About the Book

This book examines irrigation development and agrarian change in the lower Indus River Basin over the past 150 years. It argues that State-initiated improvements in irrigated agriculture in Sindh have served to strengthen rather than weaken feudal production relations. It demonstrates, using historical and field data, that although large-scale irrigation schemes have increased the area of irrigated land and improved agricultural production, most farmers have seen only small improvements in income and remain socially and politically marginalized.

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Contents

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About the Author / Editor

Jayantha Perera is a development anthropologist with thirty years of professional experience in agrarian research, institutional and community development, irrigation water management and resettlement planning in Asia. He has held senior positions in the government sector of Sri Lanka, including Senior Deputy Director of the Agrarian Research and Training Institute and Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies. He was the Editor of the “Sri Lankan Journal of Agrarian Studies” (1982-1986). He has taught at Oxford University and several other universities and has served as consultant to various international agencies. He is the author of several books including “Conflict and Settlement: A Portrait of a Sri Lankan Village” and “New Dimensions of Social Stratification in Rural Sri Lanka.”

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