 Many jotedars were bhadraloks (upper caste members) who adopted the "de jure" status of ryot (peasant) solely for the financial benefit that the Bengal Tenancy Act of 1885 afforded to ryots.Others belonged to the intermediate landowning peasant castes such as Sadgops, Aguris,
Mahishyas, Rajbongshis, Shershahabadia and the rural, less educated Brahmins.By the 1920s a gentrified fraction of Jotedars emerged from the more prosperous peasants among the tribes such as Santhals and the Scheduled Castes such as the Bagdi and the Namasudras

Jotedars were pitted against the Naxalite movement.