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Safety of all passengers in Indian Railways is an issue of the utmost importance for Government. Therefore, we have made safety the number one priority. During the first few weeks in office there has been a comprehensive review of safety undertaken to understand the short comings of the Indian railways. The outcome of the review brought forth a number of immediate measures that must be taken to address key issues such as Unmanned Level Crossing and Derailments. Here’s how the Government is working towards the welfare and security of every commuter.TRACK SAFETYTrack safety is the number one priority for The Railways. Some of the issues related to unmanned level crossings have been addressed for a safer commute are -34% of all accidents in 2016-17 were a result of unmanned level crossingsUsing transformative mantra of “Speed, Skill and Scale” the target to eliminate these been expedited from the earlier one of 2019Overriding priority for granting maintenance blocks. Blocks in September are up by 13% compared to last yearTrack replacement/renewal to be accorded the highest priorityThe Ministry will procure seven lakh tonne of rail, from open market to meet the shortfall of rail for new lines, gauge conversion and doublingAnother major safety issue hampering the growth of the Indian railways is derailments, due to defects in tracks along with other issues.Derailments are attributed to a number of factors including engineering mistakes, carriage/wagon defects and staff errorIt has therefore been the ministry’s priority to focus on track replacement/renewalThe construction of new tracks should be diverted to places/stretches which are prone to accidents and where replacement is dueAnother priority for the Ministry is the procurement of new rails on a large scale with a target to complete all new lines on time. This is vital to improving safety as older tracks must be phased out to prevent derailments and improve efficiency.HIGHEST PASSENGER PRIORITY WITH LHB COACHESIt is also decided that the manufacturing of conventional ICF design coaches should be stopped & new design LHB coaches only should be manufactured. ICF coaches have been in service for around 50 years now and are considered to be outdated.TRANSFORMING THROUGH TECHNOLOGYThe Government is investing in technology to make sure that the way people commute changes and become more comfortable and safer. Following are some steps we have taken -Ramping up electronic interlock of signals in place of manual interlockingWithin few months, CCTV cameras will be installed in all suburban trains in Mumbai with monitoring mechanism. This shall be done in parallel across India as well.EFFICIENCY IN RAILWAYSWe, at Ministry of Railways, believe that employee efficiency leads to comfortable and safer journey of the commuters. Keeping the same in mind we have made the following changes in the way our employees work.Five-member committee of senior officials of Railways to improve safety of staff and workers working on railway work-sites mainly tracksReport of Mumbai suburban audit covering each suburban station received. Key recommendations include Provision of new FOBs (Foot Over Bridges) and widening/replacement of existing FOBs, escalators, additional entry/exit points of landings etc. Zonal railways preparing action plansFresh time table, which will have specific blocks of maintenance, to be prepared and launched soon. Efficiency gained from this initiative will improve the speed and safety.EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENTEmpowerment of GMs, DRMs and field officials of Indian Railways will lead to fast track decision making, execution and overall working of Railways. Here are some steps we have taken towards steady and systematic transformation of Railways.Delegation of unlimited financial and administrational powers for safety to field unit GMs of zones for next 18 monthsPosts of Additional Divisional Railway Managers being increased in all the railway division offices for improving operational efficiency.200 officers to be relocated from Head Quarters as in field to strengthen ground operations and project implementation.Tremendous stress on field inspections by officersStaff being used in residences of officers etc. has been reposted to departments including track safety. About 8,000 such staff has already rejoined their postsAlong with all the other decisions following are some other steps taken for passenger safety -Treat platforms and pathways on platform as safety items with no budget restrictionPre-painted rails to reduce rusting of rails while saving Rs. 1,500 croresAdditional escalators at all high use stations across IndiaLastly, Indian Railways have striven to establish a ‘zero accident’ railway system, and it has significantly brought down the number of fatalities under this Government. However, every life is precious and each life lost is one too many.We believe that this is just the beginning in changing the mind set regarding safety. It is and will always be our priority, and we are fully committed to making your journey safe and comfortable.

Internal auditor is a person employed by an entity to give assurance on operation of internal control and help management manage risk facing the entity.Internal auditor in order to maintain a required independence which will help him provide assurance on operation of internal control need to report to highest level of governance in the entity.In many cases highest level of governance in the company is body of directors therefore auditor need to report to board of directors, but if the company or an organization has got audit committee the internal auditor should report to the the audit committee.Therefore functionally internal auditor should report to highest level of governance in the organization such as audit committee and administratively to entity director who is running day to day operations.The reason why internal auditor should report functionally to audit committee or highest level of governance is that these governance bodies are not involved in day to day running of organization, therefore they have no self interest in what internal auditor do.

JILANI COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS.BackgroundThe Reserve Bank of India has set up a Working group to review the internal control and inspection and audit system in banks. The working Group which was set up in February 1995 under the chairmanship of Mr Rashid Jilani submitted its reports in July 1995. Jilani Committee recommendations are divided Into 25 points to be reported to appropriate levels. The recommendation table is divided into 6 columns as below:-Recommendation No. in the WG ReportNature of recommendationImplementation Status at BranchImplementation Status at RO/ZOImplementation status at HOObjective of Jilani Committee Recommendations:-Objective of Jilani Committee is to review the efficacy and adequacy of internal control, inspection and audit system in a bank with a view to strengthening the supervisory system and reliability of dataThere are three categories of recommendationsEDP environment in banksInspection/Internal audit in the banksMiscellaneous aspect of functioning of a bankJilani committee recommendations: -Broad guidelines to establish accountability for inspectors/auditors should be laid downA copy of the booklet incorporating RBI circulars to be supplied to each inspecting/audit official by inspection and audit department periodicallyBanks should have system for ratings of its branches on the basis of inspection reportsMajor irregularities detected during concurrent audit to be immediately taken up with Head officeVarious test to be carried out to ensure that EDP applications have resulted in consistent and reliable system for inputting, processing and generation of output of dataEntire domain of EDP activities to be brought under scrutiny of inspection and audit including financial aspectRegular checking by inspectors/auditors to verify correctness of information complied/furnished by branchesResponsibility for implementation and Auditors RoleManagement is responsible for the implementation of Jilani committee recommendations.The responsibly of the statutory auditor is to verify and report on the status of implementation of these recommendations and no furtherThe results of the verification carried out by the statutory auditor and his comments would be given in separate reportImplementation of recommendationsA format containing 25 questions is issued to indicate the answers as either implemented or Not implemented. Information received from all branches, regional offices and Zonal Offices is to be consolidated at Head office level and submission of a consolidated statement to RBI has to be done. Implementation of such recommendations has to be verified during concurrent audit/inspection and comment thereon shall be included in the respective audit reports.Audit proceduresReport on implementation status of Ghosh and Jilani committee shall be forwarded to Head officeReview a copy of implementation status report so prepared and submittedTest check to ensure that recommendations which have been said to have implemented have indeed been implemented by managementReconsider the nature timing and extent of audit procedure for carrying out the audit and timingsReport of the statutory auditor on status of complianceGHOSH COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONSBack GroundThe Reserve Bank of India set up Ghosh Committee. It was framed as a high level Committee on fraud and malpractice in banks under the chairmanship of Shri A.Ghosh the then deputy governor. The committee was framed to enquire into various aspects of frauds and malpractices in bank and to make recommendations to reduce such incidence. The committee submitted its report in June, 1992Ghosh Committee Recommendations and classification.The recommendations of Ghosh Committee are divided into Groups A,B,C,D with 2 parts each, Group C having one part. Out of 97 Recommendations 27 are required to be reported at Branch level, 43 at RO/ZO/HO level and 27 at both levels. Categorization of recommendations is as follows;Applicable to branchesApplicable to controlling office like regional and zonal officeApplicable to head officeApplicable to treasury operationsThe Ghosh Committee Recommendation Table is divided into 4 Columns as follows:-Recommendation No.(Group Wise)Nature of RecommendationImplementation Status at BranchImplementation Status at RO/ZO/HOThey are further categorized on implementation basis as follows: -Group A -Recommendations which have to be implemented by the banks immediatelyGroup B- Recommendations requiring RBI approvalGroup C- Recommendations requiring approval of Government of IndiaGroup D- Recommendations requiring further examination in consultation with IBAMain objectives of Ghosh CommitteeSafety of assetsCompliance with laid down policies and proceduresAccuracy and completeness of accounting and other recordsProper segregation of duties and responsibilities of staffTimely prevention and detection of frauds and malpracticesSome of the recommendations of Ghosh committeeBranch Level -Group AJoint custody and dual responsibility of cash and other valuablesRotation of staff/dutiesDesignation of one of the officers as compliance officerFinancial and administration powers of officials to be laid downExercise of caution at the time of opening of new deposit of all typesPrecautions against theft of cashPrecautions in writing of drafts/mail transfersPrecautions for averting frauds in letter of credits, guaranteesScreening/selection of employees in EDP cell, computer areaStandards for fully computerized branchesBranch Level -Group BBanks to introduce portfolio inspection in critical areas such as credit, investment, off balance sheet item etcPeriodical movements between bank officials and investigating officials of CBI/PoliceSix months prior to retirement officials should exercise their sanctioning powers jointly with next higher authorityPaper used for cheque/drafts should such that any use of chemical for making material alterations in instrument should be visible to naked eyeBranch Level -Group CChief vigilance officer should directly refer to CVC, cases having vigilance angle involving CMDFraud cases up to Rs. 25000 having involvement of an insider should not be reported to police where recovery is doubtfulIntroduce a return of staff members to ensure strict submission of information of assets and liabilities and proper scrutiny thereofBranch Level -Group DBR should not be outstanding for more than 7 daysObtaining photograph of depositors at the time of opening of accounts