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Poverty and
UnderdevelopmentLecture 1: Famine in India
Lecture 2: The Causes of Poverty and Underdevelopment
Lecturer: David Hardiman
Madras Famine 1876-77
Western Indian famine of 1899-1900
Features of Famine in late Nineteenth Century India 1.Rain failure.
2.Hoarding by traders and urban moneylenders. Export of grain.
3.Attacks on grain shops and stores. Upsurge in robberies.
4.Government demands tax at normal harvest time. Many refuse to pay. Tax officials apply coercion, forcing richer peasants to pay up. Poorer peasants have land confiscated, or mortgage or sell property - jewellery, farm implements, land - to moneylenders to pay taxes. Richest peasants and moneylenders enlarge their holdings.
5.Government establishes relief works, to which poorest peasants go. Middling peasants, and higher castes without resources starve.
6.Destitute start to wander in search of food. Some receive charitable relief in towns.
7.Suicides, parents sell or kill children, deaths (often of disease).
Features of Famine in late Nineteenth Century India 1. Rain failure. 2. Hoarding by traders and urban moneylenders. Export of grain. 3. Attacks on grain shops and stores. Upsurge in robberies. 4. At normal harvest time, Government demands tax. Many peasants refuse to pay. Leads to coercion by tax-officials, forcing richer peasants to pay up. Poorer peasants have land confiscated, or mortgage or sell property - jewellery, farm implements, land - to moneylenders to pay taxes. Richest peasants and moneylenders enlarge their holdings. 5. Government establishes relief works, to which poorest peasants go. Middling peasants, and higher castes without resources starve. 6. Destitute start to wander in search of food. Some receive charitable relief in towns. 7. Suicides, parents sell or kill children, deaths (often of disease).
The Irish famine
Bridget O'Donnel and her children
Illustrated London News, 22 December 1849
Ethiopian famine 1984
MonsoonJuly-Sept
Major Famines in India 1860-1900
1860-61 - western United Provinces.
1865-66 - Bengal, Bihar, Orissa. Orissa worst hit.
1876-77 - Maharashtra and South India.
1896-97 - Maharashtra and South India
1899-1900 - Gujarat and Rajasthan
British policy towards famine
•Ideological commitment to free trade.
•Belief that famine corrected over-population, following theory of Thomas Malthus.
• Belief that free relief promotes idleness and saps initiative, following doctrines of the Utilitarians. People must labour for their subsistence.
•‘Famine-proofing’ through building of irrigation canals
•Famine Codes – drawn up in 1880, but only implemented effectively after 1900.
2. Population theory – Thomas Malthus
British policy towards famine
•Commitment to free trade, following economic theory of Adam Smith.
•Belief that famine corrected over-population, following theory of Thomas Malthus.
• Belief that free relief promotes idleness and saps initiative, following doctrines of the Utilitarians. People must labour for their subsistence.
•‘Famine-proofing’ through building of irrigation canals
•Famine Codes – drawn up in 1880, but only implemented effectively after 1900.
Famine relief works
The Ganges Canal at Rookee, 1863
The Famine Codes – post 1880
Bengal famine 1943
Bengal Famine, street in Calcutta, 1943
