revenue administration and results in an inefficient land record management system fraught by excessive delays and high potential for rent-seeking. It is therefore important to examine the working conditions and workload of RIs to identify areas for improved effectiveness.

Over the years the scope of Rls' operations has increased both in terms of the area covered and the number of tasks performed. On average, an RI circle in Orissa now covers 20-30 villages<sup>28</sup> with an annual revenue demand of about Rs. 200,000. This is nearly 10 times the figure prescribed in the 1961 'Manual of Tehsil Accounts' in which an RI circle was envisaged to have a revenue demand of Rs. 20-25,000 and a tehsil was to cover an area with revenue demand of Rs. 300,000 (Tripathy, 1992). The conference of state revenue secretaries in 1985 agreed that 'the areal jurisdiction of the [RI] should be brought down to a manageable level such as four villages or 3000 _khatiyans_ per [RI]' (GOI, 1985: 53). At the same conference, the revenue minister of Orissa acknowledged that 'revenue administration [in the state] is weak' (p. 15) and needs to be revamped.

The RI's primary function is collection of land revenue and maintaining land records. But he is also responsible for a variety of other tasks. These tasks are grouped into four broad categories in Table 8, which also indicates the proportion of the RI's total working time likely to be devoted to each category, according to the perceptions of the Rls interviewed. It is evident that computerisation is unlikely to reduce the time spent by RIs on the collection of land revenue and other dues, miscellaneous enquiries, issuing certificates or attending courts. Computerisation will, however, enable the RIs to concentrate on important matters such as timely submission of reports for disposal of cases, field visits, and correction of records.

While COLR is a positive development it should not be regarded as a panacea for improving land administration. Its impact will only be maximised when:

- it is accompanied by rationalisation of the RI's workload and of the procedures of revenue administration. It may be appropriate to hire a management consultancy firm to undertake a systematic work-study of the RI. The terms of reference for such a study could include an assessment of the training needs and avenues for promotion of Rls and tehsildars, and decentralisation of some of the tasks;

- it becomes more widely used and different government departments use it to transfer information and databases. A computer link, for example, between the sub-registrar's office and the tehsil headquarters would be of considerable benefit to agents transacting in land.

It is clear that the computerisation of land records and the computerisation of the land registration system have to be undertaken simultaneously and effectively coordinated for transaction costs to be significantly reduced. A proposal to computerise the registration system in Orissa and integrate it 'backwards' into land records management has been recently been sanctioned by the state government (see Box 9).

- 28 This is only an average; for example, there are 70 villages within Begunia RI circle, Khurda district.

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