Digitised approach to audits in the country can hold governments accountable for their actions at all levels. Examine (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
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Arpit 4 years
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IAS Parliament 4 years
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IAS Parliament 4 years
KEY POINTS
· India has demonstrated well how digitisation can improve key governance functions. During Covid-19, it has been especially helpful to transfer welfare payments to sustain the livelihood of 160 million beneficiaries.
· Government e-marketplace (GEM) platform has improved public procurement by instituting efficient tenders and ensuring delivery of quality goods.
· Government transactions are difficult to track as the budget line items have different meanings across different states. For example, NREGA funds allocated under different categories across states make such funds hard to track and create problems in audit.
· The CAG’s current auditing system lacks the ability to assess government transactions, auditing only about 3% of all country reports.
· The digitisation of audits in a manner similar to GEM can make data readily available to oversight agencies. It can remove variations in accounting practices .
· Since all transactions will be digitised, tracking and tracing funds will be far easier, avoiding wastage of funds stuck in accounts that are untraceable.
· Public Accounts Committee need to follow up and fulfil their accountability functions to improve audits and public policy outcomes in India.
· Data minimisation and time-limited collection lie at the crux of these policies. Similarly, the Income Tax Department’s faceless scrutiny of tax returns can provide a template to ensure anonymity and privacy in audits.
