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.

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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?

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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?

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The Khasra record of the Patwari gives you information regarding the map givenbelow. It identifies which plot of land is owned by whom. Look at both the records andthe 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 inhectare

Name of owner,Father orhusband's name,address

If it is rentedto some otherfarmer,their nameand rentreceived

Area cultivatedthis year

Cropgrown

Area Sec-ondcropgrown

Khasra 5

FacilitiesAreanotculti-vatedfallowland

0.75 Mohan, Son of Raja No Soya- 0.75Ram, Village bean Hectare

Amrapura owner

3.00 Raghu Ram, Son of No Soya- 2.75 0.25Ratan Lall, Village bean, HectareAmrapura owner Wheat, 1.75 Well -1

irriga- workingted

6.00 Madhya Pradesh No – Well -1Government workingGrassland Grazing

VILLAGE - AMRAPURA

PATWARI RECORD - 16

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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.

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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.

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Rural Administration / 55Public

service

What did you

notice about

their work?

Area covered

What do they

need to do in

order to use

the facility?

Improvements

that can be

made

Problems

faced by

those

managing

the

service

Problems

faced by

people

Fair-

price

shop

(ratio

shop)

The shop was

open. Three

people came.

They all had

yellow cards.

They bought

sugar and

rice. Kerosene

was not

available.

This shop

covers two

villages.

They need a

ration card.

This has to be

made at the

tehsil office.

There is

not

enough

supply of

kerosene.

Rice is of

very bad

quality.We

never get

kerosene.

Improve

quality of

rice. Make

kerosene

available.

The fair price

shop should

be kept open

every day.

Health

centre

Milk

society

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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?

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