The political Ecology of Famine: British Canal Colonies and Hydraulic Alteration in the Punjab (1880-1930)

Abstract

Incorporated into the context of British colonialism, the Punjab Canal Colonies is one of the largest efforts to transform the agrarian landscape in South Asia, spanning from 1885 to 1940. This work discusses British policies for allocating land grants in these colonies as well as the economic, political and social consequences of such policies. The British built lengthy canal systems, lasting for many years, in the semi-arid areas of western Punjab, and made these wastelands into productive farmland. This change alone had led to the conversion of less than 3 million acres to some 14 million acres of irrigated land by 1947, which allowed more than 1 million peasants to be settled. The research emphasizes the logic behind the land allotment policies which were devised to appease and "reward" loyal chiefs, landlords (zamindars), military pensioners, and other important elites, promoting political stability and bolstering colonial authority. Also, the colonies were mainly responsible for the commercialization of agriculture, specifically wheat and cotton, for the industrial needs of Britain. The study also examines socio-economic restructuring of rural Punjab and its consequences like the migration of people, the rise of the market towns and displacement of the native pastoral communities. This research examines the canal settlement and agricultural production in critical perspective of the canal revenue records and reveals the developmental and exploitative aspects of canal colonization. Above all, the canal colonies transformed the agrarian economy, and established new power structures which had lasting effects on regional society and post colonial agricultural systems