A new structure of local government, the contemporary village panchayat, has emerged in rural India as a consequence of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992. This new statistical domain requires databases for the development functions that have been allocated to it. This book is a study of panchayat-level databases and their potential use in local-level administration, planning, and policy implementation. It examines the overall status of local-level data available in two contrasting village panchayats: Raina gram panchayat, Barddhaman district, West Bengal; and Warwat Khanderao gram...