District Officer in Transition
| Published date | 01 September 1979 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085237904500306 |
| Author | Sudesh Kumar Sharma |
| Date | 01 September 1979 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
District
Officer
in
Transition :
Problem
of
Survival
in
India
UDC
336.2.029.99:353.08(54)
by
Dr.
Sudesh
Kumar
SHARMA,
Associate
Professor,
Department
of
Public
Administration,
Panjab
University,
Chandigarh
The
district
has
been
the
nodal
point
of
the
administrative
system
in
India
for
about
two
hundred
years.
It
is
largely
at
the
district
level
that
all
the
agencies
of
government
con-
verge
and
the
policies
and
programmes
find
a
concrete
shape.
The
main
points
of
contact
between
the
citizens
and
the
administration
lie
in
the
districts
and
the
usefulness
of
the
ad-
ministration
is
considerably
determined
by
the
degree
of
its
efficient
functioning
at
the
district
level.
District
administration
in
its
recent
form
was
evolved
during
the
British
rule.
It
had
a
common
pattern
throughout
the
country
with
some
differences
of
detail
to
suit
local
conditions
and
circumstances.
To
a
large
extent
the
district
as
a
unit
of
government
lent
an
element
of
unity
and
stability
to
the
administration
in
the
country.
It
helped
the
British
to
govern
the
country
with
a
strong
hand
and
to
an
extent
to
keep
in
touch
with
the
opinions
and
feelings
of
the
local
population.
The
collector
was
the
king-pin
of
the
district
administration.
He
was
the
chief
agent
of
the
government
at
the
district
level,
head
of
the
police,
the
magistracy,
and
the
revenue
ad-
ministration
and
the
sole
repository
in
the
district
of
the
executive
authority
of
the
gov-
ernment.
In
the
immediate
post-independence
period,
much
initial
opposition
to
the
maintenance
of
elite
generalist
cadres
at
the
district
level
stemmed
from
a
reaction
against
colonialism.
Nehru
described
the
Indian
Civil
Service
as
a
&dquo; kept
service
and
an
expensive
luxury &dquo;
(1).
This
type
of
attack
still
persists
and
the
office
of
the
collector
continues
to
be
a
projection
of
a
distant
central
government
and
an
ana-
chronistic
survival
of
the
original
scheme
of
a
despotic
government
to
rule
a
country
(2).
Much
of
the
opposition
is
also
due
to
the
fact
that
the
institution
has
come
to
stay
and
the
collector
is
efficient
and
capable
of
quickly
translating
policy
decisions
into
action
through-
out
the
country.
Since
Independence,
there
has
been
a
phe-
nomenal
increase
in
the
activities
of
the
gov-
ernment,
particularly
in
the
spheres
of
welfare
and
development.
Government
departments
and
agencies
have
also
proliferated.
The
establishment
of
the
parliamentary
form
of
democratic
government
both
at
the
Centre
and
in
the
States,
the
acceptance
of
planning
as
the
main
instrument
to
give
effect
to
social
and
economic
goals
enshrined
in
the
new
Constitution,
the
spread
of
education
and
pol-
itical
awakening,
and
the
emergence
of
pop-
ular
three-tier
institutions
of
democratic
de-
centralisation
have
materially
altered
the
frame-
work
of the
functioning
of
the
collector.
These
developments
have
also
affected
his
functions
and
role.
He
continues
to
be
the
custodian
of
law
and
order,
the
collector
of
revenues,
the
general
coordinator,
and
the
person
to
whom
the
government
mostly
turns
in
an
emergency
of
any
kind.
His
responsibilities
in
the
field
of
development
and
welfare
activi-
ties
are
today
usually
much
larger,
but
he
no
longer
enjoys
the
same
prestige
and
status
and
the
same
executive and
supervisory
powers
over
the
district
heads
of
other
departments.
Political
and
social
changes
during
the
last
two
decades
have,
on
the
one
hand,
divested
his
office
of
the
old
lustre
and
high
dignity;
on
the
other,
they
have
given
it
an
added
significance
in
the face
of
a
turbulent
law
and
order
situation,
the
mounting
dissatisfaction
of
the
citizens
with
the
administration,
the
growing
need
for
a
central
point
in
the
district
to
reconcile
conflicting
economic
and
other
group
interests,
and
the
more
recent
political
instability
in
several
of
the
states.
The
coming
up
of
the
panchayati
raj
institutions
has
posed
new
problems
and
issues,
the
foremost
being
the
role
of
the
collector
in
coordination
of
the
development
programmes
at
the
district
leveL
.
(1)
Jawaharlal
Nehru,
The Discovery
of
India,
Cal-
cutta,
1946,
p.
309.
(2)
Refer
Report
of
the
Study
Team
on
District
Ad-
ministration,
Administrative
Reforms
Commission,
1969.
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