Vinod Rai

Book Review by Namrata

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Title: Rethinking Good Governance — Holding to Account India’s Public Institutions

Author: Vinod Rai

Publisher: Rupa Publications, 2019

“Here is a hugely important book for India and Indians, especially those who should be guardians of the nation and rulers delivering good governance.”

– Baron Meghnad Desai, British economist and Labour politician

Bringing together his experience of heading various public institutions for the Government of India, Vinod Rai gives us a glimpse into the workings of these organisations through this book.

Vinod Rai is a man who needs no introduction. An IAS officer from the 1972 batch, he went on to head many important chair positions all through his illustrious career. Starting with being the Comptroller and Auditor General of India followed by being the chairperson for Banks Board Bureau and finally currently being the Chairman of the Supreme Court-mandated Committee of Administrators of the BCCI. Out of the many accolades he won, the most prestigious one has to be the Padma Bhushan awarded to him in 2016 by the Government of India in recognition of his services for the nation. He has previously authored two books, one where he shares ideas and reflections looking back at seven decades of independence and second where he shows us his diary, as the nation’s conscience keeper for being the symbol of anti-corruption movement within the country.

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Readers will be left wondering if the story of Vinod Rai’s who at the apogee of his life with his vast background and experience is to be judged by the referred case studies alone or he will have a second take, let the unsaid unfold and another volume touching untouched or less touched areas of his life will soon be with them, writes K. K. Srivastava.

Not Just An Accountant—The Diary of the Nation’s Conscience Keeper
by Vinod Rai
Rupa, New Delhi
Pages-267/ Hard-bound
Price-Rs 500/

Let an anecdote precede the beginning. “It is impossible to clean the kind of clothes we wear today!” It is Franz Kafka writing from his Trip to Weimar and Junghorn dated 9^th July 1912. On 10^th February 2010, I communicated this line to a group of my literary friends telling them that I felt it was the crux of Kafka’s diaries and sought their interpretation. Much to my chagrin none responded. Two and half years later on 17^th June 2012, one writer named dan zafir enlightened and this is what he says—‘Clothes, I think, are the psychic layers… They were made “pret a porter” by our parents, society, peers, etc…not necessarily in our ‘true size’ As about dirtying them, we got them already dirty, and it is one’s job to clean or change them with ‘clothes’ of one’s true size. Now I have a question for you! Who made the Emperor’s clothes?’ The answer has eluded me thus far.

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kitaab

How Vinod Rai sheds light on India’s Public Institutions in Rethinking Good Governance

Kitaab Review: Vinod Rai’s Not Just An Accountant—The Diary of the Nation’s Conscience Keeper