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Synopsis The Punjab paradox remains one of the greatest puzzles intriguing social scientists and academics. The mere mention of Punjab conjures images of agricultural buoyancy manifest in acreages of lush green cultivated fields and tubewells spouting water. Other indicators of economic prosperity large-scale industrial conglomerates do not evince a similar visibility. Agricultural statistics soar yet industrial statistics are dismal in comparison to other states. This phenomenon is an antithesis-with all the requisites parameters-a community marked by dynamism, resilience, enterprise and an agriculture which boomed with Borlaug seed, the agricultural surpluses should have spurned industrial strides as elsewhere but the indicators are far below expectations. This disparate development became more pronounced, when the tentacles of militancy had gripped the entire socio-political structure. Reams of publications appeared on the causative factors however the core issue of industrial diversification was invariably cursorily tackled. Interestingly, Punjab's "progression" was its bane as the centre refrained from allocating substantial large-scale industrial projects. The key motifs of an industrial stagger necessitated an in-depth and multi disciplinary approached study. This is primarily a research that endeavours integrating the political, socioeconomic, cultural and geographical strands of Punjab's history juxtaposed within an analytical and contextual framework. Historians have worked extensively on social, political, cultural themes in the contemporary context but have glossed over this anomaly in its economic history. For this perplexity in the economic structure, a retrospective analysis is imperative of the states historical vicissitudes. A focus has been kept on this theme, imbuing the structural roots of the violence that erupted from this distorted economic trajectory.