Atehsil (Hindustani:[t̪ɛɦsiːl], also known astahsil,taluk, ortaluka (IPA:[t̪aːluːkaːt̪aːluːku]) is a local unit ofadministrative division inIndia andPakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within adistrict including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative centre, with possible additional towns, and usually a number ofvillages.[1] The terms in India have replaced earlier terms, such aspargana (pergunnah) andthana.[2]
InAndhra Pradesh andTelangana, a newer unit calledmandalamu (circle) has come to replace the tehsil system. A mandal is generally smaller than a tehsil, and is meant for facilitating local self-government in thepanchayat system.[3] InWest Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand,community development blocks (CDBs) are the empowered grassroots administrative unit, replacing tehsils.
Tehsil office is primarily tasked with land revenue administration, besides election and executive functions. It is the ultimate executive agency forland records and related administrative matters. The chief official is called thetehsildar or, less officially, thetalukdar ortaluka muktiarkar. Tehsil or taluk can be considered sub-districts in the Indian context. In some instances, tehsils overlap with "blocks" (panchayat union blocks or panchayat development blocks or CDBs) and come under the land and revenue department, headed by the tehsildar; and blocks come under therural development department, headed by theblock development officer and serve different government administrative functions over the same or similar geographical area.[4]
Although they may on occasion share the same area with a subdivision of a revenue division, known asrevenue blocks, the two are distinct. For example,Raipur district in Chhattisgarh state is administratively divided into 13 tehsils and 15 revenue blocks.[5] Nevertheless, the two are often conflated.
India, as a vast country, is subdivided into many states and union territories for administrative purposes. Furtherdivisions of these states are known asdistricts. These districts (zila/zilla/jille/jilla) are again divided into manysubdivisions, viz tehsils or taluks. These subdivisions are again divided intorevenue villages.[6] Initially, this was done for collecting land revenue and administration purposes. But now these subdivisions are governed in tandem with other departments of government like education, agriculture, irrigation, health, police, etc. The different departments of state government generally have offices at tehsil or taluk level to facilitate good governance and to provide facilities to common people easily.[citation needed]
In India, the termtehsil is commonly used in allnorthern states. InMaharashtra,Gujarat,Goa,Karnataka,Kerala andTamil Nadu,taluka or taluk is more common.[7] InEastern India, instead of tehsils, the termSubdivision is used inBihar,Assam,Jharkhand andWest Bengal, as well as large parts ofNortheast India (Manipur,Meghalaya,Mizoram,Sikkim andTripura). InArunachal Pradesh andNagaland, they are calledcircle.
Tehsil/tahsil and taluk/taluka and the variants are used as English words without further translation. Since these terms are unfamiliar to English speakers outside thesubcontinent, the wordcounty has sometimes been provided as agloss, on the basis that a tehsil, like a county, is an administrative unit hierarchically above the local city, town, or village, but subordinate to a larger state or province. India and Pakistan have an intermediate level of hierarchy (or more than one, at least in parts of India): thedistrict, also sometimes translated ascounty. In neither case is the analogy very exact.
Tehsildar is the chief or key government officer of each tehsil or taluka.[8] In some states different nomenclature like talukdar, mamledar, amaldar, mandal officer is used. In many states of India, the tehsildar functions as the executive magistrate of that tehsil. Each tehsil will have an office called tehsil office or tehsildar office at a designated place within tehsil area known as tehsil headquarters. Tehsildar is the incharge of tehsil office. This is similar to district office or district collector at district level.
Throughout India, there is a three-tier local body/Panchayat system within the state. At the top is the zila/zilla panchayat (parishad). Taluka/mandal panchayat/panchayat samiti/community development block is the second layer of this system and below them are the gram panchayats or village panchayats. These panchayats at all three levels have elected members from eligible voters of particular subdivisions. These elected members form the bodies which help the administration in policy-making, development works, and bringing grievances of the common public to the notice of the administration.
Nayabat is the lower part of tehsil which have some powers like tehsil. It can be understood as tehsil is the sub-district of a district, similarly, Nayabat is the sub-tehsil of a tehsil.[9]
Every Taluku (Taluk) in India (Bharat) has a designated place(city/town/village) as its headquarter's within its jurisdictional area.The Taluku office where Tehsildar or Amaldar or Talukdar the government official who administers the Taluku operates from Taluku headquarter's. He has to visit villages coming within his jurisdictional Taluku as per requirement.Taluku office is under control of Revenue department of respective state government in Republic of India.Each Taluku office in Karnataka state has different sections like revenue.elections,land records,executive magistrate etc. which is looked after by section officers or Shirastedars/ Deputy Tahsildars[10]
The main purpose of the census is to provide data on size and composition of population of India and its geographic divisions, i.e., population of different states and union territories, districts, blocks and villages.