Blood and Water: The Indus River Basin in Modern HistoryThe Indus basin was once an arid pastoral watershed, but by the second half of the twentieth century, it had become one of the worldÕs most heavily irrigated and populated river basins. Launched under British colonial rule in the nineteenth century, this irrigation project spurred political, social, and environmental transformations that continued after the 1947 creation of the new states of India and Pakistan. In this first large-scale environmental history of the region, David Gilmartin focuses on the changes that occurred in the basin as a result of the implementation of the worldÕs largest modern integrated irrigation system. This masterful work of scholarship explores how environmental transformation is tied to the creation of communities and nations, focusing on the intersection of politics, statecraft, and the environment. |
Contents
Debating the Politics of Natures Transformation | 2 |
IRRIGATION AND THE BALOCH FRONTIER | 27 |
British Irrigation and the Myth of the Baloch Frontier | 40 |
Empire Irrigation and Tribal Identity | 62 |
Commons Aridity Pastoralism | 80 |
Territory and Taxation | 96 |
STATUTE AND CUSTOM IN WATER LAW | 104 |
Water Lords | 126 |
Visions of EnvironmentVisions of Community | 167 |
THE RIVER BASIN AND PARTITION | 182 |
Nationalism Water and the Partition of the Indus Basin | 198 |
THE INDUS WATERS TREATY AND ITS AFTERLIVES | 220 |
Statecraft and Local Community in an Evolving System | 235 |
Notes | 253 |
Bibliography | 321 |
| 339 | |
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administration agriculture areas authority Bahawalpur Baloch Bari Doab biradari British officials Bugti Canal Act canal colonies central Punjab century Chenab colony chher claims colonial property Comm construction critical cultivation cultural custom customary law defined Delhi Dera Ghazi Khan Derajat engineers environment environmental forms framework frontier Gazetteer genealogical grazing hills important India individual Indus basin Indus Rivers Indus Waters Treaty inundation canals irrigation Jamal Khan Jhelum Kalabagh Dam Khakwanis Khan District labor Lahore land larger Leghari linked Lyall ment moral Multan Multan District Muzaffargarh District nature Pakistan partition pastoral Persian wheels plains political productive proprietary provincial Punjab Archives Punjab BOR Punjab Revenue region relationship Report river basin role Sandeman settlement officer Shahpur shaped Sikh structure suggested Sutlej technical tensions tion tirni Tiwana transformation tribal tribes tubewells tumandar University Press village community waste wastelands water control water lords water management