A new Finance Commission cycle has begun and with it another five years of funds flowing into gram panchayat accounts. In the previous cycle, rural local bodies were assured about Rs 2.36 lakh crore, with sixty per cent of it tied to drinking water and sanitation. A large and steady pool of public money now sits at the level of the gram panchayat. The question that will shape the next decade of rural governance is not whether the money reaches the village. It is how the village organises itself to use that money well.

The foundation is already in place and it is a real achievement. The 73^rd Constitutional Amendment gave authority to Panchayati Raj Institutions and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act carried that principle into Scheduled Areas with the Gram Sabha at its centre. Around the gram panchayat sits a full set of committees: standing committees for governance, development and social welfare and sectoral bodies such as the Village Water and Sanitation Committee (VWSC), the School Management Committee (SMC) and the Village Health, Sanitation and Nutrition Committee (VHNSC). Each has a clear mandate. Together they form one of the widest frameworks for local self-government anywhere in the world.