KHASRA – Khasra means annual village register showing the possession of the land as a cultivator.
A khasra is normally a field book containing a list of the tenants in occupation of Agriculture land and it is not one of the registers which are included in the record of rights which carries with it a presumption that the statements made in it are true.
GIRDAWARI – Girdawari is a document, in which the patwari enters the name of owner, name of cultivator, land/khasra number, area, kind of land, cultivated and non cultivated area, source of irrigation, name of crop and its conditions, revenue and rate of revenue, minimum twice in a year.
Khasra girdawari crop inspection Register, a government record. The mere entry of KhudKasht in Khasra girdawaris of a certain village in the name of a person is not conclusive that the person resides in that village for the purpose of cultivation as KhudKhast does not only mean cultivation by the person himself but also includes cultivation through his servants and associates. Khasra is a register recording the incidents of a tenure and is a historical record. Khasra would serve the purpose of a deed of title, when there is no other title deed.
FARD – A document that indicates proof of a property’s ownership.This document is primarily needed for the registration of property (also known as ‘registry’).
In case of a property being sold, its fard, which is originally issued to the owner (seller), is used to maintain a record for registering a property in the name of the new owner (buyer). Once the new registry is approved by the Revenue Department, the patwari adds new details to his record and –issues a transfer letter (locally called Inteqal) based on the fard issued.
KHATA – Khata is a legal document issued to property owners and it essentially consists of information such as the size, area and location of the property and if the property is residential or commercial. The system was introduced to help property owners file and pay property tax and these details are issued while paying taxes. The Khata document also helps people get trade and building licenses among other things. It also comes handy while applying for loans and credit cards from banks, NBFCs and Housing Finance companies.
KHATAUNI – A khatauni is an abstract based on the khasras of a village that lists out all the holdings of an individual or family in that village. In other words, all khasras that belong to a given individual will be listed in the khatauni of that individual.
MARLA – The marla is a traditional unit of area that is used in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The marla was standardized under British raj to be equal to the square rod, or 272.25 square feet, 30.25 square yards, or 25.2929 square metres. As such, it was exactly one 160th of an acre.
ACRE – The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial and US customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one chain by one furlong (66 by 660 feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, 1⁄640 of a square mile, or 43,560 square feet, and approximately 4,047 m2, or about 40% of a hectare. Based upon the International yard and pound agreement of 1959, an acre may be declared as exactly 4,046.8564224 square metres. The acre was sometimes abbreviated ac, but was often spelled out as the word “acre”.
BIGHA – The bigha (also formerly beegah) is a traditional unit of measurement of area of a land, commonly used in India (including Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Assam, Gujarat and Rajasthan but not in southern states of India), Bangladesh and Nepal. There is no “standard” size of bigha. The size of a bigha varies considerably from place to place. The size of Bigha is different in different areas.
KANAL – A kanal is a unit of area used in parts of northern India and in Pakistan. Under British rule the marla and kanal were standardized so that the kanal equals exactly 605 square yards or 1⁄8 acre; this is equivalent to about 505.857 square meters. A kanal is equal to 20 marlas.
HECTARE – The hectare is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), or 10,000 m2, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectare and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
BISWA – Biswa is a unit with no standard size throughout the country. Commonly, 1 biswa equals 1,350 sq. ft. In Uttar Pradesh, 1 bigha equals 10 kaccha biswa and 10 pucca biswa.
KHEWAT – The Khewat number normally referred as ‘KHATA NUMBER’ by revenue officials is the account number given to owner(s) which form a set of co-sharers who own the land in same or different proportions. It therefore, can be understood as the account number given to various owners in the Khewat.
JAMABANDI – Record of Rights (ROR) of a village. Jamabandi Register contains name of owners, area of land, shares of owners and other Rights. It also indicates cultivation, rent and revenue and other cesses payable on land.
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List not exhaustive. In Tamilnad u there are terms like “PATTA’, “CHITTA ADANGAL” etc.