(a)the average value of the rent actually accrued due to the landholder [during the ten years preceding the date o application] [Substituted for the words 'during the preceding ten years' by section 28(i) by the Madras Estates Land (Amendment) Act, 1934 (Madras Act VIII of 1934).] other than the years which the State Government may notify to be or to have been famine years in respect of any local area or, if the value for such period cannot be ascertained during any shorter period for which evidence may be available excluding famine years;