The Attendance Register
Chapter Thirty-Two
Syllabus topic 5, "Types of Farm Records- Specimen. (Muster roll, Overseer’s diary, Cultivation register, Cashbook, Stock book, Issue register, Receipt register, Labour requisition book, Attendance register, Deadstock, Ration book, Peon book, General register)."
Pages 72 to 73 of 110
Read this first, because it is the commonest confusion in Unit III
The attendance register is not the muster roll. MU names both, and a question asking for the difference is asking for something definite.
| Attendance register | Muster roll | |
|---|---|---|
| Covers | Regular and permanent staff on monthly wages | Casual labour engaged and paid by the day |
| Records | Presence, absence, leave, holidays, and late attendance | Presence, and the wage computation on the same sheet |
| Period | A month, closed at the month end | A week or a fortnight, closed when the gang is paid |
| Is it a voucher for payment? | No. The pay sheet is | Yes. It carries the receipt |
| Purpose | To account for time and for leave | To pay |
| Signed by | The employee, on arrival, or marked by the supervisor | The employee, against the amount received |
One sentence for the exam: the attendance register accounts for time; the muster roll pays for it.
Why it is kept
- To record the presence and absence of the regular staff, day by day.
- To compute leave taken, leave due and leave without pay.
- To be the basis for the monthly pay sheet.
- To record holidays and weekly offs.
- To evidence compliance with the labour laws on hours and on wages.
- To fix responsibility, because a farm's regular staff are the people the proprietor trusts with the store, the cattle and the money.
The specimen
Shivneri Farm, Baramati. Attendance register for November 2026. Regular staff.
Marks: P present, A absent, CL casual leave, H holiday or weekly off.
| Sr | Name | Designation | 1 to 7 | 8 to 14 | 15 to 21 | 22 to 28 | 29, 30 | Present | Leave | Absent |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | S. R. Pawar | Overseer | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PP | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | M. Gaikwad | Tractor driver | PPPPPPH | PPPAPPH | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PP | 25 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | R. Jadhav | Cattle attendant | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PPCLPPH | PPPPPPH | PP | 25 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | V. Salunke | Watchman | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PPPPPPH | PP | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 102 | 1 | 1 |
Weekly off: Sunday. Holidays in the month: nil. Marked daily by the Overseer, verified weekly by the Proprietor. Leave record maintained on the reverse.
The columns and the rules
One line per person for the whole month, so that a person's record is read across in one glance.
Marked on the day, in the morning. A register marked at the month end is a work of fiction and looks like one.
The four weekly blocks and the tail make the month readable on one page. A farm using a full 31-column register uses one column a day and the totals are the same.
Present, leave and absent must together account for every working day in the month. November has 30 days with four Sundays, so 26 working days, and each person's three totals add to 26. That identity is the check on the page.
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The rest of this subject
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