book chapter

The canal colonies

Punjab peasant in prosperity and debt[bombayPublished In 1947 • Pages: 111-131

By: Darling, Malcolm.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is an account of how building canals and establishing associated settlements in stages from 1860 to 1930 transformed parts of the Punjab by making farming more productive. Settlers were selected from over-populated central Punjab by an officer who inspected prospective candidates' health, physique, hands (to see if they had indeed worked a plough), willingness to relocate, debt level, and whether they lacked sufficient land to farm. Assessment is made of the types of colonists chosen and their degree of success, absentee landlordism, tenancy, and sizes of holdings. The author is particularly concerned with debt, its causes, and possible remedies, emphasizing the value of thrift with regard to the last.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Water supply
Settlement patterns
Borrowing and lending
Renting and leasing
Public works
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
West Punjabi
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Asia
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
South Asia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
book chapter
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Government Official
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Helen Takacs; 1956
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1917-1919, 1930
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1905-1930
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
north-central Punjab Province, Pakistan
NotesAdditional notes
By Malcolm Darling
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
49026465
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Land tenure--Punjab
Peasantry--Punjab
Usury--Punjab
Agricultural credit--Punjab
Punjab--Economic conditions