- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-(a)"agriculture" includes,-(i)Horticulture;(ii)the raising of crops (including plantation crops), grass or garden produce;(iii)dairy farming;(iv)poultry farming;(v)breeding of livestock;(vi)grazing, but does not include the cutting of wood only;(b)"agricultural land" means land used for purposes of agriculture;(c)[ "annual household income" means the aggregate of the gross annual income from all sources of all the members of a family during the year ending on the 31st December 1975;] [[Substituted for the following clause by section 3 of the Tamil Nadu Debt Relief (Amendment) Act, 1979 (Tamil Nadu Act 39 of 1979), which was deemed to have come into force on the 29th July 1976:-(c)annual household income means the aggregate of the annual income from all sources of all the members of a family;]](d)"creditor" means a person from or in respect of whom the debtor has borrowed or incurred a debt and includes the heirs of such person;(e)"debt" means any liability in cash or in kind whether secured or unsecured and whether decreed or not, but does not include arrears of tax due to the Central Government or a State Government or a local authority;(f)"debtor" means-(i)a landless agricultural labourer; or(ii)a rural artisan; or(iii)a small farmer, who has borrowed or incurred any debt before the commencement of this Act;(g)"family", in relation to a persons means the individual, the wife or husbands, as the case may be, of such individual and their unmarried minor children.Explanation. - For the purpose of this clause, "minor" means a person who has not completed his or her age of eighteen years;(h)"interest" means any amount or other thing paid or payable in excess of the principal sum borrowed or pecuniary obligation incurred, or where anything has been borrowed in kind, in excess of what has been so borrowed, by whatsoever name such amount or thing may be called, and whether the same is paid or payable entirely in cash or entirely in kind or partly in cash and partly in kind and whether the same is expressly mentioned or not in the document or contract, if any;(i)"landless agricultural labourer" means a person who does not hold, whether as owner, tenant or mortgagee with possession, or partly in one capacity and partly in another, any agricultural land and whose principal means of livelihood is manual labour on agricultural land and whose annual household income does not exceed two thousand and four hundred rupees;(j)"person" means an individual or a family;(k)"rural artisan" means a person who does not hold, whether as owner, tenant or mortgagee with possession, or partly in one capacity and partly in another, any agricultural land and whose annual household income does not exceed two thousand and four hundred rupees and-(i)whose principal means of livelihood is production or repair of traditional tools, implements and other articles or things used for agriculture, or purposes ancillary thereto, or(ii)who normally earns his livelihood by practising any craft either by his own labour or by the labour of the members of his family in any rural area.Explanation. - For the purpose of sub-clause (ii) of this clause, "rural area" means any area not being the City of [Chennai] [Substituted for the word 'Madras' by the City of Madras (Alteration of Name) Act, 1996 (Tamil Nadu Act 28 of 1996)] or the City of Madurai or the area comprised in a municipal town or a township constituted under any law for the time being in force;(l)"small farmer" means a person whose principal means of livelihood is income derived from agricultural land and who holds, whether as owner, tenant, or mortgagee with possession, or partly in one capacity and partly in another,-(i)not more than two units of land, in a case where such person is a member of any of the Scheduled Tribes; and(ii)not more than one unit of land, in any other case. Explanation I. - For the purpose of this clause, "Scheduled Tribes" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (25) of Article 366 of the Constitution.Explanation II. - Where any person holds as aforesaid more than one category of land referred to in clause (o), then, for the purpose of calculating the extent of land held by him, two hectares of unirrigated land shall be deemed to be equal to-(i)half hectare of land having facilities for growing one irrigated crop;(ii)half hectare of land used for growing any plantation crop or grapes or coconut or arecanut or mulberry;(iii)quarter hectare of land having perennial irrigation facilities, or having facilities for growing more than one irrigated crop in a year.Explanation III. - In this clause and in clause (o) -(a)"irrigated" means irrigated from any source, whether Government or private;(b)"plantation crop" means cardamom, cinchona, coffee, rubber or tea;(m)"Tahsildar" includes a Deputy Tahsildar in independent charge of a taluk or sub-taluk and any other officer of the Revenue Department not below the rank of a Deputy Tahsildar empowered by the State Government to exercise the powers and perform the functions of a Tahsildar under this Act;(n)"transferee of the creditor" means any person including an institution referred to in clause (g) of section 13 to whom-(i)the creditor has pledged the movable property pledged to him by the debtor and includes any subsequent transferee to whom such transferee has pledged such movable property and also includes any person in possession of the property pledged; or(ii)the creditor has transferred or otherwise assigned his interest in the property mortgaged by the debtor and includes any subsequent transferee to whom such transferee has transferred or otherwise assigned his interest in the property mortgaged and also includes any person in possession of the property mortgaged;(o)"unit of land" means-(i)two hectares of unirrigated land; or(ii)half hectare of land having facilities for growing one irrigated crop; or(iii)half hectare of land used for growing any plantation crop or grapes or coconut or arecanut or mulberry; or(iv)quarter hectare of land having perennial irrigation facilities, or having facilities for growing more than one irrigated crop in a year.
