Some things grab your attention. Here are a few, and I am deliberately not talking of Arvind Kejriwal’s allegations against India’s son-in-law, Robert Vadra:). The office of the CGA ( Comptroller & Auditor General of India) has been in the news for the last few months.
I liked this quote made by Mr. Vinod Rai, the current CGA, as quoted in the DNA newspaper, ” Audit is not an adversary. Neither is it merely a fault finding mechanism. We like to see ourselves as providing an objective and balanced feedback to the Government without fear or favour.” Well said, Sir! Mr. Rai has earned the admiration of many in India for his frank assessment of situations like the Coalgate scam which others would like to overlook.
It is heartening to see news that the Government would like to set up measures to ensure that all court cases will be solved in a maximum of five years. If this happens, though I very much doubt it will, it could be the best thing that has happened in India for decades. It is common knowledge that going to court means spending a huge amount of money and time fighting a case which you may never see closed, leave alone win, during your lifetime. It is estimated that over the next three decades, the number of cases in court would touch over 15 crores before 75,000 courts! It is not uncommon for cases to go on for years together. Our legal system replete with scope for appeals and counter appeals makes it highly unlikely that justice will be delivered on time.
In unrelated news, email completed 40 years recently. It was Ray Tomlinson, a US programmer who pioneered its use. In 1991, the ERNET community in India that was primarily made up of scientists and researchers in the IITs and a few other select institutions had crossed 1000. Now the internet subscriber base in India is expected to reach 150 million by the end of this year. Truly that’s remarkable progress.
People at Work & Play 