District, sub-division, circle: the ladder a deputy commissioner stands on in this State

Background

Tawang is a district of fairly recent making. Until 5 October 1984 it was a sub-division of West Kameng District, and it became a district in its own right on 6 October 1984. Its earliest seat of administration dates to 1951. It was set up by Major Bob Khating, a Naga officer who belonged to the Indian Frontier Administrative Service. A district here is headed by the Deputy Commissioner, who is also the District Magistrate, and who looks after law and order, development work and justice. The Gauhati High Court supervises that judicial side, alongside customary regulations. Below the district come sub-divisions, and below them administrative circles; this district has three sub-divisions, Tawang, Jang and Lungla, and ten administrative circles in all. Kitpi and Tawang are the circles of the Tawang sub-division; Jang, Lhou, Mukto and Thingbu fall under Jang; Bongkhar, Dudunghar, Lungla and Zemithang under Lungla. Local government came in through the North East Frontier Agency Panchayat Regulation of 1967, and the three-tier set-up in this district counts 235 villages, 80 Gram Panchayats and 10 blocks, also called Anchal Samitis.