Editing District (section)

===India===
{{Main|Districts of India}}{{see also|Subdivisions of India}}

[[File:India district map (de-facto).svg|300px|thumb|Districts of India]]

[[List of Indian districts|India's districts]] are local administrative units inherited from the [[British Raj]].  They generally form the tier of local government immediately below that of [[India]]'s [[states and territories of India|subnational states and territories]].  Where warranted, districts may further be grouped into administrative divisions, which form an intermediate level between the district and the [[State (subnational)|subnational state]] (or [[union territory]]).

A district is headed by a [[Deputy Commissioner]]/ Collector, who is responsible for the overall administration and the maintenance of law and order.  The district collector may belong to IAS ([[Indian Administrative Service]]).  Other key responsibilities include the collection of [[Tax|revenue]], land management, co-ordination and disaster management.  Usually, the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector is granted magisterial powers under section 20 of Criminal Procedure Code, and designated as the [[District Magistrate]].  The official designations are "Collector and District Magistrate" or "Deputy Commissioner and District Magistrate".

Districts are most frequently further sub-divided into smaller administrative units, called either {{transliteration|mis|[[tahliks]]}} or {{transliteration|mis|[[mandals]]s}} or {{transliteration|mis|mavattams}}, depending on the region. These units have specific local responsibilities, including in particular coordinating revenue collection.
An intermediate level (the [[Subdivision in India|sub-division]]) between district and tehsil/taluka may be formed by grouping these units under the oversight of [[Assistant Commissioner]]s, Sub-collectors or [[Sub-divisional magistrate]]. Each district includes one or two cities (or large towns), a few smaller towns and dozens of villages. Most of the Indian districts have the same name as their main town or city.

[[File:Kollamdistrict.png|right|thumb|A district in [[Kerala]]]]

As of April 2016, the [[National Informatics Centre]] of the [[Government of India]], lists a total of 664 districts in India, more than the number of parliamentary constituencies (545).<ref name=NIC1>{{cite web|url=http://districts.nic.in/dstats.aspx|title=list of districts of India by states|access-date=22 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407230445/http://districts.nic.in/dstats.aspx|archive-date=7 April 2016|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> This number went up to a total of 723 districts in 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.goidirectory.gov.in/district.php|title=Districts {{!}} Government of India Web Directory|website=www.goidirectory.gov.in|language=en|access-date=2018-08-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180815131623/http://www.goidirectory.gov.in/district.php|archive-date=15 August 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>