Environmental historian Daniel Haines, Associate Professor, History of Risk and Disaster, University College London, explains the river's pivotal role in British colonial agricultural policies and examines post-independence water disputes between India and Pakistan
A: Soon after British colonialists annexed Sindh and Punjab in the mid-19th century, they began constructing large canal colonies which drew water from the Indus and its tributaries like the Sutlej. The British Raj used these canal colonies to transform agriculture in the Indus Basin with the one aim of introducing more cash crops — they wanted to raise more money through agricultural taxes for the imperial government. They also wanted to give opportunities to some groups they thought could be loyal, such as retired soldiers who were often given land grants in Punjab.
This was part of a colonial project of ‘modernising’ sections of Indian agricultural society in the 19th and 20th centuries. As the freedom movement grew and the colonialists faced pressure from nationalists, they began projecting the idea of ‘development’ to boost imperial legitimacy — their argument was that although they were a foreign power, they had brought progress to Indians. The Indus became an intrinsic part of that argument.