Mandal & Forbes

A tehsil (Hindustani: [t̪ɛɦsiːl], also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka (IPA: [t̪aːluːkaː t̪aːluːku]) is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative centre, with possible additional towns, and usually a number of villages. The terms in India have replaced earlier terms, such as pargana (pergunnah) and thana. In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, a newer unit called mandalamu (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 the panchayat system. In West 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 for land records and related administrative matters. The chief official is called the tehsildar or, less officially, the talukdar or taluka 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 the rural development department, headed by the block development officer and serve different government administrative functions over the same or similar geographical area. Although they may on occasion share the same area with a subdivision of a revenue division, known as revenue blocks, the two are distinct. For example, Raipur district in Chhattisgarh state is administratively divided into 13 tehsils and 15 revenue blocks. Nevertheless, the two are often conflated.