THE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA

THE DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION OF INDIA

India, as we all know, is divided into 28 states and 8 union territories. They, in turn, are divided, for the sake of efficient administration, into smaller units called districts. Each state has several districts. The district is the most important unit of administration in India. It is the level at which the common people come into direct contact with the government.

THE STRUCTURE OF DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION IN INDIA

The district magistrate or the district collector is responsible for the general administration of the district. As executive head of district administration, the district collector has a three-fold role as:

District Collector

District Commissioner

District Magistrate

The district collector is an officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and is selected to the post by the state government. The district collector is the main representative of the government at the district level, and coordinates the activities of officers of other departments of the state government. He is helped in the discharge of his functions by the superintendent of police, who is an officer of the Indian Police Service (IPS), and the deputy conservator of forests, an officer of the Indian Forest Service (IFS).

The district consist of several tehsils (a sub-division of a district; also called a taluk), taluka or blocks. A block, tehsil or taluka is made up of villages. At the tehsil level, there are tehsildars (an administrative officer at tehsil level) naib tehsildars and police inspectors who take care of different aspects of administration. And at the village level, there is the patwari or lekhpal, who measures land and maintains land records, and the station house officer (SHO), who is in charge of the local police station.

FUNCTIONS OF THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR

1) Land and revenue administration.

2)  Overall supervision of law and order.

3)  Disaster management.

4)  Overseeing elections to the Parliament, State Legislatures and local bodies.

5)  Overseeing civil supplies, public distribution and social welfare.

6)  Coordination of the activities of other agencies/ departments of the state government.

7)  Overseeing and regulating matters relating to excise, transport, mining and labor laws, and legal affairs.

8)  Overseeing the activities of the local self government.

THE CHANGING ROLE OF THE DISTRICT COLLECTOR

These days, with the increasing empowerment of the local government (through the Panchayati Raj institutions), the role of the district collector is changing.

Till 1993, when the Panchayati Raj system was introduced, the district collector performed several vital functions. The district collector was responsible for the delivery of the essential services, land revenue administration, execution of rural development programmes, managing disasters, and maintenance of law and order.

Now most of the development functions have been taken away from the collector. (Though, in most parts of India, the collector continues to be seen as the main representative of the government at the district level).

The new role of the district collector is one of co-ordinator and facilitator; of providing leadership. She/ he plays an important role in the administration of the Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti or Community Development Block, Zilla Parishads and the Municipal Committees, and in coordinating their work.