IIS OTs SHOULD IMBIBE MODERN TOOLS TO MEET FUTURE MEDIA CHALLENGES: MURMU
INDIAN INFORMATION SERVICE OFFICER TRAINEES MEET THE CAG
New Delhi: Officer Trainees of the Indian Information Service (IIS) met the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG of India), Shri Girish Chandra Murmu,during their orientation program in the CAG office here yesterday. The probationers belong to three batches of 2020, 2021 and 2022.
Shri Murmu said that the media is a very powerful tool that adds value to society. “In the Indian context, it has helped to disseminate the government’s plans and initiatives. As a probationer, you have to understand the perspective and vision of your department, and it should improve the country’s image in the international arena.”
Shri Murmu stressed that the public has the right to access fair and objective information, whether it is about the government or otherwise. “As officers, you should be able to guide the ministries and departments, the dignitaries and functionaries you are going to cover. Here positioning, marketing and principles will come to play a role. The core of your training is to learn these strategies, and the soft skills to add value to you work.”Noticing that most of the officers are from engineering background, Shri Murmu said that technical skills should be used to handle the challenges of future media, especially with emerging self-help AI tools such as ChatGPT. He said that the trainee IIS officers should gear up to meet the challenges posed by Big Data and Artificial Intelligence.
Shri Murmu informed that “the CAG’s outreach has now been extended to include political executives to highlight audit concerns. The intention is to build a shared understanding of the most pressing concerns in governance and find possible solutions. ”
During the lively Q&A session, one of the probation officers asked Shri Murmu if the CAG, which is the guardian of the public purse,actually enables citizens to know about the government’s expenditure and receipts in an informed way. To this, the CAG replied that there are several IEC programs for raising awareness on social audits.
On asked whether the perception of the CAG as a paper tiger was true or not, Shri Murmu responded that the CAG audits strengthen the accountability of government projects and, thereby, upholds the ideals of democracy.
During the day-long session, senior CAGofficers took sessions to explain the working of the institution. Deputy CAG, Ila Singh, spoke on the evolution of the CAG and the different types of audits it carries out with the highest professional standards, while the Additional Deputy CAG A.M. Bajaj explained about the technicalities involved in the process of auditing.
Additional Deputy CAG, R.M. Johri,illustrated several high-profile case studies to highlight the positive impact of auditing, apart from the CAG’s path-breaking initiative to natural resources accounting and the scope of artificial intelligence in the field of audit and accounts.
Additional Deputy CAG, Rebecca Mathai, threw light on CAG’s international presence and its global strategy in this year’sG20 Supreme Audit Institution (SAI) Summit, which has a focus on Blue Economy and Artificial Intelligence. Director General, B. R. Mondal, gave an in-depth account on the critical coordination between the CAG, Parliament and Public Accounts Committee.