver lining is that our democratic forces are maturing and civil society is witnessing a major churning. This is definitely a positive trend, and if this outrage of citizenry is moulded positively, it will conclude in a synergy between government and its people.

The book is a must read for youth of India. Its language is simple and narrative is realistic. The cases and their explanation are succinct and overall the structure is quite cohesive. However one might expect more details of the life of the author which are absent and one is only left wondering if there will be a sequel touching upon the untouched.