Adhiyar: a share-cropper who bore most of the cost of cultivation and was entitled to a 50 per cent share of the harvest. The sharing was done in the jotedar's grain-collection yard where the harvested crop had to be transported by the adhiyar. The lease was oral and on an annual basis.
Anchal: a group of villages forms an anchal.
Bargadar: share-cropper.
B.D.O. : abbreviation for Block Development Officer.
Benami lands: lands held by landlords under fictitious names to evade the land ceiling laws.
Bhagchasi: the same as bargadar.
Bidi: a kind of cigarette usually hand-made and widely used, mainly by poor people.
Bigha: a measure of land that varies from region to region. In Bengal, a standard bigha is one-third of an acre.
Chatak: one-sixteenth of a seer, which was a little less than 1 kg.
Crore: 10 million.
Gherao: the surrounding of persons in authority like employers to force concessions out of them.
Goonda: hoodlum.
Hartal: cessation of all work as a mark of protest.
J. L. R. O.: abbreviation for Junior Land Revenue Officer.
Jotedar: the landowner who, instead of cultivating the land himself, leases it out to share-croppers.
Katha: one-twentieth of a standard bigha.
Khamar: the grain-collection yard.
lac or lakh: one hundred thousand.
Maund: about 37.50 kilogrammes.
Panchayat: the representatives of a village form a gram (village) panchayat and those from a group of villages forming an anchal an anchal panchayat. Invariably dominated by jotedars and rich peasants.