Great Famine of 1876-78
Topic: Colonial Economy: Land Revenue, Drain, Deindustrialisation · NCERT: Class 8, Ch 4 "The Colonial Era in India"
Meaning
The Great Famine of 1876–78 killed up to 8 million people, mostly on the Deccan plateau and in south India. It was made much worse by British policy. Grain kept being sent out of India, and the government refused to step in to bring food prices down. It is a key example of a colonial famine caused as much by policy as by nature.
Example
During the three famine years, about one million tonnes of rice a year were still shipped to Britain. Viceroy Lytton followed the 'free market' idea, meaning the government should leave trade alone. He ordered "no interference of any kind… with the object of reducing the price of food." Meanwhile he held a lavish Delhi Durbar, a royal assembly that ran from late December 1876 to 1 January 1877, which the note describes as a week-long feast for 68,000 officials, satraps and maharajas. After the famine came the Famine Commission of 1878–80.
Don't confuse with
- Bengal famine of 1770–72: this was an earlier, Company-era famine in Bengal. It killed about 10 million people, nearly one-third of Bengal's population, and the Company kept its harsh cash revenue demands going right through it.
Related concepts
- Bengal famine of 1770
- Lord Lytton
- Famine Commissions
- Famine Code
- Colonial famines
- Bengal famine 1943