Indian famine of 1899–1900
Indian famine of 1899–1900 | |
---|---|
Country | India |
Period | 1899–1900 |
Total deaths | 1–4.5 million |
Causes | failure of the summer monsoon |
The Indian famine of 1899–1900 began with the failure of the
The population in many areas had barely recovered from the
The resulting mortality was high. 462,000 people died in the Bombay Presidency, and in the Deccan Plateau, the estimated death toll was 166,000.[4] In the Presidency, the famine of 1899–1900 had the highest mortality—at 37.9 deaths per 1000—among all famines and scarcities there between 1876–77 and 1918–19.[5] According to a 1908 estimate of The Imperial Gazetteer of India, in the British-administered districts alone, approximately one million people died of starvation or accompanying disease; in addition, as a result of acute shortage of fodder, millions of cattle also perished.[2] Other estimates vary between one million[6][a] and 4.5 million[7] deaths.
Cause
In the
Epidemics
Both 1896 and 1899 were
In 1900, a Niño+1 year, malaria epidemics, occurred in the Punjab, Central Provinces and Berar, and the Bombay Presidency, with devastating results. In the Central Provinces and Berar, the death rates were initially quite low. The Report on the Famine in the Central Provinces in 1899–1900 noted the "extreme healthiness of the first four months of the famine, September to December 1899."[13] The low mortality indicated the absence of malaria in 1899; however, by the summer of 1900, an epidemic of cholera had begun, and soon the monsoon rains of 1900 brought on the malaria epidemic.[14] Consequently, the death rate peaked between August and September 1900, a full year after the famine began.[14] In the Bombay Presidency, the same pattern of pre-monsoon cholera followed by post-monsoon malaria in 1900 was repeated.[9] The Report on the Famine in the Bombay Presidency, 1899–1902 pronounced the epidemic to be "unprecedented," noting that "It attacked all classes and was by no means confined to the people who had been on relief works ..."[15]
Parts of
Usury
The British had established control over
The mid-19th century was also a time of predominance of the economic theories of Adam Smith and David Ricardo, and the principle of laissez-faire was subscribed to by many colonial administrators; the British, consequently, declined to interfere in the markets.[18] This meant that the Baniya sahukars could resort to hoarding during times of scarcity, driving up the price of food grain, and profiteering in the aftermath.[18] All this occurred in Western India during the famine of 1899–1900.[18]
In
The sahukars, in their effort to drive up prices, were even able to export grain out of areas of scarcity using the faster means of transport that came in with British rule.
Economic changes
The Indian famine of 1899–1900 was the last of the all-India famines.[22] (The war-time Bengal famine of 1943 was confined mainly to Bengal and some neighbouring regions.) The famine proved to be a watershed between the overwhelmingly subsistence agriculture economy of 19th century India and a more diversified economy of the 20th century, which, by offering other forms of employment, created less agricultural disruption (and, consequently, less mortality) during times of scarcity.[22]
The construction of the
There were other changes in the economy as well: a construction boom in the Bombay presidency, in both the private and public sectors, during the first two decades of the 20th century, created a demand for unskilled labour.[23] There was greater demand for agricultural labour as well, brought on both by the planting of more labour-intensive crops and the expansion of the cropped area in the presidency.[23] Real agricultural wages, for example, increased sharply after 1900.[24] All these provided farmers with greater insurance against famine.[25] During times of drought, they could now seek seasonal non-agricultural employment; alternatively, they could temporarily move to areas where there was no drought and work as agricultural wage labourers.[25]
According to (McAlpin 1979, p. 156), "Famines in the nineteenth century tended to be characterized by some degree of aimless wandering of agriculturalists after their own supplies of food had run out." Since these migrations caused further depletion among individuals who were already malnourished and since new areas exposed them to unfamiliar disease pathogens, the attendant mortality was high.[25] In the 20th century, however, these temporary migrations became more purposive, especially from regions (in the Bombay Presidency) that were highly drought prone.[25] A greater availability of jobs throughout the presidency and a better organised system of famine relief offered by the provincial government allowed most men in afflicted villages to migrate elsewhere as soon as their own meager harvest had been collected.[25] McAlpin further notes:
Villages are reported to have housed only women and children, and old men in some years of crop failure. Those left behind could tend the livestock, live off the short harvest, and expect that the government would step in to provide relief—including grain sales or gratuitous relief—if necessary. With the beginning of the next agricultural season the men would return to the village with some earnings from their outside employment which could be used to resume agricultural operations. In most cases, the livestock would also have been preserved through the actions of women and children.[25]
Mortality
Estimates of the excess
Other estimates are by nonfiction-ecology author Michael Allaby who states that 1.25 million starved and 2 million died of disease in the famine of 1899–1900;[35] and by historian Martin Gilbert, who in his Routledge Atlas of British History puts the mortality for this famine in northern India to be 2 million.[36] Among contemporaneous accounts, a 1901 estimate published in The Lancet, put the excess mortality, from "starvation or to the diseases arising therefrom," in India in the decade between 1891 and 1901 to be 19 million.[37] The last estimate has been cited by scholar Mike Davis, who further interprets a number of sources, including Lancet, to estimate the total famine mortality in India between 1876 and 1902 to be between 12.2 million and 29.3 million.[38] However, historian Vasant Kaiwar, interprets many of the same sources, but not the Lancet, to estimate the famine mortality for the period 1876–1900 to be between 11.2 million and 19.3 million.[28] According to poverty and development scholar Dan Banik, it was felt after the famine that the Indian famine codes from the 1880s were inadequate,[39] and a new famine commission, appointed after the famine, brought out a revised famine code in 1901.[40] This code was used in one form or another for many decades of the 20th century.[41]
According to the
Memorials
A memorial plaque is erected in a compound of I P Mission church in Prantij, Gujarat which cites a well in which 300 children who died in famine were buried. The plaque reads, "the children will be never hungry again".[45]
In popular culture
Manvini Bhavai (1947), a Gujarati novel by Pannalal Patel, is set in the period of famine, locally known as the Chhappaniyo Dukal (The Famine of Samvat 1956).[46] It was adapted into Gujarati film in 1993.[47]
See also
- Indian famine of 1896–1897
- Famine in India
- Timeline of major famines in India during British rule
- Company rule in India
- Famine in India
- Drought in India
References
Notes
- ^ "In the later nineteenth century there was a series of disastrous crop failures in India leading not only to starvation but to epidemics. Most were regional, but the death toll could be huge. Thus, to take only some of the worst famines for which the death rate is known, some 800,000 died in the North West Provinces, Punjab, and Rajasthan in 1837–38; perhaps 2 million in the same region in 1860–61; nearly a million in different areas in 1866–67; 4.3 million in widely spread areas in 1876–78, an additional 1.2 million in the North West Provinces and Kashmir in 1877–78; and, worst of all, over 5 million in a famine that affected a large population of India in 1896–97. In 1899–1900 more than a million were thought to have died, conditions being worse because of the shortage of food following the famines only two years earlier. Thereafter the only major loss of life through famine was in 1943 under exceptional wartime conditions.(p. 132)"[6]
Citations
- ^ a b c Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III 1907, p. 491
- ^ a b c d e Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III 1907, p. 492
- ^ Drèze 1995, p. 75
- ^ a b Attwood 2005, p. 2072
- ^ a b McAlpin 1979, p. 146
- ^ a b Fieldhouse 1996, p. 132.
- ^ a b Fagan 2009, p. 13.
- ^ a b c d e Dyson 1991a, p. 15
- ^ a b c Dyson 1991a, p. 17
- ^ a b c Bouma & van der Kay 1996, p. 90
- ^ a b c Bouma & van der Kay 1996, p. 93
- ^ Christophers, R. (1911) "Malaria in the Punjab" in Scientific memoirs by officers of the medical and sanitary departments. Government of India, Superintendent Government Printing, Calcutta., quoted in Bouma & van der Kay 1996, p. 93
- ^ Report on the Famine in the Central Provinces in 1899–1900, volume 1, Nagpur (1901)., quoted in Dyson 1991a, p. 16
- ^ a b Dyson 1991a, p. 16
- ^ Report on the Famine in the Bombay Presidency, 1899–1902, volume 1, Bombay (1903)., quoted in Dyson 1991a, p. 17
- ^ C.A.H. Townsend, Final repor of thirds revised revenue settlement of Hisar district from 1905–1910, Gazetteer of Department of Revenue and Disaster Management, Haryana, point 22, page 11.
- ^ a b c Hardiman 1996, p. 125
- ^ a b c d e Hardiman 1996, p. 126
- ^ a b c d e f Hardiman 1996, pp. 133–134
- ^ Quoted in Hardiman 1996, p. 133
- ^ a b c Hardiman 1996, pp. 145–146
- ^ a b McAlpin 1979, p. 157
- ^ a b c d e f McAlpin 1979, pp. 153–155
- ^ George Findlay Shirras (1924) Report on an Enquiry into Agricultural Wages in the Bombay Presidency, Government of Bombay, Labour Office, pp. 64–66. quoted in McAlpin 1979, p. 156
- ^ a b c d e f McAlpin 1979, p. 156
- ^ Fieldhouse 1996, p. 132
- ^ Seavoy 1986, p. 242.
- ^ a b c Kaiwar 2016, p. 100.
- ^ Maharatna 1996, p. 15.
- ^ Chamberlain 2006, p. 72.
- ^ Chamberlain 2006, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Keim 2015, p. 42.
- ^ Agrawal 2013, p. 415.
- ^ Fagan 2009, p. 12.
- ^ Allaby 2005, p. 21.
- ^ Gilbert 2003, p. 89.
- ISBN 978-0-375-71396-5.
- ^ Davis 2001, p. 7.
- ^ Banik 2007, p. 56.
- ^ Banik 2007, pp. 56–57.
- ^ Banik 2007, p. 57.
- ^ Charlesworth 2002, p. 158.
- ^ Charlesworth 2002, pp. 156–157.
- ^ a b Charlesworth 2002, p. 156.
- ^ પ્રાંતિજ ખાતે છપ્પનીયા દુષ્કાળની યાદ તાજી કરાવતુ સ્મારક [A memorial in Prantij remembering the famine of Samvat fifty-six] (in Gujarati). Divya Bhaskar. 25 February 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
- ISBN 978-0-19-566624-3.
- ISBN 978-0-313-28778-7.
Works cited
- Allaby, Michael (2005), India, Evans Brothers, ISBN 978-0-237-52755-6
- Agrawal, Arun (2013), "Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability in South Asia", in Christopher B. Barret (ed.), Food Security and Sociopolitical Stability, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 406–427, ISBN 978-0-19-166870-8
- Attwood, Donald W. (2005), "Big Is Ugly? How Large-scale Institutions Prevent Famines in Western India", World Development, 33 (12): 2067–2083,
- Banik, Dan (2007), Starvation and India’s Democracy, Routledge, ISBN 978-1-134-13416-8
- Bouma, Menno J.; van der Kay, Hugo J. (1996), "The El Niño Southern Oscillation and the historic malaria epidemics on the Indian subcontinent and Sri Lanka: an early warning system for future epidemics", Tropical Medicine and International Health, 1 (1): 86–96,
- Chamberlain, Andrew T. (2006), Demography in Archaeology, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-1-139-45534-3
- Charlesworth, Neil (2002), Peasants and Imperial Rule: Agriculture and Agrarian Society in the Bombay Presidency 1850-1935, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-52640-1
- ISBN 978-1-85984-739-8
- Drèze, Jean (1995), "Famine prevention in India", in Drèze, Jean; Sen, Amartya; Hussain, Althar (eds.), The political economy of hunger: Selected essays, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Pp. 644, ISBN 0-19-828883-2
- Dyson, Tim (1991a), "On the Demography of South Asian Famines: Part I", Population Studies, 45 (1): 5–25, JSTOR 2174991
- Fagan, Brian (2009), Floods, Famines, and Emperors: El Nino and the Fate of Civilizations, Basic Books. Pp. 368, ISBN 0-465-00530-6
- Fieldhouse, David (1996), "For Richer, for Poorer?", in Marshall, P. J. (ed.), The Cambridge Illustrated History of the British Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Pp. 400, pp. 108–146, ISBN 0-521-00254-0
- Gilbert, Martin (2003), The Routledge Atlas of British History, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-28147-8
- Hardiman, David (1996), "Usuary, Dearth and Famine in Western India", Past and Present, 152: 113–156,
- Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. III (1907), The Indian Empire, Economic (Chapter X: Famine, pp. 475–502, Published under the authority of His Majesty's Secretary of State for India in Council, Oxford at the Clarendon Press. Pp. xxx, 1 map, 552.
- Kaiwar, Vasant (2016), "Famines of structural adjustment in colonial India", in Kaminsky, Arnold P; Long, Roger D (eds.), Nationalism and Imperialism in South and Southeast Asia: Essays Presented to Damodar R.SarDesai, Taylor & Francis, ISBN 978-1-351-99742-3
- Keim, Mark E. (2015), "Extreme Weather Events: The Role of Public Health in Disaster Risk Reduction as a Means for Climate Change Adaptation", in George Luber; Jay Lemery (eds.), Global Climate Change and Human Health: From Science to Practice, Wiley, p. 42, ISBN 978-1-118-60358-1
- McAlpin, Michelle B. (1983), "Famines, Epidemics, and Population Growth: The Case of India", Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 14 (2): 351–366, doi:10.2307/203709
- Maharatna, Arup (1996), The demography of famines: an Indian historical perspective, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-563711-3
- Seavoy, Ronald E. (1986), Famine in Peasant Societies, London: Greenwood Press, ISBN 978-0-313-25130-6
Further reading
- Ambirajan, S. (1976), "Malthusian Population Theory and Indian Famine Policy in the Nineteenth Century", Population Studies, 30 (1): 5–14, PMID 11630514
- Arnold, David; Moore, R. I. (1991), Famine: Social Crisis and Historical Change (New Perspectives on the Past), Wiley-Blackwell. Pp. 164, ISBN 0-631-15119-2
- Baker, David (1991), "State policy, the market economy, and tribal decline: The Central Provinces, 1861–1920", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 28: 341–370,
- Bhatia, B. M. (1991), Famines in India: A Study in Some Aspects of the Economic History of India With Special Reference to Food Problem, 1860–1990, Stosius Inc/Advent Books Division. Pp. 383, ISBN 81-220-0211-0
- Dutt, Romesh Chunder (2005) [1900], Open Letters to Lord Curzon on Famines and Land Assessments in India, London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co. Ltd (reprinted by Adamant Media Corporation), ISBN 1-4021-5115-2
- Dyson, Tim (1991b), "On the Demography of South Asian Famines: Part II", Population Studies, 45 (2): 279–297, PMID 11622922
- Ghose, Ajit Kumar (1982), "Food Supply and Starvation: A Study of Famines with Reference to the Indian Subcontinent", Oxford Economic Papers, New Series, 34 (2): 368–389
- Hall-Matthews, David (2008), "Inaccurate Conceptions: Disputed Measures of Nutritional Needs and Famine Deaths in Colonial India", Modern Asian Studies, 42 (1): 1–24,
- Hill, Christopher V. (1991), "Philosophy and Reality in Riparian South Asia: British Famine Policy and Migration in Colonial North India", Modern Asian Studies, 25 (2): 263–279,
- Klein, Ira (1973), "Death in India, 1871-1921", The Journal of Asian Studies, 32 (4): 639–659, JSTOR 2052814
- Klein, Ira (1984), "When the rains failed: famines, relief, and mortality in British India", Indian Economic and Social History Review, 21: 185–214,
- McAlpin, Michelle B. (1979), "Dearth, Famine, and Risk: The Changing Impact of Crop Failures in Western India, 1870–1920", The Journal of Economic History, 39 (1): 143–157, JSTOR 2118916
- Roy, Tirthankar (2006), The Economic History of India, 1857–1947, 2nd edition, New Delhi: Oxford University Press. Pp. xvi, 385, ISBN 0-19-568430-3
- Sen, A. K. (1982), Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation, Oxford: Clarendon Press. Pp. ix, 257, ISBN 0-19-828463-2
- Tomlinson, B. R. (1993), The Economy of Modern India, 1860-1970 (ISBN 0-521-58939-8
- Washbrook, David (1994), "The Commercialization of Agriculture in Colonial India: Production, Subsistence and Reproduction in the 'Dry South', c. 1870–1930", Modern Asian Studies, 28 (1): 129–164, JSTOR 312924