Let us learn about rural administration in India. People in the village are dependent on land. Hence, there are bound to be conflicts related to land and its sale and purchase. Such land disputes are settled by the village sarpanch with the help of land record officers and police officials. We have already seen how police can help settle a case.

Now we would take a look at the role of the land record officer called patwari in the village. Patwari is an important official at the village level. He is often known by different names in different areas.

He can also be referred to as lekhpal or as karamchari or a village officer. A patwari has three chief duties-

1 Maintenance of record of the crop grown at every harvest
2 Maintaining and updating the record of rights that is, who owns which field in the village and who would inherit it,
3 And measuring land and organizing the collection of land revenue from the farmers.
4 He also provides information to the government about crops based on harvest inspection.

It is the responsibility of patwari to report at all serious calamities affecting the land or the crops and all severe outbreaks of disease amongst men and beasts. He must aid the headman in revenue collection. He keeps up a diary and a workbook. The entries should be made on the day on which the events come to the notice of the patwari.

The patwari is responsible for the safe custody of all the records, maps, and equipment of the area that are in his charge. In the workbook, he enters the work done by him each day. Farmers may change the crops cultivated by them or facilities like wells or tube wells may be dug at places where they did not exist earlier.

Therefore, it becomes important that in rural administration, patwari keeps his records updated. His work is supervised by the field kanungo, sadar kanungo and circle revenue officer. The maintenance of land records by the patwari including maps, etc, helps to resolve any dispute in the village that relates to property and its ownership.

One such record is the khasra. It is a register of harvest inspections (parhtaal). The patwari conducts the field harvest inspections in the month of October, February, and April, wherein he records facts regarding crop grown, soil classification, the cultivable capacity of the cultivators.

The first six-monthly inspection starting from 1 October is called Kharif parhtaal while the second commencing from 1 February is called rabi parhtaal. In the month of April, the zaid parhtaal is done. The khasra number is the plot number given to a specific piece of land in the village.

The khasra numbers in a village are created once a settlement of the village starts. The settlement officials take the village as a whole and on its map start from north-east and allot a number to each and every plot in direction and reach the north-east direction again after allotting a number to each plot in all directions.

Read More: Role Of Police: Rural Administration Class 6 - Civics Notes