Canal Irrigation in British India Stone Paperback Cambridge University Press

Canal Irrigation in British IndiaPerspectives on Technological Change in a Peasant Economy\nAuthor(s): Ian Stone\nFormat: Paperback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9780521526630, 978-0521526630\nSynopsis\nAlthough one of the acknowledged achievements of the British Raj was the extensive construction of irrigation works, their effects have to date been little studied by historians. In this book Dr Stone has undertaken the first full-scale study of the qualitative and quantitative effects on local economics of these irrigation schemes. Focusing upon the region of western Uttar Pradesh in the nineteenth century, the author examines in detail the response of the peasant economy to this important and pervasive form of technological change. In particular, he is concerned with the impact on crop choices, on the organisation and techniques of production, on protection from famine and on the ecological balance, on social an.