Famine Commissions
Also called: Strachey Commission, Famine Commission of 1880 · Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 4 "The Colonial Era in India"
Meaning
Famine Commissions were official inquiries that the British set up in India after big famines. They looked into what went wrong and how relief should be given. The first one, led by Richard Strachey (1878–80), led to the Famine Codes: written rules telling officials what to do when a famine began. Later commissions followed the famines of 1896–97 (the Lyall Commission, 1898) and 1899–1900 (the MacDonnell Commission, 1901). They matter because they show how unwilling the colonial state was to give relief, even while it wrote rules for it.
Example
The Famine Commission of 1878–80 was set up after the Great Famine of 1876–78. It warned that if people were told they had a right to famine relief, this "would probably lead to the doctrine that they are entitled to such relief at all times." So relief was kept low on purpose.
Don't confuse with
- Famine Codes: these were the rules for handling a famine. They came out of the Strachey Commission's report. They were not inquiries themselves.
Related concepts
- Bengal famine of 1770
- Great Famine of 1876-78
- Lord Lytton
- Famine Code
- Colonial famines
- Bengal famine 1943