Last year while outside a revenue official’s room, we found no peon. It was a disturbing sight. We thought whether we should infiltrate or not. In this now proactive and now defensive thinking, we wasted more or less crucial five minutes. How can an official’s room be without a peon, that too of the revenue official!
In Kashmir region, it is impossible to find a government official’s room having no one outside. He is to inform visitors that the official is holding a meeting or having lunch. Or the sahab will not meet anyone today as he has an extremely busy schedule.
Once I went to meet a medical superintendent. I had a prior appointment. But his peons outside didn’t allow me in for a long time. He had five peons. After every two or three minutes each peon would slightly push the door to see in which position the official has switched to. Sahab is still sitting. Then another would rise and steal a look only to say Sahab is busy with files. After few minutes another one would rise to disclose that Sahab is on a telephone.
Five people outside the sahib’s room, only to see whether he is sitting or standing or in washroom, is presumed normal. This utter wastage of manpower is seen as a display of prestige and power.
That is why we were shocked to see no peon outside the revenue official’s room. It was like unmanned border post. But it didn’t remain unmanned for long. After around five minutes a man came. He gave us such a disdainful look, but allowed us to go into the official’s room. So nice of him. The room was on the second floor of Maharaja era building. And since 1947, it seemed, no work had been carried out on the structure. The official along with her subordinates was in the middle of the discussion. They were arguing in very high pitch.
The discussion lasted for half an hour. We were in one corner of the officer’s room trying to understand the language. It was hard for us to comprehend a word. The language seemed as old as the building and like building it direly needed repairs.
Finally, after 15 minutes, a colleague of mine picked up one word from the conversation. It was the word they repeated hundred times in the long exchange. The word was “Pencili.” They also used khasra, girdawari, jamabandi, Misl haqiat and Mohri-maal. But pencili was a predominant part of their discussion. And it turned out to be that something was written with a pencil. Now they were arguing and counter-arguing its possible implications and impact on the property worth crores.
What is this “Pencili”, my colleague asked naively. The official smiled, then laughed, perhaps at our ignorance or at the language used in the revenue department. “Something that has been written on the revenue document with a pencil instead of a pen is called Pencili”, the official said. Smiling again. This addition of pencili in our vocabulary delighted us. Pencili was our pick of the day.
Few days after this great discovery of “pencili” we saw a board outside B.Ed college at M.A Road. It read, “Revenue Officials Conference”. We sneaked in, without invitation, to see what “pencili” issues the revenue officials are discussing.
The conference was presided over by the Revenue Minister, Abdul Rehman Veeri. The divisional commissioner Kashmir and the director records were sharing the stage with him. A tehsildar stood up and informed the Minister that if Patwaris start writing in simple Urdu and add some words of English to it, half the problems of Jammu and Kashmir will be solved. Everyone in the hall laughed in approval.
Another official stood up. He wasted a few minutes looking for his papers from where he wanted to read. Then he said that the revenue extracts should be in a simpler language. It will help ordinary people to know their revenue extracts and it will also give Patwari a dignity, he deserves. The argument was simple.
Why revenue department is so infamous. Why people, who have no money or who have no access, fear it. Why the very name of Patwari, Girdawar and Tehsildar scares them. It is all because of the alien language they use in revenue documents. Make language simpler to help people. But the department has taken a pledge to complicate the life of people. It does so in such a complicated language which now even its officials don’t understand.
Another official argued that under section 133, the Tehsildar has powers to fine from Rs 50 to Rs 500 in any land conversion case. They insisted it is nothing but a cruel joke. They came up with another grave problem. If they want to take action against any violator, the police don’t provide them any help, they lamented. The police usually make an excuse of a VIP movement in the area and their inability to spare any personnel for the revenue work. Thus, they argued for a separate force within the department to stop the land conversion.
Tehsildar has no vehicle. This was the gravest of all issues. They say because of lack of official vehicle Tehsildar couldn’t move and he has been reduced to non-entity. Sometimes he borrows a vehicle from local SHO and many a time has to share a ride on the back seat with his constables.
Then an official rose from his seat. He started his address in a way as if he was addressing in Darbari Akbari. But the bad lighting, terrible seats of B.Ed college auditorium would make us instantly realize otherwise. The official was all praise for “glory of revenue department of yesteryears when Maharajas were ruling the states.” “Why cannot the revenue minister be called Masheeri-Maal, why cannot divisional commissioner be called Sahab bahadur? Are we not powerful at present.”
Sahab bahadur, the divisional commissioner, didn’t even seem to be listening to anything in the three-hour-long conference. He seemed busier with his mobile feeds than the issues raised by the revenue officials. He was sitting as if Lord Clive was examining vanquished forces of Nawab Siraj Ud Daulah, on his mobile, after the battle of Plassey. But the language of this official miffed him more. He asked the anchor to cut him short. However, the official was absorbed in his own discourse and was in a trance. He went on and raised several points. Like, the KAS officers entering the department should be trained in the revenue, that the vigilance organization and the crime branch shouldn’t lay hand on any revenue official as they don’t understand language and fiercely argued that ancient Urdu language used by the revenue officials should be retained as it is technical.
If there is one department that needs reforms it is the revenue department. The revenue department as advised by some should be renamed as the department of land records. The separate revenue services should be established for it. The budget of the department is Rs 7.30 crore, the Minister said. The Minister rightly said when compared with other departments it is no budget. In fact, the revenue officials, who have been honest and capable, which is a rare combination, should be posted in the vigilance department and they should be handed over the cases of revenue till the department brings modernization its language. All the department require is to correct its language and make it in sync with the present times to make lives of people simpler. It will not take us long to come out of the “pencili”. All it needs is a will. And the minister announced that 100 cars are being allotted to Tehsildars soon. Then there was a thunderous applause and the conference ended.
Author is senior correspondent at Outlook