Not Just an Accountant: The Diary of the Nation's Conscience Keeper

by Vinod Rai

Not Just an Accountant is an incisive, no-holds-barred account of India's 11th comptroller and auditor general and a symbol of the anti-corruption movement, Vinod Rai.

Through a narrative rich in anecdote and inside information, Rai sheds light on the major scams that shook the country. Among the case studies - chosen for the diversity of failures they highlight - are the procedural irregularities in the issuance of licenses for second generation spectrum allotment, the last minute quick-fixes in the conduct of the XIX commonwealth games, the loss of national resources while allocating coal blocks, the flouting of systems and the clear display of crony capitalism in the exploration of hydrocarbon and the tragic tale of civil aviation in India.

Through these illustrations, Rai wishes to not only expose government malfeasance, but also probe the mandate of the CAG as a watchdog. Equally, he hopes to push for long-term solutions to corruption and bring home the urgent need for ethics - for the pursuit of excellence, accountability, probity and transparency within governments, the bureaucracy, corporate enterprises and public life.

Includes the



Presents a blow-by-blow, explosive, yet thoughtful account that sheds new light on the scams that shook 2G, coalgate, civil aviation, the conduct of the XIX commonwealth games and hydrocarbon contracts. Explodes the myth of accountability in contemporary Indian governance. Presents long-term solutions for the future, so as to contain procedural irregularities within the government and corporate enterprises. Provides a roadmap for good governance, important for the growth of the nation.Exhorts younger professionals / administrators to strive for excellence.

Genres: Nonfiction, India, Politics, History, Biography, Autobiography, Business

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[Anil Swarup · Rating 4 out of 5]

"I do no respond to every dog that barks" was a statement made by late Rajiv Gandhi in a reply to sundry questions. Vinod Rai quotes him to follow "that statement in toto". However, the book appears to be an attempt to reply to every dog that barked. More than anything else, the book is a response to the severe criticism that he faced in his capacity as CAG. He makes cogent arguments backed with well researched facts. He does convince the reader about the issues raised by the CAG and the logic behind them.
He is candid enough to admit the over-reach of the institution he headed on occasions but quite surprisingly does not own the responsibility of this over-reach (The Padma Award audit is a case in point though there would have been many more). Why didn't he attempt to put across a framework to avoid such over-reach? It is a moot point whether the advance audit during Commonwealth Game was also an instance of over-reach though perhaps well intentioned. One wonders whether any performance audit was done for schemes like Universal Health Insurance Scheme (UHIS) or Aam Aaadmi Bima Yojana that were administered by the Department of Financial Services that he was heading before he became CAG. The first one was virtually a non-starter and the second one was never evaluated by a third party. Were these schemes ignored because they were for the poor or because they would not have caught the fancy of those that mattered, including the media or because they failed to take off under his leadership? Shouldn't charity begin at home? Why didn't he resist the launch of smart cards under Aam Admi Bima Yojana when it was a known farce (No smart card was issued after the token launch in Shimla).
The book, however, has extremely relevant messages for the bureaucracy and, above all, for the people of the country.

[Madan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warning: This is NOT light reading. The author's often legalistic turn of phrase and style of presentation (reproduction of govt ministry notes excerpts, for instance) may be off putting for those who are not used to it. Content and not style is paramount here. But the content holds the greatest interest for all citizens of India.

Now, I must admit at the outset that I was always mildly skeptical of the role played by the CAG in unearthing the multitude of scams that have rocked India in the last few years. I found the concept of a presumptive loss..well, presumptuous and the figures sounded as though they may have been exaggerated. Hence, I didn't have great hopes to find insight when I picked up this book.

I couldn't have been more wrong about it. The author, probably one of the most popular CAGs in the history of independent India, defends himself powerfully, backing up his persuasive arguments with facts and figures. And in doing so, raises alarming questions about the state of (mis)governance in India. The exact quantum of loss to the exchequer in the cases selected by him for discussion may still be debated till the cows come home. But it is very hard to rebut the allegation of corrupt practices based on Mr.Rai's arguments. Those familiar with the workings of the govt will smell a rat merely by observing the pattern. The pattern being one of bureaucrats in a ministry or govt body attempting to make a judicious decision on a matter of national importance....and a minister seeking to intervene and change the decision on apparently dubious grounds. With, eventually, great harm being brought to the nation's interest.

Perhaps, there was indeed judicial overreach by the CAG's office or perhaps there wasn't; I am not qualified to comment on it. But by the end of the book, this overreach appears to be a minor folly at worst compared to the sordid saga of corruption that the office sought to expose. At the end of it all, Mr.Rai comes out looking almost like Kevin Costner's character from The Untouchables.

Whether that is a tribute to his persuasive writing skills or to the quality of his investigative work, I wouldn't know, but it's probably a bit of both. For the nature of the scams and their modus operandi are depressingly familiar and the maxim of there being no smoke without fire seems appropriate here. Far from painting the CAG as a major hurdle to progress and 'growth', he deserves to be praised for stamping out wanton cronyism...or at least forcing them to beat a retreat and fine tune their strategies!

When I picked up the book, I felt the sub title "The Diary of the Nation's Conscience Keeper" sounded rather pompous and grandiloquent. It is a tribute to how convincing the book is that when I was done, I felt it was an appropriate description and I was left yearning for more. A must read for every citizen of this country to educate himself/herself with regard to how terribly the govt has let down the nation and is a lesson for us to remain vigilant at a time when the air is thick with complacent ecstasy.

[VijayaRaghavan S N · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book written by the then Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to bring out the glaring discrepancies in carrying out various policies (2G spectrum, XIX CWG, Coal block allocation, Civil Aviation and exploration of hydrocarbons) during the UPA tenure. Through this book, Mr Vinod Rai aims at answering the questions directed at him by the media and the government. He takes a well aimed dig at the government and the media by quoting Rajiv Gandhi "I do not respond to every dog that barks". But in spite of the dig, he leaves no stone unturned in answering their questions and issues raised by them to cover up their maleficent acts.

The book starts off with his post Kerala cadre posting and how the State Government and Union Government had a face off concerning his posting for his training period. Right from the first chapter it is evident that he is going to unearth and put it out in public display the difference in opinion he had with the government and the government's inability to call a spade a spade. Then he moves on to his life in Kerala and his growth from being a sub-collector to collector and at last ending with Principal Secretary of Finance in Kerala State Government. It is in these chapters that I feel proud to be a Keralite (me being from God's Own Country) because he looks back at his tenure in Kerala with good memories. And he calls a few of the Kerala ministers as ones with sportsmanship, despite their difference in opinions, unlike the officials you find nowadays.

Then he gets a change in scenario. Now he moves in to the league of big boys. The Central Government. After serving his time in a couple of departments in Government of India, he gets appointed as CAG. And from there the unveiling begins. He starts of with the biggest scams the nation has ever seen and the mind numbing losses forced upon our nation. Then he moves on to CWG and how the then Sports Minister, M S Gill, termed the biggest extravaganza the nation was going to host as a 'Punjabi Wedding'. The real shame is when he compares the development of London for 2012 Olympics and ours for the CWG. We feel pity for our so called national leaders and their unwavering trust in 'Aam Aadmi' that we won't fail them in bringing them to power for the next tenure. These two were the scams Vinod Rai mainly concentrated on. Then he takes it down a notch with the coal allocation scam and even further down with the civil aviation and exploration of hydrocarbon scam. But by this time we would have felt shame on ourselves for keeping the inconsequential dummy PM and power hungry government in power for ten continuous years.

One thing the readers would note would be that Vinod Rai never equated the government to one being corrupted to the core. Instead he makes them look like a bunch of ministers taking decisions as they deem fit even without notifying the PM. Despite all the negative contents in the book, he signs off with a silver lining in the cloud. He points out how the citizens of the nation are coming out against the loose-canon government and how important visibility is in governance. As he rightly points out, there is a change for the better future and better governance. As our first president Rajendra Prasad points out, we can't still blame the Brits for the mess we are in now. It's time we moved on from sticking the blame on them and developed a bureaucracy and governance which any other nation would be envious of. It would take time. But still it's better than where we are now.

P.S. With the amount of educational background he got, it is not surprising to see the wide range of vocabulary that's on display in the book. So proceed with caution.

[Hrishikesh · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am actually undecided if I should share my opinion about this book.

One major suggestion: for UPSC aspirants, read the last chapter. Instructive towards GS-4. Even those not interested in this exam, the last chapter gives some important lessons towards better governance and probity in public life.

An important read. Just one strong opinion: do not read the book with any presumptions or set opinions. I know this is hard, keeping in mind the nation's political situation - but keep an open mind while reading it.

[Sajith Kumar · Rating 2 out of 5]

When Indians voted in the 2014 general elections, the result was on expected lines. Anyone with even a cursory grasp of the political situation in the country was confident that the ruling coalition would bite the dust. The antagonism was a consequence to exposure of blatant corruption in the government led by Manmohan Singh, India’s foremost economist. Though himself a man of unimpeachable integrity, his clout in the party and government was extremely weak. He owed his place as prime minister solely due to his docility and subservience to the whims of the Nehru family who saw in him nothing more than a presentable figure good for keeping the seat warm till Rahul Gandhi, the youngest scion of the dynasty, could cut his political teeth. Ministers in the alliance parties treated him as a man to be respected and seen to be obeyed, but never to take seriously in their own decision-making process. Huge deals involving financial swindling came to light in the ten years Singh presided over the administration. Some of it included the 2G spectrum scandal, coal-block allocation scam, the Commonwealth Games deals, allocation of natural gas exploration blocks and purchase of unnecessary aircraft for the national carrier, Air India. The money wasted in these shocking scams ran into tens of thousands of crores of rupees. The investigations into some of the deals are still on. These irregularities saw the light of the day through performance audits conducted by the supreme audit institution in India – the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG). Vinod Rai was the CAG at that time, who stood with his courage and conviction against pressure from all quarters. Rai is a former IAS officer of Kerala cadre who served as the CAG of India for five years from 2008 to 2013. He is widely considered as the symbol of the anti-corruption movement and is credited with having turned the office of CAG into a powerful force for accountability and transparency in contemporary India. This book is his reminiscences of the days when he exposed the black deals involving politicians.

Rai gives a brief narration of his career in the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) in various capacities in the states as well as the centre. These chapters are quite interesting to the readers before the main action begins as the CAG, at which point it loses its appeal. The book is very particular in introducing the relevance of that constitutional position. The government auditor, or CAG, provides a critical link between the executive, parliament and the larger community of citizens. His objective is to draw the attention of the executive to the loopholes, lacunae, the acts of omission and any violation of established policy guidelines (p.35). The author also examines the types and differences of audit such as financial audit, compliance audit and performance audit, the third one only the CAG is allowed to conduct. There is a discontinuity in the narration here. From his days in the IAS, the story is catapulted straight into life as the CAG. Here too, the actions and analyses are sidelined to reply to some of the criticisms faced by the final audit report. The bureaucrat in the author rears his head when he takes askance at the Media running news stories on reports supposedly leaked from the auditor’s office, whereas he advocates transparency and scrutiny for all departments of the executive.

2G scam rocked Indian politics in 2011. Licenses were reportedly issued to telecom operators on first-come-first-serve basis and foul play was suspected in receiving requests from the companies. A full disclosure of the nuances of the audit is given by the author. Each license, worth around 8000-9000 crores, was allotted for a paltry sum of Rs. 1658 Crores. The total loss to the exchequer is estimated at Rs. 1.76 lakh crores. Such an astronomical figure was the butt of intense criticism from sections supportive of the government. However, the author reminds us that while the fact of loss to the nation can hardly be denied, the quantum of loss can be debated. The CBI pegged the loss at Rs. 30000 crores, which itself is a startlingly large figure. Rai specifically remarks that Manmohan Singh was indeed aware of what was going on, but preferred to look the other way and adopt a hands-off approach at this naked loot of the country. A separate chapter is reserved for each scandal.

This book is tiresome to read on account of the uninspiring form of narration. Instead of detailing the clever ways in which foul play was allowed to go on, the author chooses to list out arguments in favour of the findings and calculations arrived at in the report. A large share is reserved to reply to allegations of the CAG’s partisanship. As such, the description descends to the readability of an affidavit a party submits before a court of law. The final chapter lets out some homilies on the way forward for a new India of the GenNext. Excellence in every sphere of activity, accountability in responsible institutions and probity in all walks of life are recommended by Rai as the leading beacons of the society.

This book is graced with a Foreword by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, former President of India and a luminary of twenty-first century India. He exhorts the readers to instill righteousness in the heart which translates to beauty in character. In a nutshell, it characterizes this book about accountability, transparency and ethics in administration and leadership. Extensive reproductions of dates, figures and bureaucratic reports turn the readers away from the main thread. The last nail in the coffin is the presence of several appendices running into 45 pages that are nothing but photocopies of letters and memos sent by various ministries.

The book is not recommended.

[Surya Teja · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book gives insights about the official communication between different entities of the governments, how various warning bells have been neglected during the 2g, cwc, gas scams. The CAG also address the criticisms draw towards him while unearthing various malfeasance in the government. They way he address the criticism is impeccable (quoting the duties of CAG from the constitution). The final chapters are must read for every citizen of India.

[Bharath · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book as expected, dwells for the large part on Vinod Rai's term as the CAG. Considering the attention his position attracted, there are detailed notes on each of the prominent cases which were in the limelight. This is a very well written book though very detailed for the most part.

[Parth Agrawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This can very well be used as a parameter to check whether a person can appreciate the bureaucracy of India or not. Until now, if anybody would've had asked for my opinion on any department of government be it the political class or the bureaucratic class, a blanket reply would've been that "most of them are corrupt and don't even work as per as the constitutional procedure let alone working for the benefit of the general public". Mr Rai here has confirmed my reservations here but still i feel a newfound respect for the officialdom, at-least for those officers who follow the constitutional procedure to the T and without a doubt Mr Rai and officers under him during his tenure as CAG deserve appreciation

Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG), EC(Election Commission) and Supreme Court. These are some of the bodies in our country whose existence, duties, powers and condition of services have been guaranteed by the constitution. They are independent of the executive of our country which is the biggest contributor to the fact that these bodies don't face the ire of public to the tune of CBI, CIC and CVC. In the book, the author has highlighted the trend which has evolved over the first decade of 21st century in India which has been very disturbing

As far as the role of CAG is considered in our country, I was only aware of tat they have been responsible for bringing out the scam that has taken place in the allocation of coal blocks and distribution of 2G spectrum. They did have a role in unearthing the corrupt practices that had entailed during these time but the famous figures of Rs 1.85 lac cr and Rs 1.76 lac cr that the CAG has been held accountable for are not the exact amounts that the public exchequer has been robbed off. It is the minimum amount of which the exchequer has definitely been robbed off and to make matter worse, these are only the famous ones. There have been irregularities in the Gas and Exploration tenders, Aircraft acquisition for Air India and Commonwealth games, 2010 which in toto must have cost public exchequer around 1-2 lac cr as well

Not only the documentation of the stories that have unfolded is impeccable, the explanation of the events along with the key documents has resulted into an excellent, although a macabre, canvas of reality which has been missing from the public domain. It is also very alarming to see as to how the incumbent government strangulates the freedom of expression such that none of the media house's intention is towards explaining the events instead, almost all of them are in a race against each other with the winning prize being polarization of opinion. I would sincerely suggest that although all the conventional sources of news be it newspapers, tv channels etc are very useful in keep oneself aware of the latest happenings, we never really go out and verify that whether whatever is being shown or printed is actually true or not. It might seem a very cliched reminder to most but in my opinion, imperative all the same

In the last pages, Mr Rai has appealed to us. To you and me. He has accused us all, including himself, of our growing penchant for mediocrity which is directly leading us to corruption, shortcuts and moral degeneration. He exclaims that it is understandble that the concept of morality is debatable but he urges us to be best wherever we are. Measuring your commitment and contribution to the society through an absolute parameter is as childish as not entertaining the idea altogether

"Tomorrow belongs to people who prepare for it today"- Vinod Rai

[RustyJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Vinod Rai’s Not Just an Accountant. This is NOT the autobiography of the former CAG. Rather, the former CAG walks us through five case studies, or reports, that the office of the CAG came under severe fire for, from the then UPA government. These are: the 2G scam, the coal scam, the CWG scam, the Air India mismanagement, the petroleum scam.
The reports of the CAG in each case were tabled in the parliament, were much debated, caused embarrassment to the then government with much “shooting of the messenger” involved.
The present book by ex-CAG Rai is a defence of the finding of the office of the CAG and a rebuttal of the various arguments heaped against the reports as well as the CAG. The arguments against the CAG ranged from the ridiculous “it is outside the purview of the CAG” the “the office of the CAG does not have the qualifications”. I understand a thing or two about audit, having been in the profession for six years. Of the five case studies presented in the book, I have a decent understanding of three sectors – telecom, coal and aviation, having done assignments in the said sectors. This helped me better appreciate and understand the case studies presented.
Initially, I was a bit disappointed with the book – I had expected a more “explosive tell all”. However, as the book progressed, and the aim of the author became obvious, it made for very interesting reading. To the author’s credit, rather than indulge in a tu-tu-main-main or mud-slinging, he has only attempted to set the record straight. It is nothing more than a defence and a rebuttal. And what a rebuttal it is! The book is replete with specific instances and references – most of the documents are in public domain. Indeed, the book itself reads like an audit report: beginning with the scope (in every case, the audit was requested by either the concerned ministry or secretary), the information examined, the facts gathered and the observations. The bottom line of the book is that the CAG and the reports of the CAG only gave “observations” and did not pass judgements i.e., it did not infringe on the roles of either the legislature or the judiciary.
Much has been said about the losses quantified by the CAG. Without getting into the accuracy or otherwise of the number, let us look at a few factors. As per the audit findings, a scarce and valuable natural resource was given away to private parties. The process (or the absence of it) by which the resource was given is what was found to be wanting. Is it not relevant for the auditor to put the finding in context by quantifying the loss? The report clearly mentioned the manner in which the number was arrived at and also stated the inherent limitations of the computation. However, rather than look at the fact that the process of coal allocations was wrong, much time and energy was focused on the amount quantified. Let us for a moment assume that the loss of Rs 1.85 lakh crore is greatly exaggerated. Let us discount it by two thirds. Isn’t a loss of Rs 60,000 crores significant? Isn’t the fact that there was indeed a loss of revenue to the government, whatever might that sum have been, important? Moreso when instance after instance of glaring inefficiencies came to the fore?
This precisely is the underlying message of the book. And in that, Vinod Rai succeeds in getting the message across. That the foreword is penned by none other than ex-President APJ Abdul Kalam (who read the manuscript thoroughly before writing the introduction) does speak of the content and intent of the book.
A must read for anyone interested in Indian polictics and the ills plaguing them.
Memoirs of President Pranab Mukherjee, Natwar Singh, PC Parakh's book (ex-Coal Secretary) and Sanjaya Baru's Accidental Prime Minister are next in line...

[Gopal Vijayaraghavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much of 2G Telecom scam is documented and widely debated. So are the other scams of UPA 1 & 2 relating to coal, acquisition of Airbuses for Indian Airlines and Commonwealth games. It is to the credit of Shri Vinod Rai, a 1972 Batch of Indian Administrative Service officer and who was holding the post of Comptroller and Auditor General of India during the above period, that what had been circulating as rumours about these big scams were given a stamp of authenticity by way of damning reports by a constitutional authority. It is also a matter of record that his role has been questioned by some of the Congress leaders like Mr. Chidambaram and Mr. Kapil Sibal, who are well read lawyers of great eminence and who are expected to be well versed with the clear demarcation of the constitutional authorities in their given areas of functioning. They are also expected to be well aware of the difference between what is laying down of policy and a clear subversion of procedures with a criminal intention. However, Mr. Rai stood vindicated by subsequent events.

In the above background, one would have expected Mr. Rai to throw some new light on the above scams in his book. The book is disappointing and does not contain anything new and reads like an official report(especially relating to the activities of CAG). The author has given a brief background of his career in the introductory chapter. But what is not understood is why Mr. Rai has to take so much pains to justify the CAG reports while the reports speak for themselves. In the end, the author gets into a pulpit writing about accountability, transparency and probity in public life for making India a super power. He also thinks that the recent mass movements will lead to great changes. But as an administrator for 40 years, he would have understood that corruption is not such a simple issue as has been made out in popular movies and the media. As an economist, he should be aware that there is also some demand and supply theory operating here. And any reforms in Govt. structure will have to be matched by reforms in Judiciary without which there may not be much change in the system as we see for every big shot convicted in a corruption case, hundreds politicians slip through the loopholes of the Judicial processes.

[Saurabh Goyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last Comptroller and Accountant General of India, Vinod Rai, had been in news ever since he raked up policy-pathology underlying our public institutions. One can debate over whether CAG over-stepped his limits or not; but the fact is that he has done a cleansing act which was long-overdue. This book is an answer to all those sceptics who has bashed him over the years for his audacity.

The book explains the working and role of an important public institution of our polity- the CAG. The author uses various case studies to bring home his point. The book is suffused with the pangs an honest and upright bureaucrat feels when he sees national interest being sacrificed at the alter of expediency and venal interest; that too with impunity. But the most striking aspect of the book is its solid foundation which is premised upon ruthless reason and facts.

Author walks us through many case studies- coal block allocation; gas exploration; 2-G licences allocation; CWG scam and the sad story of Air India. This might be a gross over-simplification but the two threads running through all these scams were these- our public-institution holders threw all the professional morality to winds in the name of protecting the interest of the poor. And our 19th century state was out-smarted while running a 21st century economy; so coal blocks were not allocated in an objective and competitive manner for that would escalate prices and will harm the ‘poor’; telecom licences were allocated on sub-optimal prices for that will ensure the poor can afford the services; we extolled PPP as the panacea for all our ills but our state failed miserably at basic contract management capacity.

While reading this book, one can sense the honesty and honour the author attaches to his professional role. The most striking part of the book to me is the fact that when Vinod Rai makes a plea to the nation to rise up and pursuit excellence, he does not premise his call on any theological or nebulous conception of good and bad; he does so on the basis of a simple but profound and modern idea: ‘morality of one’s profession’.

[Praveen Kumar Mohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author dwells on greater probity, transparency and accountability in governance throughout the book and through his case studies he has highlighted how the people in authority, both politicians and bureaucrats, have time and gain exploited their position, moving as far as possible from these three values. The case studies are very interesting and the ones that shook the nation. In all the instances, the government has given preferential treatment to a few corporate bodies with no respect and concern for the well being of the nation and the treasury.

The arguments he made are backed by well researched data and are a real eye opener about the way the politicians have tried to undermine the role of an audit body.

The author maintains a very humble tone when he speaks while at the same time maintaining the supremacy of the office he held. I recommend this to all those who are interested in public policy and governance. it's worth reading for all those who want to be the change agents and strive for an ethical and committed society. The author points out and everyone would agree that this is a pursuit we have no option but to embrace.

[Ramalingam Ramakrishnan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Couple of books came around the same time this book was released in the 1st half of 2014 written by Indian bureaucrats. This one by Vinod Rai, the Comptroller and Auditor General is by far the best on the role of the CAG as envisioned by the constitution as one of India's towering institutions versus the elected executive towards providing an effective, efficient & an accountable Governance system.

He has picked up a bunch of case studies in detail from where he sat & his team conducted the audits many of which are available in the public domain today. It is bound to raise some controversies but provides a clear view on how audits are conducted by CAG, whom does it report to and that it does not expect the auditee to report back as it is the Government' Auditor for Government depts., whether competent people were part of the Audit team, how & why certain projections were made etc.

I picked up this book on seeing it recommended by Dr. Kalam and HDFC' Deepak Parekh. It raised the image of IAS officers in my eyes. Worthy read.

[Amit Tiwary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important book. Factual and concise. Absolutely must read to understand the failures during UPA 1 and II which resulted in halt in growth of our economy and country. The failures which were designed, the failures which were planned, and the failures which were injected by the government and bureaucracy. There were ample evidences to stop at every level but they were systematically ignored.

Though Vindo Rai consistently paints himself as a hero and nation's conscience keeper in this book, one can't forget his failure in stopping the consistent selective leaks of unfinished reports to the media. Many productive days of parliament were lost over those selective leaks. Even CAG pondered over the figures it has projected. The fiasco of CAG with PAC of 2G is not completely covered in the book.

But still this is an important book to understand the follies of UPA 2 and to understand the greatest scams of the country (namely Coal Block Allocation, 2G spectrum allocation, Petroleum, and so on) in layman terms.

[Padam Kundu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a vivid, eye-opening account of the dismal situation our nation is currently trapped in all, ironically, due to the democratically elected legislative assembly and Parliament members. This illuminating piece of forthright commentary by the former Constitutional Position Holder seeks the reader's conscience to believe(& rightly so) in ethical and moral execution of every task with its orientation towards the ultimate goal of nation building. It appeals to the educated lot to practice probity and integrity in their modus operandi as well as modus vivendi and seek the same from the elected representatives with utmost strength in expression.
The last part putting light on the course correction is very insightful and polished with great readability due to the pinching trivia and facts.
It is impressive to witness such a great story-telling potential from an honest bureaucrat, most likely owing to the factual nature of the content and the long held silence of the truly professional civil servant.
Kudos to "The Diary of the Nation's Conscience Keeper".

[Mukesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books when you finish a read and you feel like giving a standing ovation... The book depicts the calmness and robust thought process of our Ex CAG. The best part of the books remains the clear and straight forward presentation of facts without any story telling.

Such minute details of the auditing process of the biggest scams that came on surface makes me feel empowered about the approach an auditor should have.

2 topics that stand out for me are:

One where the harsh letter written by one of the junior officer to Ex CAG and the positivity he discovered out of it

and second is the concluding chapter where he talks about the under-estimation that we have about our own country and its potentials. He raised the habits of being over-whelmed with our limited success in international sporting events whereas we stand no-where to our nearest competitor i.e. china.

A must read and i am glad i read it

[Vijay Ivaturi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a good summary of all major accounting assignments handled by CAG team while Mr Vinod Rai was at its helm. Note that all content is available in public domain in the form of various reports and newspaper articles. But Mr Rai gives a very personal commentary on the various events which makes it a very interesting read.

Another good aspect of the book is the background information it provides while describing each case. Founding fathers of our nation ensured the Constitution of India has enough clauses to protect certain institutions like CAG and EC. Every department that had seen a misappropriation of work during 2005-2010 period have had their own share of ground rule, perfectly legal once. This book talks about how those rules were circumvented at the discretion of people in power.

Excellent book for everyone to read and understand what we owe to our country.

[Mihir Parekh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book but not an Autobiographical narrative..... Book mostly deals with major scams unearthed during Vinod Rai's tenure as CAG. Theses are narrated with good details that some time we feel like reading audit report. He narrated straightforwardly that how things were and are being manipulated for personal gain. Though book gives good insight in some of biggest and most infamous scams of independent India, book is hurriedly written ignoring other aspects of governance which could have been narrated by Vinod Rai lookin in to his experience in bureaucracy. Book doesn't deliver thrilling reading experience of those years when every day sunrises with news of new scams, but certainty, it provides honest account of those mega scams.

[E.T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

"The great man theory" is a 19th-century idea according to which history can be largely explained by the impact of great men - Wikipedia
2nd April 2011, India won the cricket World Cup. On 5th April 2011, Anna Hazare began a hunger strike, the "India Against Corruption" movement received great support from the urban masses. There was great disgust against the massive corruption of the central Govt and it was a huge factor in the regime change in 2014. But only because a great patriot decided to do his duty to the fullest. And patriots value truth and duty above nationalism, ideologies, identity and other kinds of "honour".
The book describes how CAG Sir (I never knew his name while he was in office!) was severely attacked by the UPA2 govt and the ruling party of the time. For What ? For the audits performed as part of his duty. And while I found the accounting/legal terms difficult to understand, the author was able to explain how he reached the various figures of losses to the exchequer. While the larger points were already known to me, i still liked reading about the sheer brazenness the Govt in some detail.
Finally, the author stressed on excellence and probity in public life and making institutions independent. Here I would differ and say that India's main problem is not having an efficient police/legal system. Institutions can function only when they are made accountable and this accountability can come from the fear of punishment. And this is a huge enabler of casteism, communalism and criminalism in our elected representatives. This is a topic well covered in the superb When Crime Pays: Money and Muscle in Indian Politics.

[Suneel Madhekar · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a glimpse into the eventful life of an a fearless civil servant. Vinod Rai gives a brief account of his early career as an IAS officer. But the book really is all about the case-studies of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit findings that he presents from his tenure as CAG. The case studies include the 2G spectrum allocation case, coal block allocation case, arrangements for Commonwealth Games and management of the affairs of Air India. In each of the case studies, we see vested interests hijack the agenda of transparency, probity and honesty. In each of the case studies we also see that there always are a few, a very very few, officers who have to courage to do what is right, irrespective of the consequences. But in each case, we further see how insufficient the courage of an individual officer is, when the entire "system", as we call it, is infested with malfeasance which originates right at the top. We get to see how the "system", whether it is the famed public-private partnership model or a Public Sector entity like Air India, can be perverted to suit narrow personal interests at the cost of the tax-paying public.

The case studies are hair-raising accounts of impropriety.

The book is very readable, provided the reader is interested in India in general, and the subject of the book, in particular. The last part of the book, on "excellence, accountability and probity", could perhaps have been better written or edited, though.

[Sriram Venugopal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vinod Rai has explained in detail the importance of CAG, all the different scams during the Congress rule of 2004-2014 including 2G, Coal block allocation, CWG, exploring hydrocarbon and Air India. He has explained and justified how CAG came up with the number of loss to the exchequer ( for eg. 1.76 lakh crore in 2G) in various scams. It is unbelievable how the ministers during that time had flouted rules and took decisions to favour certain companies with no regard to processes.

[Anuj Kumar · Rating 3 out of 5]

An average book with too much analysis on transparency, as expected. The last chapter focuses more on ethics and probity in general life and how could India achieve its lost glory .

[Rohit · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this era of shouting voices and whatsapp forwards masquerading as ‘facts’, this lovely little book speaks to you with real facts and blows your mind. Super book.

[Saiprasad · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title "Not just an accountant: The Diary of Nation's Conscience Keeper" is picked up from a judgement of the Supreme Court, where it mentions that CAG is not just a munim (Accountant) and the position of CAG is said to be a Conscience keeper of the nation for its overarching powers to audit the nation's exchequer of its expenditures and to hold political executive accountable to Parliament through audit along with the Public Accounts Committee.

However, this is not a particularly well-written book, given the inexperience of author in writing I suppose, and it is an apologetic account of the ex-CAG, I say so because he chooses to use a quote of Rajiv Gandhi - "I don't respond to every barking dog", but the book exactly does the opposite, Mr. Vinod Rai has answered through this book to every one of his critics who made allegations on him of overreaching CAG's mandate.

That aside, the book makes some very good revelations, even names the higher ups of the UPA and lets the readers into some insights of how the audit is done in India and offers an interesting perspective about how apathetic our political executive is. There is absolutely no responsibility shown. Esp, the book is critical of UPA, and its coalition politics. The book talks about Coal Scam, CWG Scam, 2G Scam, Reliance's adamance despite breaching the terms of Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for Gas exploration in KG Basin and the civil Aviation saga.

I was particularly taken aback at the Civil Aviation case (since this case has attracted lesser media sound bites) where the minister chooses to use his discretion to get Boeings entirely on debt and modify and overrule the technical committees' recommendation. It's somewhat silent about ManMohan Singh's role, just says that he could have stopped the scams but didn't, probably because he himself was silent machine and had nothing much to say to his ministers, evident from the mere acknowledgement replies he gave to the letters of A.Raja, which otherwise should have sent shivers to anyone who is interested in national welfare. Vinod Rai could have made the book much more of an interesting read if it touched upon the Manmohan Singh's double agent dilemma.

The book is a fast read (it took about a couple of days with 4hr sessions for me) for those who are acquainted with technical terminology of bureaucracy, audit, and polity. It may put off those who are not interested in official communications and the related jargon. But, the book takes cares of explaining the jargon in places necessary.

For those of you who are UPSC aspirants reading it solely for the exam, the first ( for case studies) and the last chapter should suffice from exam point of view esp., for the GS-4 paper.

(P.S:- If you want to give it a pass, you can take my notes of this book for the exam- mail me on admin@threemuch.com)

All in all, I would rate it 3.5 and I'd definitely recommend you to read the book if you want to know how much potential we lost in the last decade of our so-called 'Growth story'.

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[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few instances as shown by the former CAG show the colossal loot by the govt organisations! Wonder how many more are hidden. Kapil Sibal saheb propounded his 0 loss theory, but the CAGs simple calculations demonstrate the hollowness of his theory.

If we didn’t wake up even now, Bharat will go to dogs 😕😕

[Sumit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually when I read accounts by people about all the things they saw and they did, I always think if you have to say it, it probably isn't true, I was quite inclined to do so for this book as well, but this somewhat apologetic account by Ex CAG rang some bells.
Author used some case studies to put forward the case that their is a lot of corruption in the public work and if someone such as CAG who has constitutional powers to audit them and bring them to public's notice, it should be taken with a sporty feeling. Author is hurt that people are questioning his motives and raising hell over scrutiny. This sort of attitude surprised me, means what else would one expect from government/bureaucracy made up of incompetent people who are sitting in position of power because of all the corruption and moral decadence of the country. If we chose good honest people as our representative in legislature and put capable people in bureaucratic offices based on their merits all these irregularities would be much harder to spot. Coming this from a person who spent his life in public was a shock.
Book is very short and nicely written, Author gives bare details about the case studies and doesn't go into technical details of all the issues that he tries to bring notice to.

[Vaibhav Dixit · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book, which is nothing less than words from the horse's mouth give insider view of how various scams, that took away sleeps of administrators and shook the seats of the bigwigs in the government, unearthed in past few years in India.

The book starts with the initial years of a young probationary civil servant in an "alien" state and ends as that young guy retires from the post of financial watchdog of India.

The author has published letters of communications with PMO and other ministries and explained the modus operandi of the CAG audit to prove his point. Incapacity of Dr. Manmohan Singh to stop the scams is strongly highlighted (probably this is the reason why Vinod Rai isn't well received by INC).

Author ends the books with a beautiful discussion on ethical conundrums in bureaucracy.

The matter is not a wasy read, but also not too hard. One must read it atleast once to shatter all impressions that the propaganda must have left on us from those times.

[Sudhir Bharadhwaj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read book on CAG

Loved the book. Written with just plain facts with unrelenting focus on transparency, accountability and emotions in the right places. Very interesting to know the intricate ways that the CAG institution works in our country. Am very heartened also to see how makers of our modern India set forth provisions in our constitution that seeks to guide the independent functioning of CAG.
If it were not to be the efforts of Mr.Vinod Rai, we would have never seen the emergence of a mass movement against corruption. His book is a must read for all those interested to know the context , reasons and explanation behind the controversy of 2G spectrum , CWG, Natural gas mining , Coal block scam and Civil aviation misdemeanors.
The last section the future course of accountability and transparency is hard hitting.
I highly recommend this to anyone who passionately believes in the idea of India itself.

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book written by our former CAG during the time of UPA2 and covering 5 "Scams" should have been a lot more interesting. Since most of the facts of the case were already covered by the media, I was expecting more light on the actual process of audit and unearthing the truth but it falls way too short.

Vinod Rai treats this as a defense of his actions and provides us the summary of the cases. The book gets too legalese after a certain point and it feels like reading one of the audit reports itself. He also takes various potshots at Congress Ministers and the PM himself.

He briefly covers his journey to the CAG through the Kerala Cadre and also in the end justifies the role of the CAG as well as makes recommendations for increasing the scope of other bodies like CVC, CBI etc.

Would rather read a Caravan article which has better narrative

[Santosh Mathew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stellar book that gives critical insight into one of the most important wings of the government - The controller and auditor general of India (CAG). The 3 Cs - CBI, CVC (chief vigilance commission) and the CAG -- These are the three arms in the system that force the government to be accountable to its people.
Vinod Rai writes a very interesting book which goes into the details of plots he unearthed during reign. Finding prominent mention are the 2G scam, the coal block allocation scam etc. Interesting read for someone to understand how the government carries out business and its total lack of accountability to people.