Tracking Punjab

It is the 50th anniversary year of the new Punjabi-speaking state, and Punjab is also heading for an assembly election early this year. A set of articles presented in this issue gives us the opportunity to look critically at the past and present of Punjab’s politico-economic development, and to explore future prospects.

The annexation of the sovereign Punjabi state in 1849 by the expanding British Empire led to integration of Punjab into the global colonial network. This was a trauma for the Punjabis, economically being subjected to the logic of imperialism (Ali 1989), and politically, socially and culturally being thrust into new sets of relationships with the colonial rulers and other regions of India. This turmoil for 98 years ended in another trauma in 1947 with the partition of Punjab.