"The myth that Punjab was an exception to the general run of colonial underdevelopment and that it was a favoured child of the British government, was carefully cultivated by colonial officials, concerned about the loyalty of the people of Punjab since it was a major recruitment base for the British Indian army. That the initial success of the Green Revolution occurred in the late 1960s in the Indian province of Punjab further strengthened this notion of exceptionalism, it being wrongly assumed that favourable initial conditions were inherited from the colonial past." "Making extensive use of data culled from government archives and private papers in India and Britain, as well as from village surveys, farm accounts and family budgets, the author argues that Punjab was by no means an idyllic land of prosperous peasant proprietors. She maintains that it was also the land of big feudal landlords, rack-rented tenants, and struggling small-holders, who were forced to enlist in the army or migrate to enable their families to pay government taxes and to repay debts."--BOOK JACKET.