Local Government in India

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Urban Local Government Finances

The significance of finance is too obvious to need any elaboration as no organization can exist, much less achieve its objectives, without at least a minimum of finances. That is why Kautilya, the great Indian philosopher, remarked, ‘all undertakings depend upon finance, hence foremost attention should be paid to the treasury.’¹ Every administrative act has its financial implications, either creating a charge or making a contribution to the treasury. The importance of finance is so great in administration that Llyod George is said to have once remarked that ‘government is finance’.² In fact, finance constitutes the backbone, the life and blood of government; it provides fuel to the administrative machinery. Sound ...