TRADITION AND MODERNITY: PERSPECTIVES ON IRRIGATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE BAHAWALPUR REGION (1866-1900)
Abstract
This paper examines the process of transformation from traditional practices of irrigation to the modern and calculated water system in the princely Bahawalpur. The sources of irrigation that existed in this area were mainly wells, deluge channels and surface flow that actually, the old irrigation structure required an extensive social participation based on local practices while modern system introduced by the British was governed by a centralized bureaucratic management based on scientific utilization of resources, in order to generate revenue. The patterns of the new framework; documentation, statistics, area measurement, and masonry structure were also induced. Mapping the configurations of native policies, the study addresses two questions; how the State brought conversion in the traditional water structure and improvements in water sources; what was the role of rural communities in irrigation management and how they assimilated the latest trends of that time.