Book Description

"This study examines irrigation development and agrarian change in the lower Indus basin during the past 150 years. Sindh, one of the constituent provinces of Pakistan, is located in the lower Indus river basin. The British captured Sindh in 1843 from local Mirs (rulers) and governed it for the next hundred years. Its annexation to the Bombay Presidency of British India triggered a process of irrigation infrastructure and institutional development that has continued after it became a constituent province of Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1947. The main argument of this study is that during the last 150 years, agrarian changes in Sindh have been triggered by irrigation infrastructure development, initiated and supported by the state. It further argues that although large-scale irrigation facilities have expanded the irrigated land area and improved agricultural production during this period, the relations of production in agriculture have continued without much change"--P. 27-28.