“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”By William Shakespeare’s analogy, even if a ‘Fard’ is called ‘Nakal Jamabandi’, or ‘Muntaqi’ is called ‘Tabdeel’, it would mean the same thing to the general public until systemic reforms are introduced in the revenue system. People would have ‘Ujr’ or ‘Ittiraj’ — whatever it is called — until the process is made simple and corruption-free.For many people, the biggest problem is not understanding the words written in a document but navigating the process of getting that document issued, corrected, or updated. Those who have ever acquired (purchased or inherited) any property would know how difficult it is to get an ‘intkaal’ (mutation) registered.In fact, it is one of the easiest tasks once the registry deed has been signed by the ‘tehsildar’, provided the patwari has been duly greeted by the new buyer. Though the fee for ‘intkaal’ is charged along with the other charges, even before the registry, but, it goes to the government treasury. The patwari has got nothing and he needs some incentive to do his job.It does not imply that the patwari is the only corrupt official in the system. The registry, itself would have attracted numerous objections, if the wasika (private deed writer) had not marked the invisible box on the checklist on the file cover. A tick on this invisible box signifies that all charges, official and otherwise, have been paid by the applicant.But it certainly is the ‘patwari’ who is the keeper of records. A line here or there, a misplaced comma or a minor spelling error may require a correction to be initiated by ‘patwari’.To understand a patwari’s influence, nothing illustrates it better than a joke. Once a dog chased a patwari, who quickly climbed a tree. The dog sat below and refused to leave. After a while, the patwari shouted, “If you owned even a marla of land, I would have shown you what happens when you mess with a patwari!”As Ghalib famously said, “Ek nuqte ne humein, Mehram se mujrim bana diya.” In much the same way, for a patwari, turning Manmeet into Manjeet in an official record is no difficult task. And with this begins a nightmare for a common person. The real issue, however, is not the patwari alone. The entire corrupt system that feeds off and benefits from his power is to be blamed.Until that system is reformed, changing names or terminology will make little difference. Whatever name you give it, the stench of decay will continue to linger.