Abstract
Equity in the distribution of canal water has been a central concern in irrigation management in Punjab, Pakistan. However, this chief objective of irrigation management has always remained elusive. Today irrigation systems in Punjab are characterized by inequities not just at the water course level but at the distributary level as well. Land and water are closely interlinked natural resources and inequities in the distribution of one resource impacts equity in the access to the other resource as well. This paper delves into the history of irrigation development in Pakistan’s Punjab and asserts that the unequal distribution of land to a certain group of politically chosen individuals made it impossible to achieve equity in the distribution of water in Punjab. Land and water rights have conventionally been discussed as separate issues in existing literature. However, given that these natural resources are so closely connected it becomes imperative to juxtapose these two and discuss them together for a more meaningful analysis. This paper aims to bridge this gap in the existing literature by presenting a history of irrigation development through discussing land and water rights on the same forum.
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Notes
“The colonization projects were based on the construction of a network of canals that took off from the river with branches and distributaries of the western Punjab. The canals were laid out primarily on uncultivated land, which was but sparsely inhabited by a semi-nomadic population. This made possible the migration into this area of people from other areas of the Punjab” (Ali 1988, p. 8).
It is questionable whether these records have been discarded as they are legal documents. Hence, one can also assume that the officials did not want to grant access and used this as an excuse.
Ali (1988, p. 9) makes reference to nine canal colonies: Sidhnai (1886–1888 construction period), Sohag Para 1886–1888), Chunian (1896–1898, 1904–1906), Chenab (1892–1905, 1926–1930), Jelhum (1902–1906), Lower Bari Doab 1914–1924), Upper Chenab (1915–1919), Upper Jelhum (1916–1921) Nili Bar (1926 but not completed by 1940s). The names of these canal colonies do not always coincide with canal circles or irrigation divisions.
An exception was the Hasli canal on River Ravi which supplied a perennial flow of water to Lahore and Amritsar. Historical evidence suggests that the Hasli canal was initially constructed in the seventeenth century, not with the intention of supplying water for agriculture, rather to water the royal Shalimar gardens in Lahore (Agnihotri 1996).
Nazir (1981, p. 282) suggests that “contrary to the belief that landownership existed in its individual joint and common held forms, ownership of landed property did not exist in pre-British rural Punjab […]. But there did exist differing classes of rights in land that were distinguished by customary practice” (see also Hamid 1982).
Khanwah Canal of the Montgomery district is an example of this. The canal had been passed down from the Mughals times and had fallen into disuse because of silting. British took over and excavated three more distributaries in 1853. Wakefieldwah canal in Jhang District had been excavated by local landlords at their own cost but due to their poor management of the canal it became un-operational and the British government took over for rehabilitation. Gilmartin (1999, p. 258) interprets the taking over the control of inundation canal, that “the state increasingly its own power in stark opposition to the realm of the local community”.
doab is the local term for land between two rivers.
The rights of janglis were hardly acknowledged. They were simply dispossessed form the Crown wasteland. When the agitated janglis protested they were given some land in the colonies (Punjab Colony Manual 1934). This option was not offered to all the members of the jangli clan but only to their chiefs or other privileged members of their society (Ali 1988). However, Ali (1988, p. 39) shows also that in the Nili Bar colony janglis were allotted land with nonperennial irrigation. Merrey (1986, p. 17 and 18) reports on one jangli “village located about 5 km from the Jhelum River, on the Chaj Doab” and mentions that within each identified revenue village (mauza) “individual holdings were demarcated in order to clearly define and record responsibilities for payment of land revenue to the state”.
Hamid (1982) mentions for Peasant grants 25 acres, for yeoman 100–125 acres and for capitalist 150–500 acres.
British administrators made ample notes on the indigenous Punjabi way of life in the years immediately following Punjab’s annexation in 1849 (Smith 1985). What is remarkable about these records is the meticulousness with which each caste has been profiled, its characteristics scrutinized, its place in the hierarchy of the Punjabi society cautiously noted. Castes were clearly bifurcated into “agricultural” castes and “non-agricultural” castes and land grants were hence strongly guided by the knowledge gathered from these records.
Javid (2011, p. 354) highlights that the agricultural class took on an “increasingly formalized and institutionalized role within the colonial administration”.
During this period multiple famines occurred: 1860–1861, 1868–1869, 1879–1880, 1896–1897 and 1900–1901.
This situation is very comparable to the early years of development of the Ganges Canal in northern India, one of earlier British irrigation endeavors. The “open flow” nature of this technology did not only lead to excessive wastage but also gave rise to a skewed distribution of water as water users in the head reaches took more water than their needs and left users at the extremities of channels deprived of a stable supply of canal water (Stone 2002).
In the analysis presented by Hamid (1982) poorer peasants have been classified as those who own very little land, a few agricultural implements and a pair of bullocks; landlord class is categorized as those who own more than 25 acres of land.
Alavi (1973) highlights that there are regional differences. He distinguishes between the Poor Old Settled Districts of the barani region, the Rich Old Settled Districts which have good irrigation as well a good rainfall and the Canal Colony Districts. He shows that large farms are more predominant in the Canal Colony Districts, less in the Rich Old Settled Districts, and the least in the Poor Old Settled Districts (data from 1960).
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Acknowledgments
We would like to thank the Royal Netherlands Embassy, Islamabad, Pakistan for their financial support to the International Water Management Institute to conduct this study through Grant #22294.
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Farooqi, H., Wegerich, K. Institutionalizing inequities in land ownership and water allocations during colonial times in Punjab, Pakistan. Water Hist 7, 131–146 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-014-0119-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12685-014-0119-1