GENERAL ADMINISTRATION

INTRODUCTION

PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION IN THE STATE in the last century consisted mostly in providing security of person and property and raising the revenue necessary for the purpose. In other words, Police, Jails and Judiciary representing security, and Land Revenue, Excise, Registration and Stamps representing revenue formed the most important departments of the State. The Public Works Department was the only other branch of sufficient importance, but its activities of construction and maintenance were, apart from roads and irrigation works, confined to buildings required for the departments of Government. With the spread of Western education and the growth of political consciousness in the country, and as a result of the gradual association of a few Indians with some aspects of the Work of government the demand arose for the expansion of Govern-mental activities into what were called " nation-building" departments, namely Education, Health, Agriculture, Co-operation, etc. In the twenties and thirties of this century, after the introduction of the Montague-Chelmsford Reforms a greater emphasis came to be laid on the development of these departments. When, as a result of the Government of India Act of 1935, complete popularization of the Provincial Government took place in 1937, the new Government attempted not only to expand the " nation-building" departments but also to take steps in the direction of creating what has now come to be generally described as a Welfare State, After the end of World War II and the attainment of independence by India in 1947, an all-out effort is being made to achieve a Welfare State as rapidly as possible and to build up a socially directed economy. The present activities of the State, therefore, require a much more elaborate system than what was felt to be necessary during the nineteenth century.

In the descriptions that follow in this chapter and in chapters 11-17 the departments of the State operating in the Satara district have been grouped as follows:—

Chapter 10 —General Administration.*

Chapter 11 — Revenue Administration.

Chapter 12 — Law, Order and Justice.

* This is composed of the Collector and his subordinate officers.

Land Revenue.

Chapter 13 — Other Departments.

Chapter 14 — Local Self-Government.

Chapter 15 — Education and Culture.

Chapter 16—Medical and Public Health Services.

Chapter 17 — Other Social Services.

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