DEVELOPMENT OF FAMINE POLICY

Famine under company rule

• 1769-70 Bengal famine, which claimed a third of the population.
• 1784- Severe famine afflicted North India.
• 1803-famine In the North Western province and Oudh, the state granted remission of revenue and gave loans and advances.

Famine under Crown

• 1866 – Orissa- this famine was followed by the appointment of a committee under Sir George Campbell, the committee recommendations were anticipated in the Royal Commission 1880.
• 1868-North and Central India.
• 1876-78-Madras, Bombay, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab. During the viceroyalty of Lord Lytton, a famine occurred in 1876-78 in response to which, a famine commission was appointed under Richard Strachey, whose recommendations became the basis of the Famine Code of 1883, during the viceroyalty of Lord Rippon.

1. Famine Code 1883

• The establishment of a system for the continuous flow of information from every local area to the provincial government.
• Bearing on the onset of scarcity or famine, the type and nature of relief work to be constructed.
• The classification of relief labour and the scale of wages to be paid.
• The organization of free relief and the establishment of a system of village inspection.
• Suspension of land revenue.
• Grants of Taccavi loans.
• Relaxation in forest laws for the duration of the famine.
• Protection of cattle.

Congress's Response Towards Famine Code

• Congress regarded it as inadequate.
• Congress appealed to the government to restore the Famine Insurance Fund to its original footing.
• Demanded extension of Permanent settlement to all other parts of the country.
• Establishment of an agricultural bank.
• Raising of the minimum assessable limit under the Income Tax Act from Rs 500 to 1000
• The spread of technical education and fostering of indigenous manufacturers.
• 1896-97- Almost every province was affected; a commission presided over by Sir James Lyall who adhered to views expressed by predecessors in 1880.
• 1899-1900-affected an area of 189000 sqmiles and a population of 28 million.

2. MacDonnell Commission

 Lord Curzon appointed this commission which submitted a report in 1901.

The commission emphasized

• Early distribution of advances for purchase of seed and cattle and sinking of temporary wells.
• It also advocated the appointment of a Famine Commissioner in a province where relief operations were expected to be extensive.
• Also emphasized enlistment of non–official assistance on a large scale.
• Stressed desirability of better transport facilities, opening of agriculture banks, improvement of irrigation facilities.
• Vigorous measures to foster improved methods of agriculture.

3. 1942-43 Bengal famine

The famine of 1943 was attributed by Britishers as a result of unnatural growth in population and shortage of rainfall, but the real cause of famine as highlighted by Amartya Sen were

1. During the second world war a large amount of paper currency was printed which brought inflation.
2. The import of rice from Burma was stopped due to the Japanese occupation of Burma.
3. The rice of Midnapore 24 Pargana, Khulna and Bakerganj were taken away by the government for the British army and also because it wanted to deprive the Japanese in case they entered into Bengal food grains.
4. Thus the price of rice increased enormously and it became out of the reach of landless labourers, and workers weavers to buy rice.

Consequences of Famine

• Starvation and malnutrition
• Social disruption brought mass migration, overcrowding, and poor sanitation; poor water quality thereby increased infectious disease.
• It tends to intensify   the exploitation of women, sales of women girls
• The British military consumed all textiles produced in India leading to a cloth famine in Bengal.
• Unsanitary conditions, and bad hygienic standards.