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Agrarian Economy of the Bahawalpur State: 1866-1947 By Zahra Akram Hashmi Session: 2010-2013 Ph.D. History Department of History The Islamia University of Bahawalpur 2017 Agrarian Economy of the Bahawalpur State: 1866-1947 By Zahra Akram Hashmi A Dissertation Submitted to the Islamia University of Bahawalpur in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Department Of History The Islamia University of Bahawalpur Pakistan 2017 i ii iii To My Father iv Acknowledgement I am grateful to Allah Almighty who gave me courage and power to conduct my research and enable me to complete this dissertation. During the course of this research, I have received great help and support from my PhD supervisor Dr. Aftab Hussain Gillani. I am particularly indebted to Dr. Abdul Razzaq Shahid, Chairman of the Department of History. I would like to thank Dr. Muhammad Akbar Malik and Dr. Shahid Hassan Rizvi for their academic and moral support. Many thanks are due for Dr. Muhammad Khurshid Ahmad who provided me great academic support. I owe my particular thanks to Dr. Mubarak Ali, world fame historian of Pakistan, for his valuable suggestions on the development of conceptual framework. This work would not have been possible without his cooperation. I am also grateful to Muhammad Abbas Chughtai, the Director of Punjab Archives Department and the staff at Punjab Archives Lahore, where I have consulted the valuable manuscript. I am also thankful to the staff at Commissioner Office Bahawalpur Division Bahawalpur and the staff of Muhafiz Khana Bahawalpur, who gave me full access to the old records of the Bahawalpur State. I am also grateful to the staff of Sadiq Reading Library of IUB, Central Library Bahawalpur and Library of Lahore High Court branch Bahawalpur. Many thanks are due for the staff of Punjab Public Library Lahore and Library of Lahore Museum. Countless words of thanks are due to my parents whose motivation and prayers have always kept me going. For any lapses in the thesis however, I alone am responsible. Zahra Akram Hashmi v Abstract This research aims at providing a historical analysis of the Agrarian perspective of a regional economy and the development process of its parameters using the State of Bahawalpur as both a specific context as well as a perspective. It approaches the State as a distinct entity, which had its own specific social, economic, and political conditions that interacted with external ideas especially during the period in its history when it was under the British Agency administration. Generally, the studies on economic history, particularly on the themes of agrarian history, agricultural development and its social impact, and the phenomena of State and society relationship are rare, which renders this discipline largely an unchartered territory in the princely India context. This thesis is an effort towards that end and adds to the scant body of literature on the topic. The native agrarian system of the State, having a pastoral outlook, had large potential for socio-economic uplift. This provided the basis for new initiatives of fundamental importance to develop the State‟s infrastructure in socio-economic sectors, especially under the Agency rule, which overhauled almost each department of the administration and adapted the constitutional mechanism of political power to shore up the economic growth. The provision of proprietary rights to the peasantry ensured the secure lease of land to them and acted as the major income-generator in the agricultural economy of the region. As a result, it also significantly increased the land revenue of the State, which was realized through the colonial apparatus of the settlements of land. This revenue largely was subsequently reinvested into two major areas; irrigation and colonization projects. These projects remain the major focus and form the main research questions of this study, which scopes both the ventures because they were broadly interlinked and consequential, and played a significant part in updating and leveraging the economy of the State. In parallel, a transformation from an aboriginal outlook to agricultural character was also occurring in the States‟ economy and the social matrix of the State was changing under the influence of the skillful and experienced colonists from the British Punjab. Along with the above noted projects, the research methodology also scopes and scales this phenomenon. Mainly, archival research and analysis methods have been employed to investigate the socio-economic dynamics underpinning the traditional agricultural practices and vi customary relations that were gradually replaced by the modern cultivating accomplishment. Relevant official documents provided the substance in this regard and both the qualitative and quantitative methods have been used to extract and glean required data. A wide range of other more specific methodological practices- from fundamental historiographic skills and strategies for archival investigations to formal analytic techniques such as content analysis and multidimensional scaling are used to interpret the phenomena of socio-economic development and administrative control of the Bahawalpur State in the context of main research questions outlined above. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgement v Abstract vi Glossary xi List of Abbreviations xiv List of Tables xv List of Figures xvii List of Appendix xviii Map xx Chapter 1 1 Introduction 1 1.1. The State of Bahawalpur 2 1.2. The Princely India and the British 8 1.3.The British-Bahawalpur Relations 10 1.4. The British Agency and Political Structure of the Bahawalpur State 14 1.5. Historiography 17 1.6. Theoretical Framework 23 1.7. Scope and Significance of the Study 25 1.8. Terminologies, Methodology and Sources 26 1.9. Chapters Outline 29 Chapter 2 31 Agrarian Structure of the Bahawalpur State 31 2.1 The Origin and Growth of Agriculture in the State 31 2.2 Agricultural Production in the State 32 2.2.1 Cultivation Patterns and Crops Yields 33 2.2.2 Inducement of Modern Inputs 39 2.3 Agrarian Structure 42 2.3.1 Pastoralism 43 2.3.2 Peasants and the Ownership Rights 46 2.4 Socio-Economic Organization of the Village Communities 49 2.4.1 The Land Owning Class 53 2.4.1.1 The Big Land Owners 54 viii 2.4.1.2 The Small Landowners 55 2.5 Tenancy Cultivation (Mustajri) 56 2.6 TheVillage Menial 62 2. 7 Indebtedness 66 Chapter 3 Land Revenue System of the Bahawalpur State 74 3.1 Land Revenue Structure in the Pre Agency (1727-1866) 74 3.2 Development of the Land Revenue System during the Agency Period 77 3.2.1 Land Revenue Settlements 78 3.2.2 The Summary Settlement (1868-89) 80 3.2.3 The Records of Rights 81 3.2.4 The Regular Settlements 83 3.2.5 First Phase of the Revenue Settlement (1889-91) 83 3.2.6 Second Phase of the Revenue Settlement (1900-11) 85 3.2.7 Third Phase of the Revenue Settlement (1915-26) 86 3.2.8 Fourth Phase of the Revenue Settlement (1929-31) 90 3.2.9 Fifth Phase of the Revenue Settlement (1944-51) 93 3.3 The Standard for the State Demand 96 3.3.1 The Other taxes 103 3.3.2 Remissions on Kharaba and Role of Revenue Bureaucracy 104 3.4 Revenue Free Land Grants 106 Chapter 4 118 Irrigation System of the Bahawalpur State 118 4.1. Irrigation in the Pre-Agency Period 118 4.2. Irrigation System under the Agency 122 4.2.1. Traditional Irrigation 124 4.2.2. Canal Irrigation 127 4.2.3. Chherr System of Water Management 129 4.2.4.New Canal Works 135 4.2.5. Sadqia Twin Canal System 136 4.3. The Sutlej Valley Project 140 4.3.1. Antecedent of the Project 140 4.3.2. Thomas Ward Recommendations and the Final Project of 1919 142 4.3.3. Losses for the Bahawalpur State and loan Dilemma 147 ix 4.3.3.1.Water Discourse and Role of Custodian Government 150 4.3.4. Impacts of the Project 153 4.3.4.1. Progress in Communication Resources 154 Chapter 5 Canal Colonization in the Bahawalpur State 158 5.1 Colonization in the State 158 5.2. Canal Colonization in Punjab 162 5.3. Colonization Scheme under Sutlej Valley Project in the Bahawalpur State 163 5.3.1. The Attributes and Implications of the Bahawalpur Colony 165 5.3.1.1. Sale and Purchase 165 5.3.1.2. Peasant Grantees / Abadkars 168 5.3.1.3. Military Grants 169 5.3.1.4. Temporary Cultivation 171 5.3.1.5. Arboriculture 172 5.3.2.The Early Problems and Remedies 173 5.3.3. Proprietary Rights in the Bahawalpur Colony 177 5.3.4. The Social Origins and Composition of the Colonists 179 5.4. Impact of Canal Colonization 182 5.5. Trade Policy of the Bahawalpur State 189 5.6. Trade of Food Grains and Famine Prevention 195 Conclusion 202 Biblography 211 Appendix 234 x Glossary Abadi Population Abiana Water rates Amlak Property Banya Local Moneylender Barani Rain fed areas Bigha A scale for the measurement of land having 2483 of square miles or 21780 of square feet or half of the acre Bunds Stop dam Bupari Merchant Chahi Well irrigated land Chakk Village Chakbandi Gross area of land fixed for irrigation in relation Chherr Unpaid labour Cheharsala Four yearly Crore Ten million Dahar Mud flats Darbar Court of native ruler Dhunds Natural creeks to feed the fields Dhanwai Weightman Duck Cubic contents Gadi Throne Gosain Hindu religious nobles Hal Plough Hatti Small village shop Hittar Low laying riverine land xi Inam Grant of land in reward Iwz-e-Lashkari In lieu of Military Services Jama Land revenue collection Jagir Estate Jagirdar Feudal lord Jammabandi Settlement of the amount of revenue assessed upon an estate, a village, district rent-roll or a register of the village holdings Kami Menial Kassur