Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday observed that audit is now considered an important part of value addition and the mindset of “CAG Vs Government” has changed.

There was a time when audits in the country were looked upon with apprehension. ”CAG Vs Government”, had become the familiar perception of our system. People thought Babus are like this only and the Babus felt that the people of CAG are such that they find only fault in everything. Everyone had their own point of view. Now, this mindset has been changed,” he said at an event marking the celebration of the first Audit Diwas. He also unveiled the statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on the occasion.

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He said CAG not just keeps track of nations accounts but also does value addition in productivity and efficiency. ”Therefore, deliberations on the Audit Day and related programmes are part of our improvement and improvisation. CAG is an institution that has grown in importance and has created a legacy with the passage of time,” he added.

Modi said that earlier, due to a lack of transparency in the banking sector, various wrong practices were followed. The result was that the NPAs of the banks kept increasing. “You know very well how, in the past, NPAs were brushed under the carpet. However, we have put the truth of the previous governments in front of the country with complete honesty. We will find the solutions only when we recognise the problems”, he said.

The Prime Minister said “today we are making such a system in which the thinking of ‘Sarkar Sarvam’ i.e. the interference of the government is decreasing, and your work is also getting easier”, the Prime Minister told the auditors. This is in accordance with ‘Minimum Government Maximum Governance. “Contactless customs, automatic renewals, faceless assessments, online applications for service delivery. All these reforms have ended the unnecessary interference of the government”, he added.

The Prime Minister expressed happiness that CAG has overcome the image of a meddlesome busybody fumbling with files. He noted that “CAG has changed rapidly by adopting modern procedures. Today you are using advanced analytics tools, geospatial data and satellite imagery”

The Prime Minister, talking about the biggest epidemic of the century, pointed out that the country’s fight against it has also been extraordinary. ”Today we are running the world’s largest vaccination program. Just a few weeks ago, the country crossed the milestone of 100 crore vaccine doses, he informed.”

He suggested that CAG may study the practices that emerged during this great fight. The Prime Minister said in olden times, information was transmitted through stories. History was written through stories. But today in the 21st century, data is information, and in the coming times our history will also be seen and understood through data. In the future, data will dictate history, he concluded.