Political Economy of Growth: An Evaluation of Revenue Department/Administration with Special Focus on District Faisalabad

Abstract

In the agrarian economy like sub-continent, the land revenue has traditionally remained a major source of revenue collection by the government especially in absence of industrialization. Mughals established the skeleton of the land administration in sub-continent and the colonial regime of Britain later developed muscles on it. Purpose was maximum collection of revenue to bear the expenses of state craft. In order to maximize the potential of wasteland especially in Punjab, the British introduced the most extensive and efficient system of canal irrigation at that time. Huge but hitherto unpopulated and uncultivated tracts of west Punjab now Pakistan were made irrigable by means of digging of a network of canals from Indus River System and by offering lucrative grants of fertile lands to the leading agriculturist classes in east Punjab now India. This scheme opened new vistas for development in plains of five rivers in Punjab and a new socio-economic milieu took birth here by employing the prowess and entrepreneurship of landed gentry from east Punjab. Not only theses engineering and administrative feats changed the demographic profile as well as subsequent socio-economic and political landscape of Punjab but also greatly enhanced the avenues of land revenue collection. Many new taxes, rents, fees and cesses were introduced under the relevant Acts to be collected from the landowners, peasants and tenants as the case might be. The base of the land revenue widened a great deal and the revenue increased tremendously. This phenomenon of canal colonies was awesome and remains so for many till today. However, the subject matter of present study is the efficiency of the revenue administration and its efficacy in collection of land revenue. For that matter, the district Faisalabad has been selected as area of study first because it was at the heart of the Chenab Colony, the biggest canal colony and secondly the researcher worked there in the revenue department at tehsil and district level and directly imbibed information from the environment and came up with multiple observations on its present working.