Chapter 6

RuralAdministration

A Quarrel in the Village

ohan is a farmer. His familyowns a small agricultural field,

which they have been farming formany years. Next to his field is Raghu'sland which is separated from his by asmall boundary called a bund.

One morning Mohan noticed thatRaghu had shifted the bund by a fewfeet. By doing so, he had managed to

take over some of Mohan's land, andincreased the size of his own field.Mohan was angry but also a littlefrightened. Raghu's family ownedmany fields and besides, his unclewas also the Sarpanch of the village.But even so, he plucked up courageand went to Raghu's house.

A heated argument followed.Raghu refused to accept that he hadmoved the bund. He called one of hishelpers and they began shouting atMohan and beating him up. Theneighbours heard the commotionand rushed to the spot where Mohanwas being beaten up. They took himaway.

He was badly hurt on his headand hand. He was given first aid byone of his neighbours. His friend,who also ran the village post-office,suggested that they go to the localpolice station and file a report.

Others were doubtful if this was a goodidea because they felt they wouldwaste a lot of money and nothingwould come out of it. Some people saidthat Raghu's family would havealready contacted the police station.

After much discussion it wasdecided that Mohan would go to thepolice station along with some of theneighbours who had seen the incident.

There are more than six lakh villages in India.Taking care of their needs for water, electricity,road connections, is not a small task. In additionto this, land records have to be maintained andconflicts too need to be dealt with. A largemachinery is in place to deal with all this. In thischapter we will look at the work of two ruraladministrative officers in some detail.

M

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

Area of the Police Station

On the way to the police station one ofthe neighbours asked, "Why don't wespend some more money and go to themain police station in the town?"

"It is not a question of money. Wecan register the case only in this policestation because our village comes in itsarea of work," explained Mohan.

Every police station has an areathat comes under its control. Allpersons in that area can report cases orinform the police about any theft,accident, injury, fight, etc. It is theresponsibility of the police of thatstation to enquire, to investigate andtake action on the cases within its area.

The work at the Police Station

When they reached the police stationMohan went to the person in charge(Station House Officer or S.H.O.) andtold him what had happened. He alsosaid that he wanted to give thecomplaint in writing. The S.H.O rudelybrushed him aside saying that hecouldn't be bothered to waste his timewriting down minor complaints and

then investigating them. Mohanshowed him his injuries but the S.H.Odid not believe him.

Mohan was puzzled and did notknow what to do. He was not sure whyhis complaint was not being recorded.He went and called his neighbours intothe office. They argued strongly thatMohan had been beaten up in front ofthem and had they not rescued him he

would have been injured veryseriously. They insisted that the casebe registered. Finally the officer agreed.He asked Mohan to write down hiscomplaint and also told the people thathe would send a constable the next dayto investigate the incident.

1. If there is a theft in your housewhich police station would you goto register your complaint?

2. What was the dispute betweenMohan and Raghu?

3. Why was Mohan worried aboutpicking a quarrel with Raghu?

4. Some people said Mohan shouldreport the matter to the police andothers said he should not. Whatwere the arguments they gave?

Show the above situation in thepolice station through a skit. Then talk about how you feltplaying Mohan's role or that of theS.H.O or the neighbours. Could theS.H.O have handled the situationdifferently?

50 / Social and Political Life

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

Maintenance of Land RecordsYou saw that Mohan and Raghu werearguing heatedly whether the commonboundary of their fields had beenshifted. Isn't there a way by which theycould have settled this dispute in apeaceful manner? Are there recordsthat show who owns what land in thevillage? Let's find out how this is done.

Measuring land and keeping landrecords is the main work of thePatwari. The Patwari is known bydifferent names in different states - insome villages such officers are called Lekhpal, in others Kanungo or

Karamchari or Village Officer etc. Wewill refer to this officer as Patwari.Each Patwari is responsible for agroup of villages. The Patwarimaintains and updates the records ofthe village.

The map and the correspondingdetails from the register on the nextpage are a small part of the recordskept by the Patwari.

The Patwari usually has ways ofmeasuring agricultural fields. In someplaces a long chain is used. In theabove instance the Patwari would havemeasured both Mohan's and Raghu'sfields and compared them with themeasurements on the map. If they didnot match then it would be clear thatthe boundary of the fields has beenchanged.

The Patwari is also responsible fororganising the collection of landrevenue from the farmers andproviding information to the govern-ment about the crops grown in thisarea. This is done from the recordsthat are kept, and this is why it'simportant for the Patwari to regularlyupdate these. Farmers may changethe crops grown on their fields orsomeone may dig a well somewhere,

Find out the term used for the Patwariin your state.

If you live in a rural area find out:

How many villages does the Patwari ofyour area maintain land records of?

How do people in the village contacthim/her?

Rural Administration / 51

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

The Khasra record of the Patwari gives you information regarding the map given

below. It identifies which plot of land is owned by whom. Look at both the records and

the map and answer the questions given below regarding Mohan and Raghu's land.

1 4

5

6

2

3

8

7

52 / Social and Political Life

1. Who owns the land south ofMohan's field?

2. Mark the common boundarybetween Mohan's and Raghu's lands.

3. Who can use field no 3?

4. What information can one get forfield no 2 and field no 3?

Sketch map – not to scale

NORTH

Boundary

Well

Grassland

Kachcha Road

Pakka road

Tree

Legend

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

|

| | | | | | |

No. Area in

hectareName of owner,

Father or

husband's name,

address

If it is rented

to some other

farmer,

their name

and rent

received

Area cultivated

this year

Crop

grownArea Sec-

ond

crop

grown

Khasra 5

FacilitiesArea

not

culti-

vated

fallow

land

0.75 Mohan, Son of Raja No Soya- 0.75

Ram, Village bean Hectare

Amrapura owner

3.00 Raghu Ram, Son of No Soya- 2.75 0.25

Ratan Lall, Village bean, Hectare

Amrapura owner Wheat, 1.75 Well -1

irriga- working

ted

6.00 Madhya Pradesh No – Well -1

Government working

Grassland Grazing

VILLAGE - AMRAPURA

PATWARI RECORD - 16© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

and keeping track of all this is thework of the revenue department ofthe government. Senior people inthis department supervise thePatwari's work.

All states in India are dividedinto districts. For managing mattersrelating to land these districts arefurther sub-divided. These sub-divisions of a district are known bydifferent names such as tehsil,taluka, etc. At the head is theDistrict Collector and under her arethe revenue officers, also known astehsildars. They have to heardisputes. They also supervise thework of the Patwaris and ensurethat records are properly kept andland revenue is collected. Theymake sure that the farmers caneasily obtain a copy of their record,students can obtain their castecertificates etc. The Tehsildar'soffice is where land disputes arealso heard.

A daughter's wish

Father inherited our housefrom his father

And everyone says he'llleave it to brother

But what about me and mymother?

To expect a share in myfather's home,

Is not very womanly, I amtold.

But I really want a place ofmy own,

Not dowry of silk and gold.

(Source: Reflections on MY FAMILY, Anjali Monteiro,TISS)

Farmers often require a copy of their land'srecord together with a map, as shown inthe previous illustration. They have a rightto this information. They may have to paya small fee for this.

However, this information is not easilymade available and farmers sometimeshave to face many problems to get it. Insome states, records are now beingcomputerised and also kept at thePanchayat office so that they are moreeasily available and regularly updated.

When do you think farmers may require acopy of this record? Study the followingsituations and identify the cases in whichthese records would be necessary and why.

* A farmer wants to buy a plot of land fromanother.* A farmer wants to sell her produce toanother.* A farmer wants a loan from the bank todig a well in her land.* A farmer wants to purchase fertilizers forhis field.* A farmer wants to divide his propertyamong his children.

Rural Administration / 53

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

54 / Social and Political Life

A New Law(Hindu Succession Amendment Act,2005)

Often when we think of farmers whoown land, we think of men. Women areseen as people who work on the fields,but not as people who ownagricultural land. Till recently in somestates Hindu women did not get ashare in the family's agricultural land.After the death of the father hisproperty was divided equally onlyamong his sons.

Recently, the law was changed. Inthe new law sons, daughters and theirmothers can get an equal share in theland. The same law will apply to allstates and union territories of thecountry.

This law will benefit a large numberof women. For example Sudha is theeldest daughter of an agriculturalfamily. She is married and lives in aneighbouring village. After her father'sdeath Sudha often comes to help hermother with the farming work.

Her mother has asked the Patwarito transfer the land and enter hername along with the names of all thechildren in his record.

Sudha's mother confidentlyorganises the farming with the help ofthe younger brother and sister.Similarly Sudha also lives with theassurance that if she ever has aproblem she can always depend uponher share of the land.

Other Public Services - A survey

This chapter has looked at some of the administrative work of thegovernment, especially for rural areas. The first example related tomaintaining law and order and the second to maintaining land records.In the first case we examined the role of the police and in the secondthat of the Patwari. This work is supervised by other people in thedepartment, such as the Tehsildar or the Superintendent of Police. Wehave also seen how people use these services, and some of the problemsthat they face. These services have to be used and made to functionaccording to the laws that have been framed for them. You haveprobably seen many other public services and facilities provided byvarious departments of the government.

Do the following exercise for your village/by visiting a nearby village orlooking at your own area.

List the public services in the village/area such as: the milk society, thefair price shop, the bank, the police station, the agricultural society forseeds and fertiliser, the post office or sub post office, the anganwadi,crèche, government school/s, health centre or government hospital etc.Collect information on three public services and discuss with yourteacher how improvements can be made in their functioning. Oneexample has been worked out.

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

Rural Administration / 55Pu

blic

serv

ice

Wh

at

did

you

not

ice

abou

tth

eir

wor

k?

Are

a c

over

ed

Wh

at

do

they

nee

d t

o do

inor

der

to

use

the

faci

lity

?

Impro

vem

ents

that

can

be

made

Pro

ble

ms

face

d b

yth

ose

man

agi

ng

the

serv

ice

Pro

ble

ms

face

d b

ypeo

ple

Fair

-pri

cesh

op(r

ati

osh

op)

Th

e sh

op w

as

open

. Th

ree

peo

ple

cam

e.Th

ey a

ll h

ad

yellow

card

s.Th

ey b

ough

tsu

gar

an

dri

ce.

Ker

osen

ew

as

not

ava

ilable

.

Th

is s

hop

cove

rs t

wo

village

s.

Th

ey n

eed a

rati

on c

ard

.Th

is h

as

to b

em

ade

at

the

teh

sil

office

.

Th

ere

isn

oten

ough

supply

of

ker

osen

e.

Ric

e is

of

very

bad

qu

ality

.We

nev

er g

etker

osen

e.

Impro

vequ

ality

of

rice

. M

ake

ker

osen

eava

ilable

. Th

e fa

ir p

rice

shop

sh

ould

be

kep

t op

enev

ery

day.

Hea

lth

cen

tre

Milk

soci

ety

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed

56 / Social and Political Life

QUESTIONS

1. What is the work of the police?

2. List two things that the work of a Patwari includes.

3. What is the work of a tehsildar?

4. What issue is the poem trying to raise? Do you think this is animportant issue? Why?

5. In what ways are the work of the Panchayat, that you read about inthe previous chapter, and the work of the Patwari related to eachother?

6. Visit a police station and find out the work that the police have to doto prevent crime and maintain law and order in their area especiallyduring festivals, public meetings etc.

7. Who is in charge of all the police stations in a district? Find out.

8. How do women benefit under the new law?

9. In your neighbourhood are there women who own property? How didthey acquire it?

© NCERT

not to

be re

publi

shed