Famines

• Famines in colonial India were frequent, devastating, and often exacerbated or caused by British colonial policies and administrative failures.

• Between 1765 and 1947, over 30 major famines occurred in British-ruled India, resulting in the deaths of millions of people.

• The first major famine under British rule was the Bengal Famine of 1770, which killed an estimated 10 million people—about one-third of Bengal’s population.

• The East India Company continued to collect revenue aggressively during the famine, worsening starvation and distress.

• The Cornwallis Code of 1793 institutionalized land revenue settlements, especially the Permanent Settlement in Bengal, which prioritized revenue extraction over subsistence needs.

• The Madras (South India) famine of 1782–83 and 1784–85 affected the Deccan, Madras Presidency, and Hyderabad, killing millions.

• The Chalisa famine (1783–84) affected northern India and was linked to El Niño-induced droughts and high revenue demands.

• Famines in early colonial India were worsened by lack of institutional response, absence of grain relief policies, and rigid tax collection.

• The Agra famine of 1837–38 killed approximately 800,000 people; British records show minimal state intervention.

• The Orissa famine of 1866 killed over 1 million people, despite ample food stocks in nearby regions and rail connectivity.

• British officials such as Sir Cecil Beadon, the then Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, refused to acknowledge the famine early on, delaying relief efforts.

• The famine was followed by the Famine Commission of 1867, which recommended relief works, food depots, and transport infrastructure, but implementation was uneven.

• The Great Famine of 1876–78 affected Madras, Bombay, Mysore, Hyderabad, and the Central Provinces, causing 5.5 to 10 million deaths.

• During this famine, grain continued to be exported from India to Britain even as people starved.

• Viceroy Lord Lytton, focused on imperial priorities (such as hosting the lavish Delhi Durbar of 1877) and imposed strict Famine Codes.

• Relief camps were set up but followed the “Temple Wage” system: relief was only given in exchange for heavy manual labor and calories below subsistence level.

• The Famine Commission of 1880, led by Sir Richard Strachey, recommended codified relief policies, resulting in the Famine Codes of 1883.

• These codes prescribed relief works, gratuitous relief for the infirm, and early warning mechanisms, but implementation depended on provincial discretion.

• The Indian Famine of 1896–97 affected Bombay, United Provinces, Bengal, Central Provinces, Berar, and Punjab, leading to around 5 million deaths.

• The famine coincided with a worldwide El Niño drought, yet the colonial administration continued grain exportsand provided inadequate relief.

• The Indian Famine of 1899–1900, known as the Chhappania Akal in Rajasthan, killed 1.25 to 4.5 million peopleacross central and western India.

• British prioritization of laissez-faire economics and belief in market self-regulation discouraged government grain intervention.

• The 1901 Famine Commission reiterated earlier recommendations but did not change the fundamental priorities of colonial governance.

• The Bengal Famine of 1943 was the last and one of the most catastrophic famines in colonial India, resulting in an estimated 3 to 4 million deaths.

• This famine occurred despite record rice harvests in previous years and was driven by wartime inflation, rice hoarding, and British diversion of food for World War II efforts.

• Winston Churchill’s wartime cabinet refused to divert British or Australian food ships to Bengal, despite urgent appeals from Indian officials.

• Churchill’s racist attitudes and strategic policies, including statements like “Indians breed like rabbits”, reflected the imperial contempt for Indian lives.

• The famine was aggravated by the denial of rice shipments, the scorched earth policy in coastal Bengal, and the disruption of domestic transport networks.

• There was no official famine declaration in 1943, which delayed the provision of systematic relief and obscured death counts.

• Photographic documentation and public criticism from figures like Amartya Sen later established that the famine was caused by entitlement failures, not food scarcity.

• Sen’s “entitlement theory” showed that access to food collapsed due to inflation and disrupted wages, not due to lack of food.

• Many famines occurred in regions heavily affected by the zamindari system, where landlords extracted high rentsand tenants were left without reserves.

• The colonial railways, while promoted as famine prevention infrastructure, often facilitated grain export to urban or foreign markets instead of famine relief.

• Charles Trevelyan, Finance Member during the 1877 famine, resisted food aid, claiming famine was “a natural corrective” for population growth.

• Famines under colonial rule were systemic, rooted in extractive revenue systems, poor administrative response, laissez-faire economics, and imperial indifference.

• Estimates suggest that between 1765 and 1947, over 30 to 35 million Indians died due to famine and famine-related diseases.

• Famines in pre-colonial India did occur but were less frequent and often met with more direct community and state-based relief efforts, such as grain hoarding release, tax waivers, or temple charity.

• The British colonial state systematically dismantled traditional safety nets, such as village grain reserves, local charity systems, and community obligations.

• Famines had long-term effects on rural demography, productivity, migration patterns, and social structures, especially increasing indebtedness and land alienation.

• Census and revenue records from the colonial period were often manipulated to underreport mortality and avoid administrative accountability.

• Famines influenced nationalist discourse, as Indian leaders like Dadabhai Naoroji, Mahatma Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru highlighted famine deaths as evidence of British exploitation.

• Dadabhai Naoroji’s “Drain Theory” explicitly linked famines to the economic drain imposed by British rule, citing poverty amidst exports.

• By 1947, the Indian public associated famines with British rule, making food security a central post-independence policy priority.