Introduction
Mr Vinod Rai served as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India from where he demitted office in May 2013. He has served on the board of the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions, the Chair of the Asian Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions and Chair of the United Nations (UN) panel of external auditors. He was also a member of the Independent Audit Committee of the UN. In January 2018, he joined the Global Trustees Board of the International Financial Reporting Standards Foundation.
Mr Rai joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1972. He was allotted to the Kerala Cadre. He has wide experience of having worked in the state government of Kerala as well as the Government of India. He was District Collector of Thrissur district and, inter alia, the Finance Secretary to the Government of Kerala. In the Union government, Mr Rai has worked in the Ministries of Commerce, Defence and Finance. He has also served on the board of Directors of the State Bank of India, the Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Bank, the Life Insurance Corporation of India and the Infrastructure Development Finance Company.
Mr Rai proposes to utilise his four decades of experience in the Indian Civil Services to develop an effective and transparent governance set-up. Emerging economies, particularly those of the South Asian region, must recognise that economic development can be made sustainable in the long run only if it is nurtured and supported by a very efficient and transparent governance model. Such governance structures have to be architecture on an edifice where accountability institutions are allowed total independence and administration is responsive to the needs of the citizens. He has closely monitored and, in fact, personally worked in one of the accountability Institutions – the office of the Auditor General – and is conscious of the autonomy granted to it or the attempts to muzzle its effective functioning. To ensure long term rapid and sustained economic development, the South Asian countries will necessarily have to give such Institutions the autonomy and be responsive to the directions that they provide. Thus, in a vibrant democracy, the importance of institutions, such as the Election Commission and the Information Commission to permit the citizens a right to Information or an independent and impartial judiciary, will have to be factored in to ensure and effective administration. He hopes to work on a policy prescription in this direction. In any democracy, the role of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary are well defined. Each must perform to the expectations of the people as to ensure inclusive development. This needs to be highlighted. It is in this direction that Mr Rai proposes to concentrate.
Mr Rai has a Master’s degree in Economics from the Delhi School of Economics, Delhi University, and a second Master’s degree in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, Harvard University, United States.
Areas of Interest and Expertise
- Financial Sector Reforms
- Public Administration and Good Governance
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Email : |
isasvr@nus.edu.sg |
DID : |
+65 6601 2066 |
Designation : |
Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow |
|
Email : |
isasvr@nus.edu.sg |
DID : |
+65 6601 2066 |
|
Designation
:
|
Distinguished Visiting Research Fellow |
CONTRIBUTIONS
BOOKS
Not Just A Nightwatchman: My Innings in the BCCI
5 April 2022
