Farming in region, before 1947

Agriculture has been the principal occupation of the Indian people, points out the author, Dr Mahender Singh, as he attempts to focus on agriculture of the south-eastern part of Punjab province between 1858 and 1947 in his book ‘Agrarian Society in Transition: A Case Study of the Colonial South-Eastern Punjab’.

The study includes the districts of Ambala, Karnal, Hisar, Rohtak and Gurgaon; the area of these five districts of the British time, he writes, forms 22 districts of Haryana. The in-depth study looks at various aspects of farming, land revenue, irrigation, cultivated land, crops and sowing patterns, agriculture machinery, demographics, rural wages, forms of rent, the village life, even the kind of food eaten.

The book is replete with interesting insights. Like how Sir Chhotu Ram had a broad-based irrigation policy on his mind. On the one hand he wanted execution of a number of major and minor irrigational projects, ranging from tubewells, non-perennial canals to hydro-electric projects like the Bhakra Dam scheme, and on the other he wanted to bring down the water charges by nationalising these in accordance with the agricultural process, and removing corruption and inefficiency in the irrigation department.

Bhakra was conceived as a water storage project, without any idea of generating power. The Lieutenant Governor of Punjab, Michael O’Dwyer, referred to the project many times in his speeches during 1916-19, and declared at the Rohtak Darbar held in his honour that the forests of Hisar and Rohtak would be turned into smiling fields. It is another matter that it took decades for the project to become a reality.

Well researched, easy to read, packed with facts, the book is a veritable source of information and takes a holistic view of what agriculture and the processes associated with it meant for those living in the region before Partition, and how it was viewed by those ruling the country.

Care has been taken to explain the terminology in use and give a background. The book by Dr Mahender Singh, who incidentally is a student and teacher of history, is a welcome addition to other works on the subject and the region. — TNS