Favouritism overturned holding hard title (5)
I believe the answer is:
sahib
'title' is the definition.
(I have seen 'Indian title ' mean 'sahib' so perhaps 'title' could also mean 'sahib')
'favouritism overturned holding hard' is the wordplay.
'favouritism' becomes 'bias' (I've seen this before).
'overturned' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'holding' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'hard' becomes 'h' (abbreviation used in pencil classifications).
'bias' backwards is 'saib'.
'saib' going around 'h' is 'SAHIB'.
(Other definitions for sahib that I've seen before include "A term for an Englishman in India" , "Gentleman, if pukka" , "Indian gentleman" , "Cultured man" , "Indian gent" .)