Key Details
The CAG’s Audit Report on Social, Economic, General and Revenue Sectors, Government of Nagaland, for the year ended March 2024 brings together major findings from four performance audits, an IT audit and ten compliance-audit paragraphs.
Jal Jeevan Mission
Only 8,251 of 16,288 targeted tap connections were provided in 34 sampled villages. The CAG also identified ₹21.57 crore in fictitious expenditure and ₹288.12 crore in avoidable additional procurement costs.
Water-testing shortfalls ranged from 64% to 95%, while only 10 of 34 villages conducted social audits.
Child Development and Nutrition
Just 28% of 4.10 lakh ICDS beneficiaries were monitored through the Poshan Tracker, while reliable data on major nutrition indicators were unavailable.
Stock and distribution records were deficient for ₹4.17 crore of medicine kits, uniforms and badges.
MGNREGS
Ten reportedly completed projects costing ₹2.87 crore did not physically exist; short execution of another 51 works involved ₹8.69 crore.
The State completed only 41% of planned social audits, while 24 government employees were registered as workers.
Transport Administration
6,292 of 33,567 learner’s licences examined were issued without mandatory tests, and tax arrears of ₹9.03 crorewere pending from 8,633 vehicles.
Nagaland had no operational automated vehicle-testing station, while online payments had not been integrated with VAHAN and SARATHI.
Treasury Computerisation
Five of 13 TreasuryNet modules remained unimplemented, important budget and expenditure controls were absent, and project delays cost the State ₹2.84 crore in central assistance.
Other Financial and Project Irregularities
Audit findings included ₹6.14 crore diverted from hostel construction to a private school and a bus-station project left incomplete after expenditure of ₹10.61 crore, with an additional State liability of ₹16.64 crore.
Two working State enterprises had accumulated losses of ₹91.92 crore, completely eroding their paid-up capital..
Report Finds a Repeated Gap Between Recorded Delivery and Conditions on the Ground
Across schemes, the most consequential finding is that administrative records did not consistently establish actual delivery. The CAG found household water expenditure without corresponding connections, MGNREGS projects recorded as complete but absent at the site, and child-development supplies without reliable receipt or distribution records.
These are not isolated documentation errors. They affect whether reported expenditure can be connected to a working tap, completed public asset or service received by a beneficiary.
Rural Water Programme Combined Weak Planning with Questionable Procurement
The Jal Jeevan Mission performance audit covering 2019–24 found that Village Action Plans in all 34 sampled habitations were prepared without baseline surveys or adequate assessments of existing infrastructure. Household-connection targets were also reduced as projects moved from initial proposals to final records.
The procurement finding is financially much larger. Awarding the material-supply order without tenders led, according to the CAG, to ₹288.12 crore in avoidable additional expenditure. At the delivery end, the audit found that fewer than 51% of the targeted tap connections in sampled villages had been provided.
Water quality was another weak link. Laboratories did not test for several important chemical and microbiological parameters, while field-testing targets were largely unmet. The audit therefore raises questions about both physical access and the safety of the water supplied.
MGNREGS Controls Failed to Verify Workers, Assets and Social Audits
The MGNREGS audit, covering 2019–20 to 2023–24, found failures at multiple verification points. Door-to-door surveys were not conducted in the 32 sampled villages, government employees entered the worker database, and quality-monitoring bodies were not reconstituted after their terms expired.
The discovery of ten non-existent completed projects is particularly serious because it suggests that administrative completion and payment records were accepted without adequate physical verification. Short execution in 51 additional works widens the problem beyond a small number of sites.
Local accountability mechanisms were also weak: ombudsman offices were not functional in all three sampled districts, no State Citizens’ Charter was prepared during the audit period, and 59% of planned social audits were not conducted.
Nutrition Coverage Could Not Be Reliably Measured
The audit of the Integrated Child Development Services scheme, covering 2018–19 to 2023–24, found that the number of Anganwadi Centres was broadly sufficient at the State level. Their geographical distribution, infrastructure and monitoring systems nevertheless did not ensure uniform access or reliable assessment of outcomes.
With only 28% of beneficiaries recorded on the Poshan Tracker, the State lacked comprehensive information for identifying children and women requiring timely support. The absence of dependable data on major nutrition indicators also made it difficult to judge whether programme expenditure was improving health and nutrition.
Weak inventory records for medicine kits, uniforms and badges created an additional problem: the Department could not demonstrate that procured materials reached the intended Anganwadi centres and personnel.
Digital Systems Were Introduced Without Completing Core Controls
Technology did not automatically resolve these administrative weaknesses. The TreasuryNet audit found incomplete modules, inadequate validation and access controls, data discrepancies and shortages of trained IT personnel.
Similar gaps appeared in transport administration. Although VAHAN and SARATHI were operational, thousands of learner’s licences were issued without recorded mandatory tests, while payment-system integration remained unfinished.
The findings show that digitisation delivers limited accountability when business rules, verification controls, staff capacity and supervisory review are not built into implementation.
Policy Relevance
For Nagaland, the report matters at three points in the delivery chain:
Verification before payment: Departments need evidence that households were connected, materials received and public works physically completed before expenditure is approved. This is the immediate control failure linking the JJM, ICDS and MGNREGS findings.
Accountability through local institutions: Nagaland’s Village Development Boards play a major role in selecting works and implementing government schemes. Regular social audits, accessible grievance mechanisms and independent physical verification are therefore especially important in the State’s distinctive system of village governance.
Usable administrative data: Poshan Tracker, TreasuryNet, VAHAN, SARATHI and JJM monitoring systems can support oversight only when data are complete and system controls prevent unverified transactions. The priority is not simply expanding digital platforms but ensuring that recorded outputs correspond to beneficiaries, assets and legally compliant decisions.
The State Legislature and Public Accounts Committee will also need to track whether the departments recover irregular expenditure, establish responsibility and act on the CAG’s recommendations. Without time-bound follow-up, the same weaknesses may continue across successive audit periods.
Follow the Full Report Here: Audit Report on Social, Economic, General and Revenue Sectors, Government of Nagaland, for the year ended March 2024