LAND REVENUE AND AGRARIAN ECONOMY IN LADAKH UNDER DOGRA RULE: INSTITUTIONAL, RESISTANCE, AND REFORM

Abstract

This study analyzes the land revenue system and agrarian economy of Ladakh during the Dogra rule (1846–1947). Following the Treaty of Amritsar, the Dogra administration introduced centralized, British-inspired revenue models that classified land into categories such as Khalis-e-Sarkar and Maalkiat, fundamentally disrupting traditional communal management and monastic oversight. Utilizing archival records and historical analysis at 10-year intervals, the research tracks how high tax burdens reaching up to 22% of produce and exploitation by intermediaries like jagirdars triggered diverse forms of resistance, including peasant uprisings in Leh, tax evasion in Kargil, and monastic petitions. While the administration attempted reforms from the 1890s onward, such as tax reductions influenced by Sir Walter Lawrence, these measures offered only partial relief and failed to resolve underlying structural inequities. The study concludes that Dogra-era policies left a lasting legacy of land tenure disputes, ultimately setting the stage for post-1947 radical land reforms in the region.