It was Sher Shah Suri who introduced the Patwari system in the subcontinent and was further enhanced by Akbar the Great. There after East India Company and the British rule continued the system with some changes .In southern India it was called Talati. It replaced the Kulkarni in Central India. In telegana it was known as Patwari also in Punjab, Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir. It is a land-holding clerk and a paid govt. appointed official. In 1814, the duties were defined as preserving village records, monitoring daily activities. The 1882 Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency records him as a village accountant, in charge of many villages. He was also required to give each land holder an account with the land holder’s duties.
Duties: The duties include maintaining village crops, land records, collecting taxes, irrigation dues, Maintaining records of crops harvested, Recording land rights changes, Accounting for the preparation of the above data. For the protection of the patwari fraternity an association was formed many years ago. No doubt the association has done a lot for the up liftment of Patwaries and Girdawar Qunoongoes. From few years the Patwari association is lagging behind. Collection bargaining refers to the process where by formal negotiations take place between a union representing its workers ( here the reference is Patwari) and the management on behalf of the government Patwaries have the right to collectively bargaining. Collective bargaining will unite Patwaries around mutual goals and enables them to combine their efforts for their battlement. During this process both management and union representatives perform various responsibilities.
One of the primary responsibility of Patwari association involves drafting proposals to present to the management team during negotiation. But before that it must undertake research and consider factories. It must also consider the already existing benefits, working conditions. Jammu and Kashmir Patwari Association is going to elect the new president for District Anantnag. There is hue and cry among the basic members. I suggest few suggestions what the district president should do. He holds an array of responsibilities that may differ depending on the nature of the work. Patwari association of Jammu and Kashmir is doing elections at the district level to make the district bodies but has failed to help the basic members regarding their basic problems. The departmental committee has recently promoted few patwaris as G. Q’s and old districts including Anatnang is back in promotions.
Newly created small districts like Ramban, Kulgam, etc are successful in promoting Patwaries. It is the responsibility of patwari association to find th solutions of its basic members. It has the prime duty of this organization and if found necessary it should consult lawyers, lawmakers, especially policy makers. This association was famous among its members as well as govt circles but from past few years it has lost it credibility especially among its members. In newly created districts of Jammu & Kashmir maximum Patwaris of 2009 batch got promoted as Girdawars in the DPC held recently but what about old district especially Anantnag and Baramulla. In my opinion as we know Girdawar is the divisional post so why not promotion list should be prepared on divisional level so that maximum number of patwaries get adjustment from old district. Secondly suggestion should be given to the successful LG adminstration .
(The author is a freelancer. High School Brakpora Anantnag. The views, opinions, facts, assumptions, presumptions and conclusions expressed in this article are author’s own and aren’t necessarily in accord with the views of “Kashmir Horizon”.)
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