Famines, Epidemics, and Public Health in the British Raj

=Orissa famine of 1866=

The Orissa famine of 1865-7 affected the east coast of India from Madras upwards, an area covering 180,000 square miles and containing a population of 47,500,000. The impact of the famine, however, was greatest in Orissa, which at that time was isolated from the rest of India.Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III|1907|p=486] Like all Indian famines of the 19th-century, the Orissa famine was preceded by a drought. The population of the region depended on the rice crop of the winter season for their sustenance; however, the monsoon of 1865 was scanty and ended prematurely. In addition, the Board of Revenue of Bengal (the larger region containing Orissa) made incorrect estimates of the of the number of people who would need help and, moreover, was misled in its cost estimates by fictitious price lists. Consequently, as the food reserves began to dwindle, the gravity of the situation was not grasped until the end of May 1866, and by then the monsoons had set in.

Efforts to ship the food to the isolated province were hampered by bad weather, and when some shipments did reach the coast of Orissa, they could not be moved inland. The government of British India imported some 10,000 tons of rice, but the supplies did not reach the affected population until September 1866. The famine-affected population also became vulnerable to diseases; although many people died of starvation, more were killed by cholera before the monsoons and by malaria afterwards. In Orissa alone, at least one million people—a third of the population—died in 1866, and, overall, in the region, between four and five million people died in the two-year period.

The heavy rains of 1866 also caused floods which destroyed the rice-crop in low-lying regions. Consequently, in the following year, another shortfall was expected, and the Government of India imported approximately 40,000 tons of rice at four times the usual price. However, this time they over-estimated the need and only half the rice was used by the time the summer monsoon of 1867, followed by a plentiful harvest, ended the famine in 1868. In the two years of the famine, the Government of India spend approximately Rs. 95 lakhs on famine relief for 35 million units; a large proportion of the cost, however, was the high price of the imported grain.

Rajputana famine of 1869

Bihar famine of 1873–74

Great Famine of 1876–78

Indian famine of 1896–97

Indian famine of 1899–1900

Common features of 19th-century famines in India

* There was no overall (aggregate) food shortage in India, although there were localized crop failures in the affected areas. The localized crop failures were in fact essential for the occurrence of the famine. [ Harvnb|Ghose|1982|p=378]
*The starvation deaths occurred among certain economic classes, which included landless laborers, artisans and petty traders and which constituted anywhere between 35% and 50% of the rural population. Harvnb|Ghose|1982|p=379] India's agrarian economy during this time was still a "non-monetised exchange economy". Harvnb|Ghose|1982|p=377] Agricultural laborers were either paid in kind (foodgrains) or partly in kind and partly in cash; similarly, artisans and service-workers were regulated by the "Jajmani" system, which consisted of a reciprocal social and economic arrangement between different castes in a village, and in which payments were made in the form of a fixed share in the harvest. Consequently, for a large proportion of the rural population, the available food supply depended on their "employment entitlements," or the demand among the primary (landed) food producers for their services, and this demand was the first to be affected in times of food shortage. Harvnb|Ghose|1982|p=370] A crop failure, therefore, could create a famine, not because it led to an aggregate shortage of food, but because it deprived a significant proportion of the population of the means to acquire food.
*In some cases, foodgrains were still being exported from the famine affected region during the time leading up to (and sometimes even after) the famine began.
*Foodgrain prices during the famine years in the affected areas were higher, but "not spectacularly higher", than during normal years.

Famine Commissions and the Famine Code

The evidence from the 19th-century data suggests that localized crop failures led to famines not because they created aggregate food shortages, but because they drastically reduced the demand for the services of certain segments of the population and, consequently, deprived them of the means to acquire food. According to Harv|Ghose|1982|p=380, famines were therefore not natural phenomena, but rather a result of the breakdown, in the wake of localized crop failures, of the social and economic networks in the affected regions. The Famine Commission of 1880, appointed by the Government of British India, described the situation with clarity and poignancy:"

"The first effect of a drought is to diminish greatly, and at last to stop, all field labour, and to throw out of employment the great mass of people who live on the wages of labour. A similar effect is produced next upon the artisans, the small shop-keepers, and traders, first in villages and country towns, and later on in the larger towns also, by depriving them of their profits, which are mainly dependent on dealings with the least wealthy classes; and, lastly, all classes become less able to give charitable help to public beggars, and to support their dependents. Such of the agricultural classes as possess a proprietary interest in the land, or a valuable right of occupancy in it, do not require as a rule to be protected against starvation in time of famine unless the calamity is unusually severe and prolonged, as they generally are provided with stocks of food or money, or have credit with money-lenders. But those who, owning only a small plot of land, eke out by its profits their wages as labourers, and rack-rented tenants-at-will living almost from hand-to-mouth, are only a little way removed from the class of field-labourers; they possess no credit, and on them pressure soon begins." [Harvnb|Famine Commission|1880|p=49]

Notes

References

Famines

Epidemics and Public Health

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isbn=0199246807

ee also

*Timeline of major famines in India during British rule (1765 to 1947)
*British Raj
*Company rule in India
*Famine in India
*Drought in India
*List of famines

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