Singapore: Students of 17 varsities to get free copies

Singapore (PTI): A book on India's constitutionally set up public institutions will be distributed free on corporate sponsorship to nearly 3,00,000 students of 17 Indian universities, educating them on the functioning of the Parliament and the Reserve Bank of India among others. Written by Vinod Rai, former Comptroller and Auditor General of India, the book titled 'Rethinking Good Governance: Holding to Account India's Public Institutions' gives a concise insight into the functioning of nine public institutions, including the Parliament, the Supreme Court, the RBI, the Election Commission, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the CAG.

"We must try and educate our students properly about what is the role of Supreme Court and its functioning processes, how the Election Commissions functions," Rai said. "I hope it helps to educate the students about what these public institutions stand," the 71-year-old former IAS officer said after the launch of the book in Singapore on Wednesday. The book was launched by Singapore Minister of Home Affairs and Law, K Shanmugam, at the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think-tank of the National University of Singapore.

During the event, Rai announced the corporate sponsorship for the paperback edition of the book for nearly 3,00,000 students in 17 universities across India. Speaking to PTI after the book launch, Rai said the paperback edition was created to educate the students and he hope it to become a part of their course curriculum, especially in public policy and public education subjects.

The book also examines administrations of the Shree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). "There is a need for good governance in administrating these establishments," Rai said. The book also dealt with good governance failure in the Adarsh Cooperative Housing Society scam in Mumbai. The paperback edition is priced at Rs 200 each for corporate sponsorship, much lower from its original price of Rs 800.