Mysuru/Mysore: The Rural Development Ministry has implemented a risk-based internal audit system to study the implementation process of rural development programmes, said Dr. C. Dheeraja, Head, Centre for Social Audit, National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRD & PR), Hyderabad. Dr. Dheeraja was speaking after inaugurating the 21-day internal audit team certification training in collaboration with Abdul Nazeer Sab  State Institute of Rural Development (ANSSIRD) and Panchayati Raj (PR), Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), NIRD & PR at Administrative Training Institute (ATI)here recently.

The Ministry has formed an expert advisory committee with the help of the Finance Department of the Centre to ensure that the implementation of mega projects and flagship programmes are effective, including the evaluation of the targets.

Risk-based internal audit differs from traditional financial auditing, where existing social audits are held by community members; internal audits are conducted by senior officers and by retirement and service senior officers in the nation through certification programmes and will be used for the audit service in the State. The nationwide certification process began last year, and a list of certified auditors is being published on the National Website of the Ministry of Rural Development and Finance. The duration of certified auditors is limited to three years. The implementation of development activities will be simplified by internal audit, Dheeraja opined.

ANSSIRD Deputy Director L. Sandeep, who also spoke said a variety of audits are already underway in the workplace. He felt that the audit process should help identify and correct the deficiencies at the local level without interfering with the development process.

Khan Parvez, Director of Training, Murali Kenchappa, Researcher at Bangalore Resource Centre and Training Co-ordinator of the institute C. Vijayakumar were present. Jyothi Priyadarshini, research assistant, welcomed.