How India's CAG Turned Docile After Digging Manmohan Scams

Spread love

In a sweeping conversation on The Raisina Hills, audit historian P Sesh Kumar links Sumerian temple ledgers to modern-day political battles—from coal block allocations to Rafale and China’s opaque governance.

By TRH Literary Desk

New Delhi, November 22, 2025 — In a penetrating discussion on The Raisina Hills YouTube channel, author P Sesh Kumar—whose recent book Unfolded: The Audit Trail has sparked fresh debate—offered a sweeping tour of the evolution of auditing, transparency, and accountability from ancient civilizations to contemporary Indian politics.

“Transparency is the conscience of civilization,” Kumar said, opening the conversation on the philosophical core of his book. He traced how public financial accountability—today rooted in the powers of India’s Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)—emerged from early Sumerian, Greek, Roman and temple-based accounting systems.

‘Audit Is Intrusive, and That’s Why It Matters’

Kumar recalled how CAG officials often faced hostility and obstruction, especially during politically sensitive audits. He described the tense atmosphere of the UPA era, when explosive reports on coal block allocations and spectrum allocations triggered national political storms.

“The audited entity sees audit as an intrusive activity,” he said. “During 2010–12, the government was under tremendous pressure. Non-cooperation was natural.”

He pointed to episodes—now documented in his book—where CAG teams were allocated rooms “near stinking toilets” and given delayed or incomplete records.

How Modi Years Changed Audit Politics

Asked how the Modi government compares with the Manmohan Singh era, Kumar noted a “subtle shift.”

“No reports of that magnitude—coal, spectrum—have come out in the last ten years,” he said. He highlighted how the CAG’s audit of the Rafale deal took a consolidated view of defence acquisitions rather than isolating a single contract, marking a change in approach.

He also pointed out what he called a decline in scrutiny of central government monitoring of massive welfare schemes. “Policy examination has taken a back seat,” he observed.

From Chanakya to Luca Pacioli: The Audit Story of Empires

Kumar’s book stretches far beyond contemporary India. He explained how early temple auditors managed offerings, how Chinese dynasties institutionalized strict accounting norms, and how Luca Pacioli’s double-entry system laid the foundation for European empire building.

“Ancient systems focused on control, not transparency,” Kumar said. “Public disclosure came much later.”

Why Transparency Still Topples Governments

Reflecting on Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and the Arab Spring, Kumar warned that when regimes block accountability and transparency, public anger eventually explodes.

“Accountability can be sidelined only at very serious cost,” he said. “Democracies survive because people stay informed—through Parliament, media and supreme audit institutions.”

The dialogue ended with a reminder that Unfolded: The Audit Trail is not a dry technical manual but a narrative history that connects empires, monarchies, democracies and modern political crises through one thread: how societies handle public money.