CBSE Notes Class 6 Civics Chapter 6-Rural Administration

According to the CBSE Syllabus 2023-24, this chapter has been renumbered as Chapter 5.

There are more than 6 lakh villages in India. Taking care of their needs for water, electricity, and road connections is not a small task. In addition, land records have to be maintained, and conflicts also need to be dealt with. Large machinery is in place to deal with all this. In Chapter 6 of CBSE Class 6 Civics, students can take a look at the work of two rural administrative officers in some detail. We have also compiled the CBSE Notes Class 6 Civics Chapter 6-Rural Administration for the students to understand the concepts well and revise for the exam.

Find below in this article the PDF link to download the CBSE Class 6 Social Science Notes from Chapter 6 of Civics.

Download CBSE Notes Class 6 Civics Chapter 6-Rural Administration PDF

Rural Administration

Story of Mohan and Raghu, both farmers who owned adjoining lands separated by a small boundary called the bund. One day, Raghu shifted his boundary to include a bit of Mohan’s land. When Mohan went to ask Raghu, he declined and got Mohan beaten up with the help of his workers. With nothing else left to do, Mohan went with eye witnesses to lodge a complaint at the local police station. Despite knowing that Raghu might have influenced the local police, he couldn’t register the complaint at another police station because every police station has an area that comes under its control. All persons in that area can report cases or inform the police about any theft, accident, injury, fight, etc. It is the responsibility of the police of that station to enquire, investigate and take action on the cases within its area. Though initially, the police did not believe Mohan, upon insistence from other villagers, the case was filed.

It would have been possible to solve this argument more peacefully if there were records that showed who owned what land in the village. Comparing the land records to the current measurements would ensure that Raghu has taken up Mohan’s land.

Measuring the land and maintaining the records is the main work of the Patwari- known by different names in different states. In some villages, such officers are called Lekhpal-Kanungo or Karamchari or Village Officers and so on. Each Patwari is responsible for a group of villages and maintains and updates the records of the village. It has ways of measuring agricultural fields. In some places, a long chain is used. Patwari is responsible for organising the collection of land revenue from the farmers and providing information to the government about the crops grown in this area. These are done from the records that are kept. So, it’s important for the Patwari to regularly update these as farmers may change the crop they grow, or someone may dig a well somewhere. The revenue department of the government keeps track of all this. Senior people in this department supervise Patwari’s work. Every state in India is divided into districts for managing matters relating to land, these districts are further subdivided. These subdivisions of a district are known by different names, such as tehsil, taluka and so on. At the head is the District Collector, who has revenue officers, also known as tehsildars, under them to hear disputes and supervise the work of the Patwaris. They ensure that records are properly kept, and land revenue is collected. They also make sure that the farmers can easily obtain a copy of their records, and students can obtain their caste certificates and more. Tehsildar’s office is where land disputes are also heard.

For more information on Patwaris’, watch the below video

A New Law

(Hindu Succession Amendment Act, 2005)

Farmers who own land are mostly men, while women work in the fields but do not own agricultural land. In some states, Hindu women did not get a share in the family’s agricultural land. After the death of the father, his property was divided equally only among his sons. Recently, the law was changed. As per the new law, sons, daughters, and their mothers get an equal share in the land, and the same law applies to all states and union territories of the country. This law will benefit a large number of women.