India has over 250,000 gram panchayats, 6,500 block panchayats and 600 district panchayats, according to recent government estimates . Empowering gram panchayats to generate their OSR involves assigning certain taxes, user charges and common property resources (CPRs). Although property tax, water tax and license fees dominate OSR streams, CPRs remain largely untapped, with only 18% of gram panchayats utilising them, the NIPFP report found. Gram panchayats with higher amounts of grants were able to raise more revenue than the ones that received a lesser amount. It is the block panchayats’ responsibility to specify gram panchayats’ monthly expenditure on providing water supply.