Colonializing Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab ExceptionalismThis book is the first comprehensive study of the impact of colonialism on the agriculture of this very important region which, apart from the Pakistani and Indian provinces of Punjab, included the present day Indian provinces of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. Making extensive use of data culled from government archives and private papers in India and Britain, as well as from village surveys, farm accounts and family budgets, the author argues that Punjab was by no means an idyllic land of prosperous peasant proprietors. She maintains that it was also the land of big feudal landlords, rack-rented tenants, and struggling small-holders, who were forced to enlist in the army or migrate to enable their families to pay government taxes and to repay debts. Comparing Punjab with its supposed polar-opposite, the eastern region of Bengal and Bihar, Mridula Mukherjee demonstrates that Punjab too had begun to exhibit features typical of colonial under-development, such as stagnation of productive forces, intensification of semi-feudal relations, forced commercialisation and lack of capital investment in agriculture. The green revolution therefore was not the result of a continuity but actually because of a break with the colonial past. |
From inside the book
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Page 47
... Gurgaon , wrote in response to a query by the government that in the case of money - lending by well - to - do agriculturists , ex - officers , etc. , " the rate of interest charged is as high , if not higher , than that charged by the ...
... Gurgaon , wrote in response to a query by the government that in the case of money - lending by well - to - do agriculturists , ex - officers , etc. , " the rate of interest charged is as high , if not higher , than that charged by the ...
Page 76
... Gurgaon , by 1910 , 20 per cent of the area was mortgaged and 8 per cent had been sold since 1877 — of this , 5.55 per cent had been transferred in just one - and - a - half years of drought during 1877-78 . In Muzaffargarh , 14.5 per ...
... Gurgaon , by 1910 , 20 per cent of the area was mortgaged and 8 per cent had been sold since 1877 — of this , 5.55 per cent had been transferred in just one - and - a - half years of drought during 1877-78 . In Muzaffargarh , 14.5 per ...
Page 82
... Gurgaon and Rewari tehsils of Gurgaon District , the inferiority of the soil and the high pitch of the revenue assessment combined to keep mortgages low and sales high . The Firozpur , Nuh and Palwal tehsils of the same district , on ...
... Gurgaon and Rewari tehsils of Gurgaon District , the inferiority of the soil and the high pitch of the revenue assessment combined to keep mortgages low and sales high . The Firozpur , Nuh and Palwal tehsils of the same district , on ...
Contents
Peasants as TaxPayers | 1 |
Peasants as Debtors | 31 |
Peasants in the Market | 55 |
Copyright | |
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Other editions - View all
Colonizing Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism Mridula Mukherjee No preview available - 2005 |
Colonizing Agriculture: The Myth of Punjab Exceptionalism Mridula Mukherjee No preview available - 2005 |
Common terms and phrases
25 acres accumulations agrarian agricultural labourers agriculturist Amritsar Amritsar District assessment average Banking Enquiry Report batai BEIP Bihar British Punjab Calvert canal colonies capital capitalist cash rents cent commercialization costs of cultivation crops cultivated area Darling Papers decline Delhi Dera Ghazi Khan Economic Survey example family labour Ferozepore District Gijhi in Rohtak Gujranwala District Gurdaspur Gurgaon Gurgaon District Hissar holding size categories Hoshiarpur income increase India investment irrigation Jullundur Jullundur District Kangra Kessinger Lahore land revenue landlords landowners leasing Lindauer and Singh loans LRCR Lyallpur Lyallpur District moneylenders mortgage debt Multan District Muzaffargarh Muzaffargarh District non-agriculturist operated holdings owners Peasant in Prosperity peasantry percentage production proportion Prosperity and Debt province Punjab Banking Enquiry Punjab Peasant Rawalpindi regions Report of Settlement Rohtak District sahukar Sandila Settlement Operations Sialkot small-holding societies surplus appropriation Survey of Gijhi Table Tehsil tenants tenants-at-will Vilyatpur wage labour water rates wheat