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Economic Transformations and Their Socio-Political Impact in Colonial Haryana, 1857-1947


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1 Department of History, Motilal Nehru College (Day), University of Delhi, New Delhi, India
     

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This article traces the broad trends in the economy of colonial Haryana from the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 till independence. It discusses the post-Mutiny colonial policies that led to commodification of land, commercialization of agriculture, new land revenue settlements, rise of a new class of loyal landlords, and dispossession, indebtedness and impoverishment of peasantry. It also delineates the impact of these processes on social stratification and patterns of land-ownership; the rise of loyalist politics of the landlord class; the role of reformist Arya Samaj movement; and the contestations and shifting alliances among key political players of the region such as the Congress, the Muslim League and the Unionist Party. The essay demonstrates how economic restructuring of the region by colonial policies in the 19th century reconfigured the class equations of the region’s rural society which, in turn, affected and were acted upon by the regional politics of the 20th century.

Keywords

Alienation of Land Act, Unionist Party, lambardar/s, Sir Chhotu Ram, Colonialism.
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  • Irfan Habib, The Agrarian System of Mughal India, 1556-1707, Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1963, p. 16; I. R. Khan, ‘Historical Geography of the Punjab and Sind with Special Reference to River Changes’, The Aligarh Muslim University Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 1934, pp. 31, 55.
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  • Irfan Habib, ‘Colonisation of the Indian Economy, 1757-1900’, Social Scientist, vol. 3, no. 32, 1975, pp. 23-53.
  • The number of settlements varied from district to district.
  • Even the settlement officers have accepted this fact in their various settlement reports.
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  • Chowdhry, ‘Rural Relations’, p. 473.
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  • Prem Chowdhry, ‘The Congress Triumph in South-East Punjab Elections of 1946’, Studies in History, vol. 2, no. 2, 1980, pp. 81-110.

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  • Economic Transformations and Their Socio-Political Impact in Colonial Haryana, 1857-1947

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Authors

Suraj Bhan Bhardwaj
Department of History, Motilal Nehru College (Day), University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

Abstract


This article traces the broad trends in the economy of colonial Haryana from the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 till independence. It discusses the post-Mutiny colonial policies that led to commodification of land, commercialization of agriculture, new land revenue settlements, rise of a new class of loyal landlords, and dispossession, indebtedness and impoverishment of peasantry. It also delineates the impact of these processes on social stratification and patterns of land-ownership; the rise of loyalist politics of the landlord class; the role of reformist Arya Samaj movement; and the contestations and shifting alliances among key political players of the region such as the Congress, the Muslim League and the Unionist Party. The essay demonstrates how economic restructuring of the region by colonial policies in the 19th century reconfigured the class equations of the region’s rural society which, in turn, affected and were acted upon by the regional politics of the 20th century.

Keywords


Alienation of Land Act, Unionist Party, lambardar/s, Sir Chhotu Ram, Colonialism.

References