[Reader-list] my archival experiences

[Ritika]

Hi everybody, I am doing a bit of archival work for the media city 
project - Publics and Practices in the History of the present (PPHP). 
When i began my work, i had to get hold of some physical documents that 
could be of some relvance to the project. For example: when did a 
specific ciinema hall come into existence, who were the players 
involved, what were the kind of negotiations between the people involved 
in the transactions etc. However, as would be apparent from my peice, 
there was a lot of possibility of getting into newer areas. Therefore, 
what began as just a physical collection of documents for the project, 
opened up newer sources of documents that could enable different 
research issues. Thats when i began doing the ethnography of various 
record rooms within the MCD office.

However considering the enomity of the corporation and the number of 
record rooms and the attitude of the employees, this work for now has 
been shelved.

The present article was originally written in hindi for the sarai 
publication - Media nagar 01. This is a translated version.

Looking forward to some lively comments...
cheers
ritika


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My archival experience in MCD



The building of the Delhi Municipal Corporation was constructed during 
1860-65. Situated in the Town Hall, it is one of those buildings which 
were erected  within Shahjehanabad. It is a National Heritage. 
Previously known as the Institute Building, its aim was to ‘improve’ the 
minds of the ‘natives’ and to create conditions for betterment of 
relations between the Europeans and the ‘locals’. One can enter the 
building through the corridors from the north and the south; the eastern 
and the western sides also have corridors. The ‘Press Building’, 
situated across the street, was earlier a part of the building. In the 
course of time, however, the building underwent several changes 
including extensions.

Reaching the Record Room proved to be an uphill task for me. I was 
trying to find ways to approach when I first came in contact with an 
engineer interested in film-making, and an officer with looks of Shubha 
Mudgal! I started conversing with them. Only they could help me to the 
Record Room. After about an year, though, I had already become familiar 
with several departments and had come to know that each one of them had 
its own Record Room.

When I entered the place, I was quite confused, and apprehensive and 
skeptic of the ‘professionalism’ of the employees. The scene in the 
office was that of broken chairs and table all around, with cats coming 
and going in between freely. I had to deal with strange looking people. 
I had come with an expectation that the research work would be a 
pleasure, but perhaps I was expecting too much. “You can’t always expect 
to derive pleasure from you work”...was how i was trying to convince 
myself to do this work. This precisely was the state of my mind when I 
began my work in the Department of Land and Estate, my ‘boring’ 
investigations into the records. That was where I came upon the 
informations on the jurisdiction of the Corporation on the four cinema 
halls. I got the informations as to who had bought the land; and what 
conversations went on in the course of negotiations between the buyers 
and the Corporation! Etc, etc.

In the course of my work, I came across a 20-year old youngman working 
in the Corporation. But before he could open his mouth, his uncle came 
forward on his behalf. The uncle used to dust the four broken chairs and 
tables in  the Survey Room of the Land and Estate Department. He said to 
me, “Madam, my nephew wants to do modelling. Have you got any contacts 
and help?” How could I say ‘No’?! After all I was an academic 'knowing' 
so many things and had to appear so! So, I enquired about the 
‘qualifications’ of the youngman. Having done that, I advised him to 
study further, but this suggestion did not go well with his uncle! I was 
becoming rather uncomfortable in this unwanted job of ‘career 
counselling’. I was thinking what to do. But next time I made sure that 
I at least came with the address of Noida Film City!

Now, it is one year since I have been doing research in the Corporation. 
I have had both sweet and bitter experiences. If you want to get some 
document or information out of this place and you are getting delayed, 
then you have to write an application. But to whom? That you should know 
precisely. You should know exactly where to find the information you are 
looking for. One way is to straightaway enter a department and state 
clearly that you do not know what to find fin where, and thus to give 
weight to their ‘wisdom’. But in that case it becomes essential to 
confirm what one ‘babu’ or clerk says with that from another. Otherwise 
you may have to realise that you are being taken for a ride. Of course, 
there are other ways of getting hold of information. To the department, 
about which you need any information, (till you may have got to know 
something) you write an application, to its additional commissioner. 
Before your application is filed, do not forget to take the 'noting' 
number. Once you get the permission, you can begin working without 
hindrance. The duration between applying and getting permission may be 
long and quite boring. You should be prepared for this. And therefore 
you have to be very patient.

The Record Room of the Land and Estate Department is one with a high 
ceiling. It is full of stacks and bundles of files with thick layers of 
dust, leaving no doubt that this is the record room. You at once realise 
upon entering the place that no one has touched them for a long time. 
The whole place appears like a garbage place. There are twelve shelves 
overflowing with files and papers. A middle-aged person is sitting there 
in the midst of all these among the broken furniture. **A cat taking 
nap, resting comfortably among the files; it obviously is a domesticated 
member of the Department. But in addition to these strange scenes, you 
will also find many interesting records here. All the original sheets of 
the ‘Wilson Survey’ conducted during 1910-14 are available here. These 
sheets are of the size 20"x25". Some registers connected with sheets are 
locked in the almirahs. The registers contain ward numbers, names of the 
bazars, names of the lanes, details of the houses, their monthly rents, 
etc noted during the surveys. Besides, there are registers containing 
lists of shops and names of shopkeepers under the jurisdiction of the 
MCD. The details of the parks are given in an interesting manner. In one 
file, they ae divided into zones; in another is provided their 
categories, e.g. ‘ordinary’, ‘ornamental’, ‘children’s’, etc. There are 
several files on land acquisition. Every piece of land under the 
jurisdiction of the Corporation is entered in the register. The related 
disputes and court cases are also recorded. Of course, the absence of a 
catalogue makes the search difficult, but it is not impossible. Some 
information in this connection was provided to me by Jagmendra Patwari. 
Information was given to me in two stages. In the  first stage, he gave 
the following information.

1) The Planning Department of the MCD is situated in Sanjay Gandhi 
Transport Nagar. Any development project needs its permission.
2)  Thereafter, the Survey Department finds out the locations of the plots.
3) Planning Department, according to its Notification Nos. 4 and 6, 
issues letters prohibiting transfer of plots by the owners.
4) Then the Survey Department  approaches the Patwari or the Tehsildar 
of that area. It examines the revenue report of that village and 
notifies the land-owner that he should handover the land to the MCD.
5)   Notification No. 17 is regarding compensation. The surveyor 
determines the amount of compensation after assessing and counting thee 
trees and other properties.
6)   Then the land is ‘taken over’.
7)   Units of measurement:
4 bighas = 20 biswani
1 bigha  = 1008 sq. yards
1 biswa  = 50   sq. yards
8)   After the land is acquired, it is registered; then it is handed 
over to the MCD for it to accept or reject the proposal.

He spent nearly two hours explaining the process. After which we started 
talking about general matters. He was now more frank. In the meantime, I 
expressed my wish to see for the entire process of land acquisition. He 
informed me after about five or six months that the MCD was to acquire 
land in the village Bankaner on Delhi-Haryana border. The purpose of 
acquiring was to construct a drain in the absence of which water was 
getting accumulated in the fields. The MCD wanted to acquire land for 
this very purpose.

We visited the village on afixed date. A ‘shijra’ was taken out. The 
plots of the village are demarcated on the ‘shijras’. It used to be 
prepared before 1852. Everry plot has a particular khasra number. The 
lands are recorded in the Register of Immovable Property. This process 
is known as ‘jamabandi’ or ‘jamamandi’. In this register, the name of 
the village, (where the land is being acquired), the area of the land, 
the name of the rent-payer or pattedar, duration of the patta, annual 
rent, expenditure on the property since the date of assessment etc 
details are recorded. The plots are indicated on the ‘shijra’. Anyway, 
it was decided to negotiate acquirement of the khasra numbers 12, 13, 
18, 19 and 23. So, the whole day was spent with the patwaris, kanungo 
and land-owners, and considerable information about land-acquirement 
could be gathered.

  If the MCD or any other government organisation wants to acquire land, 
it has first to apply to the Land and Acquisition Department of DDA 
through its Deputy Commissioner of Revenue. The Land and Acquisition 
Department contacts the Deputy Commissioner of Revenue. After his 
instructions, a joint survey is conducted. Then the office of the Deputy 
Commissioner of Revenue prepares a resolution, which is sent to the Land 
and Building Department. Land Development Department then sends this 
resolution to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Delhi, who has the right 
to issue notification. The LG issues notification under Article 4/6/17 
of Land Acquisition Act of 1894. Recently, a notification of land 
acquisition was published in a newspaper, whose content was something 
like this:

Column 1 : name of the district
Col. 2 : name of the tehsil
Col. 3 : name of the village
Col. 4 : the area of the land to be acquired
Col. 5 : musteel number and khasra number.


One musteel equals 25 acres. It is divided into 25 parts. Each part 
equals one acre. In the notification, 1 to 25 numbers are actually 
khasra numbers of the village. For example, from musteel number 1, 
khasra numbers 16, 17, 24 and 25 are given for public purposes.

After acquisition, Deputy Commissioner hands over the revenue land to 
the Land and Building Department of the DDA. It is the office of Deputy 
Commissioner, Revenue, that determines the compensation of the land to 
be acquired. This compensation is given by Land and Building Department 
to the land-owner. If the owner is dissatisfied with the compensation, 
he can appeal in the district, sessions and Supreme Courts. The 
hierarchy of various officers and employees in the different departments 
in connection with acquisition of land is as follows:

Deputy Commissioner, Revenue (highest)

Additional District Magistrate

Land Acquisition Collector

Tehsildar

Nayab Tehsildar

Kanungo

Patwari (lowest)

In the Record Room of the Corporation, you will also find records about 
cremation grounds, grave-yards, schools, etc, scattered about, besides 
those on land acquirement. The main attraction of these record rooms is 
the ‘layout plans’ found there. The MCD has divided Delhi into 9 zones. 
But these records have not been kept area-wise. And yes of course, there 
shelves full of plans. There is a large collection of files there 
connected with encroachment and resettlement colonies. Record Room 
contains only those files, which are ‘closed’. One can find files 
pertaining to the land records of 1911 to 1995. It takes a long time to 
transfer files from one department to another. Although the peon has to 
hand over files of one day only from one noting officer to another, 
there is always a possibility that either the peon or the officer is on 
leave. In that case you have to wait.

Thought being a woman had certain advantages in such a place I also had 
to go through some unpleasant experiences. For example, I needed maps 
and plans from the Department I was doing research. It took a minimum of 
four weeks to get just one map. It was at this time that I came across 
one Patwari, a 30-35 year old person. He came to know that I needed 
these documents. He called me to the stairs, and said, “Ritikaji, I will 
give you many maps. When are you generally free?”  I was a bit taken 
aback by his words, and then replied, “I will come again when you have 
taken out the maps.” After that, he kept talking about visiting the 
newly-opened Multiplex in Pitampura along with me. I had somehow to 
manoeuvre out of it. And after that day I went back to the MCD only 
after two months.

Anyways for now the work is over. I did get used to the ways and rhythms 
of work of the employees. Armed with paper, pen, clips and pins and 
stapler, I did not allow them to dominate me. I discussed with them, 
sipping tea, the advantages of this research, the problem of Indian 
culture getting ‘bold’ as in the West, the question of relevance of 
Indian education, and other issues.

What surprises me is that with the passing of time, I did manage to 
adjust with the surroundings and atmosphere, and also derived lot of 
ways of how one can navigate their way through in a government run 
organisation and

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