The Punjab Under Imperialism, 1885-1947 [Course Book ed.] 9781400859580

Table of contents :
CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
PREFACE
ABBREVIATIONS
Chapter One. A New Agrarian Frontier
Chapter Two. Colonisation
Chapter Three. Entrenchment
Chapter Four. Militarisation
Chapter Five. Extraction
Chapter Six. Production
Chapter Seven. Growth and Underdevelopment
GLOSSARY
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX

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T H E P U N J A B UNDER I M P E R I A L I S M , 1885-1947

I M R A N ALI

The Punjab under Imperialism, 1 85-1947

PRINCETON PRESS

UNIVERSITY

Copyright © 1988 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Imran, Ah. The Punjab under imperialism, 1885-1947 / Imran AH. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-691-05527-0 (alk. paper) 1. Land settlement—India—Punjab—History. 2. Agricultural colonies—India—Punjab—History. 3. Agriculture— Economic aspects—India—Punjab—History. 4. Irrigation farming— India—Punjab—History. 5. Elite (Social sciences)—India— Punjab—History. I. Title. HD879.P8I47 1988 338.954'552—dcl9 87-34466 CIP (Rev.) This book has been composed in Linotron Times Roman Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press Princeton, New Jersey

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES PREFACE

vi vii

ABBREVIATIONS

xi

C H A P T E R 1 A New Agrarian Frontier

3

C H A P T E R 2 Colonisation

8

The Canal Colonies By State Fiat The Recipients of Land

8 12 43

C H A P T E R 3 Entrenchment

62

The Domain of Class The Rule of "Order"

63 98

C H A P T E R 4 Militarisation

Military Man and Animal The Behemoth of Horse Breeding

109

110 135

C H A P T E R 5 Extraction

158

State Extraction Social Extraction

159 182

C H A P T E R 6 Production

206

Improvement through Proxies

206

Cropping and Cultivation

222

C H A P T E R 7 Growth and Underdevelopment

237

GLOSSARY

245

BIBLIOGRAPHY

249

INDEX

257

LIST OF TABLES

2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 5.1 5.2

Canal Colonies in the Punjab Chenab Colony: Allotment of Land Jhelum Colony: Allotment of Land, 1902-1906 Lower Bari Doab Colony: Allotment of Land, 1914-1924 NiIi Bar Colony: Allotment of Land, as sanctioned in 1926 Sidhnai Colony: Land Distribution by District, Caste and Community Sohag Para Colony: Land Distribution by Caste and Community Punjab: Variation in Population, 1891-1941 Annual Working Expenses as a Percentage of Gross Annual Receipts Gross Receipts, Net Revenues (Excluding Interest) and Net Profits or Losses ( - ) (Including Interest) 5.3 Annual Net Revenues (Excluding Interest) and Net Profits (Including Interest) as a Percentage of Total Capital Outlay 5.4 Gross Receipts and Net Profits on Area Irrigated 5.5 Accumulated Surplus Revenues, or Accumulated Arrears of Interest (-)

9 22 28 33 39 46 47 60 162 163 164 166 167

PREFACE

plausibly be argued that the experience of the Punjab under British rule proved to be qualitatively different from that of other parts of South Asia. The British came late to the Punjab owing to its geographical location, which was distant from their points of early contact with the subcontinent. They remained in the province two years short of a century, relinquishing it along with the rest of their Indian empire in 1947. The Punjab was at that juncture perhaps in a state of greater turmoil and human dislocation than any other part of South Asia. The sufferings of partition and indeed the continuing instability in this region since independence could be compared to the near anarchy experienced in the Punjab during the decades prior to British annexation. Between the Sikh interregnum that ended in 1849 and the emergence of Pakistan and India in 1947, the period of British rule seemed to be one not only of relative political peace and stability, but also of vigorous economic growth. The latter was largely premised on the subject of this study: the colonisation of newly canal-irrigated land. This process of agricultural expansion was extensive enough, and sufficiently pervasive in its impact and consequences, to mark out the Punjab from other provinces of British India as a ' 'beneficiary'' of colonial rule. IT COULD

Such conclusions are not inaccurate, and they have had much currency in both official thought and scholarly assessment. Yet they require some qualification. If even a beneficiary remained an underdeveloped region, despite major economic change, then what reflection does this cast on the nature of imperialist rule, and on its consequences for its subject economies? Indeed, economic growth itself might have contained a certain "malignity' ' for the prospects of socioeconomic transformation in such regions. Such outcomes were very different from the more positive consequences of economic growth in those parts of the world that are now industrialised and affluent. That continued backwardness was entrenched because of, rather than in spite of, economic change, remains an intriguing problematic for research on the underdeveloped regions of the world. The present work tries to explain how one isolated subeconomy, that of the Punjab, could have experienced significant growth and yet have remained backward, or even have acquired through the very process of growth further structural resistances to change. The Punjab provides an instructive case study on the fortunes of a subject economy under imperialism.

viii

Preface

The great agricultural colonisation schemes undertaken in the western Punjab during British rule turned this area into a virtual human laboratory, as castes, clans, and tribes from different parts of the province converged on the new lands. This ethos has left its mark on the character of the Punjab and its people. The restlessness born of migration is now a century old. This has unhinged the traditional moorings of village society, and freed people for intercourse with the wider world. The Pakistani Punjab, where these "canal colonies" are situated, still depends predominantly for its agrarian viability on the irrigation schemes initiated during the past century. This is truly a hydraulic society, where patterns of dominance and subordination are pervaded by the fact that the water that sustains cropping comes not from the heavens but through human agency and human control. The eastern parts of the old Punjab, now in India, provided large numbers of colonists to these tracts. But the Sikhs and Hindus among them, as well as among the indigenous western Punjabis, had to leave for Indian territory at partition. This undoubtedly compounded the problems of ethno-nationalism that have recently surfaced so violently in the Indian Punjab. My work on the canal colonies has seen many changes of place and institution. It took its earliest form as an undergraduate dissertation at the University of Sussex. It became the subject of a doctoral thesis at the Australian National University, which was completed while I was teaching at the University of New South Wales. Revision of this work to its present form was undertaken while I was on teaching appointments at the University of Melbourne and lately at the Lahore University of Management Sciences. In a sense, my involvement with the canal colonies goes back much further, indeed to well before my birth, when my maternal grandfather, Nawab Sir Zulfiqar AIi Khan, undertook to construct a network of tubewells on a colony leasehold. His singular lack of success is documented here in the chapter on production. One can only hope that venture was not an ominous precedent. This work has benefitted from advice and feedback from a number of people, too numerous to name individually. I am particularly indebted to my doctoral supervisor, Professor D. A. Low, for the many years of guidance and good counsel that he has given me. Dr. Margaret Case of Princeton University Press has throughout been most cooperative and supportive. Many people have helped in the completion of the manuscript: I wish to acknowledge in particular the assistance of Ms. Naveed Hasan. The primary research for this work was conducted mostly at the India Office Library and Records, London, and in Lahore at the Punjab Secretariat archives and the Board of Revenue. I am grateful to the staff of these centres for their help and cooperation. Some conventions followed here may be briefly noted. In the case of

Preface

ix

references to assessment reports (ARs) and settlement reports (SRs), the years given in parenthesis are those of the Punjab Revenue and Agriculture Proceedings (PRAP) in which they appeared: more detailed references to these reports are contained in the Bibliography. With files from the Board of Revenue, the full title and file number are normally reproduced at the first reference, and thereafter only the number for further references in the same chapter. Unless otherwise stated, all officials referred to belonged to the Punjab Government. Correspondence to or from the financial commissioner was actually addressed to or by his senior secretary or junior secretary. However, for purposes of brevity, mention is only made to the financial commissioner (FC) in such cases. The names of certain districts and towns have changed since 1947: Lyallpur is now Faisalabad and Montgomery is now Sahiwal. I have retained the names of districts and localities as they were before 1947.

ABBREVIATIONS

AR AS BCGA BM BOR CO DA DC FC FC(D) GOI IOR KW LG PCM PCR PG PRAP(A) PRAP(G) PRAP(I) PRAP(R) RAS RODA RPCC RS Rs SC SO SR

Assessment Report Army Secretary British Cotton Growing Association British Museum, London Board of Revenue, Lahore Colonisation Officer Director of Agriculture Deputy Commissioner Financial Commissioner Financial Commissioner (Development) Government of India India Office Records, London Keep With Lieutenant-Governor (to 1921, subsequently Governors appointed) Punjab Colony Manual Punjab Colonies Report Punjab Government Punjab Revenue and Agriculture Proceedings (Agriculture) Punjab Revenue and Agriculture Proceedings (General) Punjab Revenue and Agriculture Proceedings (Irrigation) Punjab Revenue and Agriculture Proceedings (Revenue) Revenue and Agriculture Secretary Report on the Operations of the Department of Agriculture Report of the Punjab Colonies Committee, 1907-1908 Revenue Secretary Rupees Settlement Commissioner Settlement Officer Settlement Report

THE PUNJAB (at the transfer of power, 1947)

Divisions

Boundaries

District ·····(name) Division - - - -

o

miles

o

km

I

,

l