Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-xtgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T18:30:45.043Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Scientific Empire and Imperial Science: Colonialism and Irrigation Technology in the Indus Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 March 2010

David Gilmartin
Get access

Extract

In the eyes of many colonial administrators in the nineteenth century, the advance of science and the advance of colonial rule went hand in hand: Science helped to secure colonial rule, to justify European domination over other peoples, and to transform production for an expanding world economy (Adas 1989). The history of irrigation in India, where the British built large new irrigation works to increase colonial revenues and expand commercial production, provides a dramatic illustration of this.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , November 1994 , pp. 1127 - 1149
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

List of References

Adas, Michael. 1989 Machines as the Measure of Men: Science, Technology and Ideologies of Western Dominance. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Ali, Imran. 1987. “Malign Growth? Agricultural Colonization and the Roots of Backwardness in the Punjab.” Past and Present 114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ali, Imran. 1988. The Punjab under Imperialism, 1885–1947. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amin, Shahid. 1989 “Editor's Introduction.” In William Crooke, A Glossary of North Indian Peasant Life, ed. by Amin, Shahid. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Barrier, N. G. 1967. “The Punjab Disturbances of 1907: The Response of the British Government in India to Agrarian Unrest.” Modern Asian Studies 1.4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bellasis, E. S. 1907. Note by Superintending Engineer, Derajat Circle, on questions raised by the Deputy Commissioner, Dera Ghazi Khan, August 15, 1907. Punjab Public Works Department (hereafter, PWD), Irrigation, file no. 412 of 1909. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Bellasis, E. S. 1909. Report dated 5 May 1909, and undated note included in W. R. H. Merk to Senior Secretary to Financial Commissioners, 16 Sept. 1908. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 412 of 1909 PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Bennett, W. E. T. 1910. Chief Engineer's summation of arguments on the discontinuation of the word “haq” in official correspondence. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 74 of 1910. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Chambers, Robert. 1988. Managing Canal Irrigation: Practical Analysis from South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Clarke, R. T. 1908. Deputy Commissioner, Multan to Commissioner, Multan, August 11, 1908. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 412 of 1909 PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Cohn, Bernard. 1987. An Anthropologist among the Historians and Other Essays. Delhi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Craik, H. D. 1916. Note by the Revenue Secretary, June 2, 1916. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 78 of 1898. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Crofton, Col. J. 1875. Letter to Secretary to Government, Punjab, March 9, 1875. Punjab Revenue, Agriculture and Commerce, A Procs., September 1875, no. 8. India Office Records, London.Google Scholar
Dewey, Clive J. 1991. The Settlement Literature of the Greater Punjab. Delhi: Manohar.Google Scholar
Duthy, G. W. 1919. “Remodelling Inundation Canals in the Muzaffargarh District.” In Minutes of the Proceedings of the Punjab Engineering Congress VII.Google Scholar
Elphinstone, Capt. N. W. 1860. Report of the Revised Settlement of the Googaira District. Lahore: Punjab Government.Google Scholar
Fife, J. G. 1871. Note by Under-Secretary, PWD, January 24, 1871. Bombay PWD, Irrigation, Vol. 753 of 1868–1890, no. 125 of 1871. Maharashtra State Archives, Bombay.Google Scholar
Foucault, Michel. 1977. Discipline and Punish, trans, by Sheridan, A.. New York: Pantheon.Google Scholar
Freitag, Sandria B. 1991. “Crime in the Social Order of Colonial North India,” Modern Asian Studies 25.2.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frost, H. F. B. 1904. Note by Superintending Engineer, Bari Doab Circle, on the History of the Bari Doab Canal. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 355 of 1904. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Gee, C. D. 1914. Note by Chief Engineer, May 19, 1914. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 78 of 1898. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
SirGibb, Alexander, & Partners, International Land Development Consultants, and Hunting Technical Services Limited. 1966. Programme for the Development of Irrigation and Agriculture in West Pakistan. London and Arnhem: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development.Google Scholar
Gladstone, C. E. 1879. Deputy Commissioner, Dera Ghazi Khan to Commissioner, Derajat, December 8, 1879. Punjab Foreign, A Procs., January 1880, no. 12. India Office Records, London.Google Scholar
Gordon, W. B. 1909. Note by Chief Engineer on complaints against the canal administration in the districts of Multan, Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan (with abstract of petitions submitted to the Chief Engineer), May 31, 1909. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 412 of 1909. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Habib, Irfan. 1970. “Presidential Address.” In Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, 31st Session, Varanasi, 1969. Patna: Indian History Congress.Google Scholar
Headrick, Daniel R. 1988. The Tentacles of Progress: Technology Transfer in the Age of Imperialism. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Holmes, W. F. 1916. Note dated August 11, 1916. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 78 of 1898. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Houk, Ivan E. 1956. Irrigation Engineering, II. New York: John Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Jacob, Lt. Col. John. 1855. “Official Correspondence on the Abolition of Statute or Forced Labour in Sind,” February 23, 1855. Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government, no. XXXIV–New Series. India Office Records, London.Google Scholar
James, Lt. Hugh. 1849. “Canals of the Mooltan District” (November 29, 1849). Selections from the Records of the Punjab Administration, Old Series, No. 1. India Office Records, London.Google Scholar
Lambrick, H. T. 1975. John Jacob of Jacobabad. Karachi: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lieftinck, Pieter, Sadove, A. Robert, and Creyke, Thomas C.. 1968. Water and Power Resources of West Pakistan: A Study in Sector Planning, 2 vols. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, for the World Bank.Google Scholar
Lyall, James B. 1882. Memorandum by Financial Commissioner, Punjab, August 2, 1882. Punjab Revenue and Agriculture, Irrigation, A Procs., November 1882, no. 1. India Office Records, London.Google Scholar
Maynard, H. J. 1907. Commissioner, Multan to Superintending Engineer, Derajat Circle, November 19, 1907. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 412 of 1909. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Merewether, W. L. 1870. Commissioner in Sind, to Sir W. R. Seymour V. Fitzgerald, Governor of Bombay, October I, 1870. Bombay PWD, Irrigation, Vol. 753 of 1868–1890, no. 466 of 1870. Maharashtra State Archives, Bombay.Google Scholar
Merk, W. R. H. 1908. Commissioner, Multan to Junior Secretary to Financial Commissioners, September 16, 1908. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 412 of 1909. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Merrey, Douglas. 1983. “Irrigation, Poverty and Social Change in a Village of Pakistani Punjab: An Historical and Cultural Ecological Analysis.” Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania.Google Scholar
Michel, Aloys A. 1967. The Indus Rivers: A Study of the Effects of Partition. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Nasir, Sardar A. D. 1988. The Canal and Drainage Laws of Pakistan. Lahore: Mansoor Book House.Google Scholar
O'Dwyer, M. F. 1898. Note by the Lieutenant-Governor, June 5, 1916. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 78 of 1898. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Painter, James E., Baldwin, Emily, Malone, Sandra, Smerdon, Ernest T., Ahmed, Akbar S., Siddiqui, Masud A., and Khan, Mahmud, 1982. The On-Farm Water Management Project in Pakistan. Project Impact Evaluation No. 35. United States Agency for International Development (June 1982).Google Scholar
Perkins, H. E. 1882. Commissioner, Multan to Secretary to Financial Commissioners, May 8, 1882. Punjab, Revenue and Agriculture, A Procs., August 1882, no. 4. India Office Records, London.Google Scholar
Prinsep, E. A. 1865. Report of the Settlement of the Sealkote District, 1855–1860. Lahore, Punjab Government.Google Scholar
Public Works Department, Government of India. 1919. Irrigation in India: Review for 1917–1918. Simla: Government of India.Google Scholar
Public Works Department, Irrigation Branch, Punjab. 1940. Departmental noting, May 22, 1940. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 124 of 1908. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Public Works Department, Irrigation Branch, Punjab. 1943. A Manual of Irrigation Practice, 1st ed.Lahore: Punjab Government.Google Scholar
Qazilbash, Nawab Nisar Ali Khan. 1931. Petition to Deputy Commissioner, Lahore, October 5, 1931. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 45 of 1907. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Radosevich, George E. 1975. “Water User Organizations for Improving Irrigated Agriculture: Applicability to Pakistan.” Water Management Technical Report No. 44. Fort Collins: Engineering Research Center, Colorado State University (December 1975).Google Scholar
Sandeman, Capt. Robert. 1870. Deputy Commissioner, Dera Ghazi Khan, to Commissioner, Derajat, August 4, 1870. Punjab Land Revenue, A Procs., October 1870, no. 5. Punjab Archives, Lahore.Google Scholar
Saunders, Leslie S. 1873. Report on the Revised Land Revenue Settlement of the Lahore District. Lahore: Punjab Government.Google Scholar
Sharma, K. R. 1948. Irrigation Engineering, I. Jullundur: India Printers.Google Scholar
Shoubridge, H. O. B. 1898. “Desert Canal, Remodelling Project.” Bombay PWD, Irrigation, Vol. 79 of 1899–1903, file no. 50 of 1899. Maharashtra State Archives, Bombay.Google Scholar
Siddiqi, Akhtar Husain. 1981. “Salinization and Waterlogging in the Upper Indus Plain (Punjab) During the Early Colonial Period: 1850–1900 a.d.: A Problem of the Past Neglects.” Asian Profile 9.6 (December 1981).Google Scholar
Singh, Chetan. 1985. “Well-irrigation Methods in Medieval Punjab: the Persian Wheel Reconsidered.” Indian Economic and Social History Review 22.1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, Hira. 1927. Member of the Legislative Council, of Narli, Lahore District, to Sir Fazli Husain, December 3, 1927. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, file no. 45 of 1907. PWD Secretariat, Lahore.Google Scholar
Sorley, H. T. 1968. The Gazetteer of West Pakistan: The Former Province of Sind. Karachi: Government of West Pakistan.Google Scholar
Steedman, E. B. 1882. Report of the Revised Settlement of the J hang District, 1874–1880. Lahore: Punjab Government.Google Scholar
Stone, Ian. 1984. Canal Irrigation in British India: Perspectives on Technological Change in a Peasant Economy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Temple, Richard. 1852. Memorandum, September 9, 1852. Punjab Revenue, April 17, 1852, nos. 92–102. Punjab Archives, Lahore.Google Scholar
Uphoff, Norman. 1986. Improving International Irrigation Management with Farmers' Participation: Getting the Process Right. Boulder and London: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Ward, T. R. J. 1917. Comments of the Punjab Chief Engineer, Irrigation, in minutes of committee to consider the remodelling of outlets of the UBDC, November 29–30, 1916. Punjab PWD, Irrigation, Works, April 1917, nos. 1–4 (“Reduction of Outlets on the Upper Bari Doab Canal”). Punjab PWD Secretariat Library, Lahore.Google Scholar
Whitcombe, Elizabeth. 1982. “Irrigation.” In Kumar, Dharma, ed., The Cambridge Economic History of India, II. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Worster, Donald. 1985. Rivers of Empire: Water, Aridity and the Growth of the American West. New York: Pantheon Books.Google Scholar
Yang, Anand. 1989. The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793–1920. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar