Chapter 16: Nature, Extent, and Pattern of Government Funds: An Analytical Study

The present era, in its pursuits for economic development, has equated development with affluence. The balance between economic development and using natural resources for the purpose needs to be solved. The previous civilisations became extinct less because of foreign invasions and more due to neglecting the ecological environment. In the same way, this civilisation is also digging its own grave.

After reviewing the available literature, it is proposed to study in the context of the Punjab state of India. The pattern of receipts and expenditures of funds utilised for ecological upgradation emphasises evaluating the performance of the funds utilised for ecological improvement. Furthermore, most of the study has concentrated on the experiences of developed economies. In contrast, there have been minimal studies explicitly addressing the circumstances of emerging countries.

The study is confined to Punjab and is based on secondary data. The Punjab government collected the annual data on expenditures and receipts from the last 10 years. The nature of the receipts and expenditures for the entire 11 sectors is determined through descriptive statistics. Moreover, the regression model and compound annual growth rate with the help of semi log model have been used to examine the extent of government funds. A line chart shows the pattern of government funding.

The government can implement changes or create new environmental protection policies based on the results. As a whole, the research contributes to better environmental protection policy. The study concludes that a thorough examination of money flow in and out is essential.