Definitions

Definitions. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

1. (a) "debt" means any liability, in cash or kind, whether secured or unsecured, due from or incurred by a debtor on or before the appointed day, payable under a decree or order of a civil court or otherwise and subsisting on the said day, but does not include—
   • (i) any sum due to the Central Government or any State Government or any local authority;
   • (ii) any sum due to a co-operative society;
   • (iii) any sum due to a scheduled bank;
   • (iv) any sum due to a public financial institution;
   • (v) any liability arising out of a breach of trust or any tortious liability;
   • (vi) any liability in respect of wages or remuneration due as salary or wages or otherwise for services rendered;
   • (vii) any liability in respect of maintenance, whether under a decree of a court or otherwise;
2. (b) "debtor" means a rural artisan, a rural labourer or a small farmer who owes a debt;
3. (c) "to hold" with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions, in relation to land, means to hold land as an owner or as a tenant as defined in the relevant tenancy law;
4. (d) "member of a family" means—
   • (i) in the case of an individual who is a member of a Hindu Undivided Family, any other member of such family, and
   • (ii) in any other case, the husband, wife, minor children and unmarried daughters of such individual;
5. (e) "rural area" means an area which is not an urban area;
6. (f) "rural artisan" means a person who does not hold any agricultural land and whose principal means of livelihood is production or repair of traditional tools, implements and other articles or things for use in agriculture or for the purpose of a rural life or such other classes of artisans as the State Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette, specify in this behalf;
7. (g) "rural labourer" means a person who does not hold any agricultural land and who earns his livelihood principally by manual labour in agriculture or any allied or other vocation in a rural area;
8. (h) "small farmer" means a person—
   • (i) who holds agricultural land not exceeding two hectares of dry land or one hectare of seasonally irrigated land or one-half hectare of perennially irrigated land, and
   • (ii) whose principal means of livelihood is agriculture or any allied or other vocation: Provided that in computing the area of land, one hectare of seasonally irrigated land shall be deemed to be equal to two hectares of dry land and one hectare of perennially irrigated land shall be deemed to be equal to four hectares of dry land.