CAG is a key partner in progress of India: President Kovind

On Wednesday, President Ram Nath Kovind appreciated the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and said that it is not only the keeper of national accounts, but a key partner in the progress of India.

President Kovind was speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 29th Accounts General Conference. He said that through the use of technology like data analytics, CAG provides insight to the present and credible forecast for the future.

President said, “You are not only the keeper of national accounts, but conscience keeper to the nation and a key partner in India’s progress”.

He said, “With the tools appropriate for managing and examining the expanding data in a digital economy, you are rightly positioned to anticipate long term trends and emerging issues related to the economy, education, health, environment , national security, among others”.

He said, “Through your financial, compliance and performance audits, you have been providing valuable oversight on operations and giving recommendations for improvement. It is the time, the institution thinks of giving insight and foresight as well”.

President called on CAG to realign the strategy that it measures the outcomes to study the impacts of programmes and to contribute in making the government system good and strong by eliminating the weaknesses.

He said, “You may deliberate on how would you as an organization identify, understand and measure outcome to study the impact of programmes. You may have to realign strategy in a manner that it measures outcome”.

He added, “As conscience keepers, please ask yourselves whether it would help to report on such soft spots and weaknesses in the system – or only on the symptoms manifesting in small deviations. Good systems outlast bad men and women. This is where you can contribute”.