Vinod Rai

A difficult book to read, being a dry and labored account of a dry and laborious career by the top public accountant of India. The author became famous for certain sweeping accusations of loss (frequently 'notional') involving unheard-of amounts and major departments and flagship projects of the Congress-led government. As the head of the national audit organisation, he has naturally done his best to explain and justify their reports, and to pin responsibility for their serious aftermaths. One wonders why they do not use a system of pre-auditing to avoid this type of relentless post-facto agonising, which not only causes enormous stress and confusion, but is also a dampener on quick decision-making, and enormously wasteful of real and financial resources, contributing to cost and time over-runs. One of the more interesting chapters is the one on Air India, which was destroyed by the purchase (and resale) of large numbers of aircraft which sunk the company into deep debt. Unhappily, the chapters on reform and change seem to be somewhat cliched and stilted, sometimes disingenuous, usually self-righteous.… (meer)