An alternative strategy for studying economic development in the Punjab is by examining the problem of indebtedness in relation to institutional change and economic reform. The Punjab was the richest province of colonial India, its breadbasket as well as the major recruiting ground for the Imperial army. For these reasons, the political and financial stability of the province were key objectives of the colonial state. Indebtedness in the province was also conceptualized by officials in a way that maintained the status quo and did not threaten the maintenance of law and order or the payment of land revenue. To the official mind, the chief economic issue for the Punjab peasantry was that of indebtedness. Not only did peasant indebtedness propel legal changes and administrative action but particular colonial officers also became heavily involved with initiating reforms to combat it. In some ways, indebtedness emerged from the commissioning of the range of property documents mentioned earlier that made land holdings in the Punjab assessable.