Punjab Patwari (Pakistan Revenue and Land Administration Cadre Exams) key terms

A concrete gravity dam on the Sutlej River in Bilaspur district, Himachal Pradesh, near the Punjab border; its reservoir is Gobind Sagar. It supplies irrigation and hydroelectric power to Punjab and neighbouring states.

A Ramsar wetland in Punjab at the confluence of the Beas and Sutlej rivers, spread over Tarn Taran, Ferozepur and Kapurthala districts. It is a major habitat for migratory birds and was declared a Ramsar site in 1990.

The unicameral state legislature of Punjab, seated in Chandigarh, with 117 elected members. Members serve five-year terms, and the leader of the majority party becomes Chief Minister.

The common high court for Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, located in Chandigarh. It began as the High Court of East Punjab in 1947 and took its present name in 1966.

The killing of hundreds of unarmed Indians at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar on 13 April 1919, when troops under General Dyer fired on a gathering protesting the Rowlatt Act.

The longest of the five rivers of Punjab, rising in Tibet and flowing through Himachal Pradesh and Punjab before entering Pakistan. Bhakra Dam and the Harike barrage are built on it.

A word that has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word in the same language, such as 'begin' and 'start'. Questions ask you to pick the closest match from the options.

A word with the opposite meaning to another word, such as 'hot' and 'cold'. Exam items ask you to choose the option most nearly opposite in meaning to the given word.

A fixed expression whose meaning cannot be worked out from the individual words, such as 'to let the cat out of the bag', which means to reveal a secret.

A single word that replaces a whole phrase or clause, such as 'omnipotent' for 'one who is all-powerful'. Questions give a phrase and ask for the correct single word.

The grammar rule that a verb must match its subject in number and person, so a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb.

The script used to write Punjabi in India, standardised in the sixteenth century and traditionally associated with Guru Angad Dev. It is written from left to right and is the official script for Punjabi in Punjab.

The set of thirty-five basic letters of the Gurmukhi alphabet, traditionally learnt as a fixed sequence. Six additional letters were later added for sounds borrowed from Persian and Arabic.

A Gurmukhi diacritic placed over a consonant to double it, so the consonant is pronounced with extra stress. It is written as a small inverted crescent and changes the meaning of many words.

A vowel sign written after, above, below or before a Gurmukhi consonant to show the vowel sound that follows it, such as kanna, sihari or bihari. Independent vowels use separate carrier letters.

A Punjabi idiom: a fixed group of words whose figurative meaning differs from the literal sense of its parts. It is common in speech and tested in Punjabi grammar and composition questions.

A number expressed as a fraction of 100, written with the % sign. To convert a fraction to a percentage, multiply by 100; problems ask for increases, decreases and comparisons of quantities.

A ratio compares two quantities of the same kind by division, while a proportion states that two ratios are equal. Problems use these to divide amounts in given shares or to find unknown values.

The least common multiple is the smallest number divisible by each given number; the highest common factor is the largest number dividing each of them exactly. For two numbers, LCM × HCF equals their product.

Interest calculated only on the original principal for the whole period, using SI = P × R × T / 100, where R is the annual rate percent and T the time in years.

Interest calculated on the principal plus interest already earned, so the amount grows each period. For annual compounding the amount is P(1 + R/100)^T.

The sum of a set of values divided by how many values there are; also called the arithmetic mean. It is used to compare groups and to solve combined-average problems.

A reasoning item that asks you to identify the relationship between one pair of words or numbers and then apply the same relationship to complete a second pair.

A reasoning topic in which letters or words are replaced by a rule-based code; you must apply the rule to new words or work back from a code to the original word.

Reasoning problems that describe family relationships in words or symbols, from which you deduce how two people are related, for example brother, aunt or grandfather.

A form of reasoning with two or more premises taken as true and a conclusion drawn from them. Questions ask which conclusion necessarily follows; Venn diagrams help test validity.

A sequence of numbers that follows a pattern such as adding a fixed value, multiplying by a constant or squaring; you find the missing term or the term that breaks the rule.

The village-level revenue official who maintains land records, enters crop inspections and mutations, and helps collect land revenue in an assigned circle called a halka.

The record of rights for a village, revised every five years, listing each holding with its owner, cultivator and the land revenue payable. It is the main document for verifying ownership.

The number identifying a single plot of agricultural land on the village map. The khasra girdawari is the register in which the patwari records the crop grown on each plot.

A register that lists the khasra numbers held by a landowner or cultivator, grouped as a khata. It works as an index to the plots shown in the jamabandi.

The genealogical tree of the landowning families of a village, kept with the revenue records to trace inheritance and joint ownership of holdings.

A mutation entry in the revenue record noting a change of ownership or other right, such as by sale, inheritance or gift, sanctioned by a competent revenue officer.

A village headman chosen from among the landowners, who collects land revenue, reports deaths, encroachments and other events, and assists the patwari in keeping records.

A revenue supervisor in charge of a circle containing several patwaris' halkas. He inspects village records, checks crop entries and reports to the tehsildar.

The charge levied for irrigation water supplied from canals or government tubewells. It is collected along with land revenue and recorded against the khasra numbers irrigated.

System software that manages a computer's hardware and provides services to applications, such as Windows, Linux or Android. It handles memory, files, processes and input/output devices.

Random Access Memory, the volatile main memory where running programs and their data are held. Its contents are lost when power is switched off, unlike ROM.

Uniform Resource Locator, the address of a resource on the internet such as a web page. It specifies the protocol, the domain name and the path to the file.