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 22
... rates were termed " remis- sions " and every such occasion gave the opportunity for display of govern- ment concern ... water rate or abiana was the other major government demand , almost equal in amount to the land revenue demand . ( Compare ...
... rates were termed " remis- sions " and every such occasion gave the opportunity for display of govern- ment concern ... water rate or abiana was the other major government demand , almost equal in amount to the land revenue demand . ( Compare ...
Page 23
... water rate added up to a sizeable portion of total costs , especially in the canal colonies 38 ( see Table 1.2 ) . Table 1.5 also shows that water rates ... Water Rate and Value of Crops Grown on Canal - Irrigated Land in Punjab ( 1924-25 to ...
... water rate added up to a sizeable portion of total costs , especially in the canal colonies 38 ( see Table 1.2 ) . Table 1.5 also shows that water rates ... Water Rate and Value of Crops Grown on Canal - Irrigated Land in Punjab ( 1924-25 to ...
Page 24
... water rates constituted an important part of the income and expenditure of even well - to - do peasants ( see Table 1.2 ) . In the period of high prices in the 1920s , it averaged around Rs 10 or more per acre and represented upto one ...
... water rates constituted an important part of the income and expenditure of even well - to - do peasants ( see Table 1.2 ) . In the period of high prices in the 1920s , it averaged around Rs 10 or more per acre and represented upto one ...
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