Financial Management of Panchayats: An Overview of West Bengal

This paper is an attempt to examine the panchayat finance and the level of management about panchayat finance in West Bengal. Resource-base of the panchayat in order to determine the strength, weakness, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in the working of panchayat finance has been assessed. The balance of functions and resources is very much needed as the financial status of panchayat body is determined with this balancing. But till now this is not the position, and almost all Panchayats in west Bengal are starving for funds. The State Government is transferring functions and powers along with funds and personnel. Panchayats at all tiers have been empowered to approve their own budget and bye-laws. They have also been empowered to borrow from financial institutions. The problem of rural reconstruction depend both on availability of adequate amount of funds and efficient system of management of funds. Self-Evaluation for all the Panchayat bodies in West Bengal has been introduced from the financial year 2006-07. This is done through circulating score-based formats under two major heads- (a) institutional functioning and good governance and (b) mobilization of revenue and utilization of resources separately for Gram Panchayats. West Bengal is the pioneer in introducing the concept of Self-Evaluation by the PRIs, which has been highly appreciated by the Government of India and also renowned experts in the field of decentralization.