Based On The Data Gathered From Field-Work And Secondary Sources, This Book Vividly Describes The Ground Realities Of An Agrarian Society Like That Of Punjab, Which Is Rapidly Transforming Itself In Terms Of Needs, Aspirations And Socio-Economic Perceptions Of The People.

Following the Mutiny of 1857, various factors impelled the British to turn to the province of Punjab in north-western India as the principal recruiting ground for the Indian Army. This book examines the processes by which the politics and political economy of colonial Punjab was militarised by the province`s position as the `sword arm` of the Raj. The militarisation of the administration in the Punjab was characterised by a conjunction of the military, civil and political authorities. This led to the emergence of a uniquely civil-military regime, a phenomenon that was not replicated anywhere else in British India, indeed in the Empire. Analysing these events, this book: - Studies the manner in which the Punjab became the main recruiting ground for the Indian Army - Looks at how certain districts were selected for military recruitment, and the factors motivating the `military classes` among the Punjabis to join the Army - Discusses the effects of the First World War on the recruitment process in the Punjab - Highlights the role the civil-military regime played in the politics of the Punjab, its survival after the Second World War and the manner in which it handled the demand for Pakistan and the subsequent partitioning of the province.

Civil Society in Malerkotla, Punjab: Fostering Resilience through Religion by Karenjot Bhangoo Randhawa explores the direct role that religion plays in conflict and peace that has often been difficult to isolate. This study extends previous work on peace and conflict resolution by looking at a town which has witnessed many outbreaks of violence in the past but still holds peace as the norm. The former princely state of Malerkotla, Punjab is a place where riots did not occur during Partition. In this unique Muslim majority town, there are four distinct religious groups that live in close proximity to each other. Yet, the overall pattern of peaceful plurality in the town has resulted in the transcendence of violence even when the threat looms close by. The unique case of Malerkotla, Punjab provides an opportunity to look more closely and critically at Sikhs and their relationship with Muslims in India. As a case study, this work captures the overall pattern of Sikh-Muslim interaction in a town that can transcend conflict and make peace the norm. Randhawa uncovers how religious associations, expressions and activities have helped to build social capital and stabilize peace. This book also emphasizes interreligious understanding, cross-cultural awareness, and conflict transformation, and discusses how interfaith communities can work together to bridge understanding in order to prevent violence.

This book focuses on the retrogressive agrarian interventions by the Pakistani military in rural Punjab and explores the social resentment and resistance it triggered, potentially undermining the consensus on a security state in Pakistan. Set against the overbearing and socially unjust role of the military in Pakistan’s economy, this book documents a breakdown in the accepted function of the military beyond its constitutionally mandated role of defence. Accompanying earlier work on military involvement in industry, commerce, finance and real estate, the authors’ research contributes to a wider understanding of military intervention, revealing its hand in various sectors of the economy and, consequently, its gains in power and economic autonomy.

For many years, agricultural development in Punjab symbolised one of the most successful experiments in rural development. However, this success story seems to be going astray. The crux of the problem, this volume suggests, is that externally driven modernization to meet national food needs pushed Punjab into highly specialized production of wheat and rice, resulting in over-utilisation of natural resources with adverse environmental consequences that jeopardizing the long-term viability and sustainability of the agrarian economy. Stagnating productivity, reduced farm size, falling household incomes, depleting groundwater resources, are only a few of the problems that characterise Punjab’s agriculture today. The book establishes clearly that rural development implies more than transformation of traditional agriculture. Apart from ensuring efficient use of limited resources to sustain agricultural production, rural policy should encompass promotion of non-farm activities, investments in social and economic structure and civic amenities.

This book explores the organic lives of popular Sufi shrines in contemporary Northwest India. It traverses the worldview of shrine spaces, rituals and their complex narratives, and provides an insight into their urban and rural landscapes in the post-Partition (Indian) Punjab. What happened to these shrines when attempts were made to dissuade Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus from their veneration of popular saints in the early twentieth century? What was the fate of popular shrines that persisted even when the Muslim population was virtually wiped off as a result of migration during Partition? How did these shrines manifest in the context of the threat posed by militants in the 1980s? How did such popular practices reconfigure themselves when some important centres of Sufism were left behind in the West Punjab (now Pakistan)? This book examines several of these questions and utilizes a combination of analytical tools, new theoretical tropes and an ethnographic approach to understand and situate popular Sufi shrines so that they are both historicized and spatialized. As such, it lays out some crucial contours of the method and practice of understanding popular sacred spaces (within India and elsewhere), bridging the everyday and the metanarratives of power structures and state formation. This book will be useful to scholars, researchers and those engaged in interdisciplinary work in history, social anthropology, historical sociology, cultural studies, historical geography, religion and art history, as well as those interested in Sufism and its shrines in South Asia.