Indian Famine (1896–1902)

The famines of 1896–97 and 1899–1900 in India affected almost the entire subcontinent, causing severe distress, debility, and mortality. Unlike the 1876–78 famine, which was largely localized, these famines were widespread and occurred due to an unprecedented shortage of food grains and escalating prices.

At that time, these famines were officially described as the most disastrous famines of the 19th century due to their extent and severity. The famine of 1896–97 affected Bihar, Bengal, Bombay Deccan, the Deccan districts of the Madras Presidency, the North West Provinces and Oudh, the Central Provinces, the Punjab, and Burma. It was estimated the famine tract covered an area of 224,828 square miles and affected a population of 62.4 million. The highest numbers of deaths (745,376) was recorded in Bombay, followed by 187,686 in the Central Provinces, excluding zamindaris (landholders); 127,409 in the Punjab; and 125,926 in Berar.

The famine of 1899–1900 followed in quick succession, causing further distress in some of the previously famine-stricken states. This included the Central Province, North West Provinces, Bengal, Delhi division of the Punjab, and Madras, causing scarcity of food grains and soaring rice prices; whereas Berar, Bombay, Ajmer, and Merwara, the Rajputana states, Princely States, and Gujarat experienced the brunt of the 1899–1900 famine. This famine affected an area of 189,000 square miles and 28 million people: the weavers, agricultural laborers, and the tenant cultivators were most severely affected. During the 1899–1900 famine, the cultivators (in the Bombay Presidency) were most affected, as they had little respite to recuperate from the former famine.

The immediate cause of these famines was the failure of autumn and monsoon rainfall, which caused massive crop failure and the absence of any stocks accumulated from the previous years. This caught the government of India and its people unprepared, causing food shortage of unprecedented magnitude.

Consequently, the famine took a violent turn. Grain riots and looting of grain shops were reported in Delhi, Agra, Muzafarpur, Nagpur, and Mhow. In Bombay, there was a civil commotion and unrest due to continuing exports of food grain from the Bombay Presidency province, despite famine and widespread hunger. But there were no efforts on the part of the British government to regulate the market and avert the export of food grain. Many famine researchers criticize the nonintervention policy of the government as one of the major reasons for famine, because there were no limits on the export of food.

Another reason cited was the failure of traditional agricultural practices to keep pace with the population increase. R. N. Chopra noted in his 1998 Food Policy In India: A Survey that at the end of the 19th century, the population had increased by more than 5 percent, whereas food grain production had gone up by only 2 percent. The food situation continued to deteriorate in absolute terms. Not surprisingly, the crop failures during 1896–97 and 1900–02 led to a serious shortage of food grain, while the export of food grain only acted as a catalyst to entrench the famine impact. Food grains were still available throughout the famine period, but at an exorbitant rate, and people lacked the purchasing power.

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