The Punjab--an area now divided between Pakistan and
India--experienced significant economic growth under British rule
from the second half of the nineteenth century. This expansion was
founded on the construction of an extensive network of canals in
the western parts of the province. The ensuing agricultural
settlement transformed the previously barren area into one of the
most important regions of commercial agriculture in South Asia.
Nevertheless, Imran Ali argues that colonial strategy distorted the
development of what came to be called the "bread basket" of the
Indian subcontinent. This comprehensive survey of British rule in
the Punjab demonstrates that colonial policy making led to many of
the socio-economic and political problems currently plaguing
Pakistan and Indian Punjab.
Subordinating developmental goals to its political and military
imperatives, the colonial state cooperated with the dominant social
classes, the members of which became the major beneficiaries of
agricultural colonization. Even while the rulers tried to use the
vast resources of the Punjab to advance imperial purposes, they
were themselves being used by their collaborators to advance
implacable private interests. Such processes effectively retarded
both nationalism and social change and resulted in the continued
backwardness of the region even after the departure of the
British.
Originally published in 1988.
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