Nambardar

Lambardar or Numbardar (Hindi: नम्बरदार, Punjabi: ਲੰਬਰਦਾਰ, Urdu: لمبردار or نمبردار‎) is a title in India and Pakistan which applies to powerful families of zamindars of the village revenue estate, a state-privileged status which is hereditary and has wide-ranging governmental powers: mainly revenue collection and a share in it, the collaboration with the police for maintaining law and order in the village, and it comes with the associated social prestige. In contrast, the Zaildar who was the grand jagirdar and usually had the power over 40 to 100 villages. The Zail and Zaildar system of British Raj was abolished in 1952 in India but the lambardar system still continues.

The compound word numberdar is composed of the English word number (such as a certain number or percentage of the land revenue) and dar (در from the Persian loan word into Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi languages, meaning the bearer, possessor, holder, keeper or owner), thus in this context it means the one who holds a certain percentage of the land revenue.

The alternate term lambardar is a matter of dialect. Malwa region of Punjab and in the states of Haryana, Himachal, Delhi, Uttra Khand, Uttar Pradesh, etc. the official term in the land revenue acts is numberdar. In Majha dialect of Punjabi language, the sound L become N, such as langhna (pass) and nambardar (percentage revenue holder) become naghna and lambardar respectively. The term lambardar is used in the land revenue acts of Jammu and Kashmir state of India and West Punjab (Pakistan) and Pakistan. Currently both terms, are easily substituted across India and Pakistan, including in the land revenue acts of Uttar Pradesh.

During early and medieval times, cultivator just broke the land and cultivated as much they needed. During the drought and famine they frequently abandoned the land and moved to other places. Hence, the land ownership was not a permanent concept. They were taxed by the rulers of the day based on the number of the cattle and area of the land cultivated. After the famine of 1783, many cultivators abandoned the villages and migrated elsewhere, and some land was sold by the owners. Slowly prominent farmers came into the possession of large lands, and they acquired the status of proprietors of the village estate and were recorded as such during the settlement of 1840-41 by the British Raj. These estates came to be known as zamindari or pattidari tenures, most influential and the largest estate-holders among them in due time became zaildars and lambardars. During the settlement of 1840-41, the tenants were classified into three classes: (a) those who had held land continuously for many years at a fixed rent and were not liable to ejectment, (b) the tenants in bhaiachara (brotherhood) villages who paid rent at the same rate as the members of brotherhood and who so long as they paid this rate were never ejected, (c) and those who cultivated from year to year under fresh agreement. These tenancies were further classified during 1863 settlement and a definite status was fixed on different classes of tenants. The ordinary division into tenants with or without right of occupancy was adopted. Thus, the concept of the formal permanent ownership of the land came into being, and became a legalized and formally documented.

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