TMCnet News
Manmohan govt prescribed jugaad and applauded it: Rai [India] [Times of India](Times of India Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) NEW DELHI: Professionalism was not the hallmark of the Manmohan Singh government, his ministers were very much like a Punjabi baraat who kept the preparations for the Commonwealth Games hanging till the morning of October 3, 2010, the date of the inaugural ceremony. In his book 'Not Just An Accountant', released on Wednesday, former Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai has said that "the government from its highest echelons was not just prescribing jugaad but applauding it too." "While India and the rest of the Commonwealth saw one deadline disappear after another, and desperately waited for reassuring voices from the government, M S Gill, the sports minister at that time, made a most distressing statement," Rai said, quoting the minister as saying organising the Games was like hosting a Punjabi wedding - things would be done at the last moment. When the government was widely criticised in the media for tardy progress in completion of Games projects, Gill had then said on missing deadlines that it was like hosting a Punjabi wedding: "You keep collecting ladoos and flowers till midnight, but early morning you get the garlands and ladoos and hope the baraat is happy." The minister was living in a make-believe world, totally oblivious to ground realities, and worst of all, applauding one of the most regrettable aspects of our psyche - jugaad, Rai writes on the CWG preparations and the reason why the auditor took up a special audit on the CWG games. The level of preparedness of the CWG games was to be compared with that of the London Olympics in 2012. London had achieved 74% completion for 2012 event in 2009. "The idea guiding this was that at least two years ahead of the Olympics, different venues would be available for training, familiarisation and for the testing of facilities. In contrast, the Delhi CWG Games infrastructure was not ready till the morning of the inaugural. Rai told a well-attended gathering of former and present bureaucrats here on Wednesday that till retirement he had never thought of writing this book. "Only after repeated attempts were made to denigrate the institution on reports brought out during my tenure that I thought to put together my account for young men and women who see it all happen; have the resolve and inspiration to meet the challenge, but may not rise to the occasion when the opportunity arises and so sadly, may see it pass," he said. Former President APJ Abdul Kalam wrote a foreword to the book that has 11 chapters - his journey as a bureaucrat from Dimapur to Delhi, the role of audit, media policy, a chapter on the CBI, details on 2G saga, the CWG, Coalgate and the gas exploration deal and civil aviation deals. (c) 2014 Bennett, Coleman & Company Limited |