NATURE 



553 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, i? 



THE INDIAN FAMINE COMMISSION 



THE recently issued Report of the Government Com- 

 mission appointed some time ago to inquire into 

 Indian Famines is of great practical value and full of 

 suggestiveness as to the lines which further inquiry 

 should pursue. This first part of the Report relates to 

 Famine Relief, and bears evidence that the Commission 

 have done their work with great thoroughness and breadth 

 of view, and the results are recorded with clearness and 

 method. On the question as to what measures of rehef 

 would be the most effectual to adopt, we need not touch 

 here ; no doubt they will receive attention in the proper 

 quarter. The discussion of the various questions in- 

 volved is prefaced by an excellent concise sketch of the 

 geography, population, and climate of British India. 

 Here also some important information is given as to the 

 degree in which each part of the country is exposed to 

 famine. This is followed by a statement of the measures 

 which, in the opinion of the Commission, it would be 

 advisable to adopt for famine relief, and a very complete 

 and instructive review of past famines and the measures 

 adopted to meet them. The immensity of the problem 

 with which the Commission had to deal may be learned 

 from the fact that the total area of British India is about 

 one and a half miilion square miles with a population of 

 240 millions. Of this, 900,000 square miles, with a popu- 

 lation of 190 millions, is under direct British rule, the 

 remainder belonging to the native States. The great 

 bulk of this population belongs to the classes on whom 

 the dire effects of famine are sure to fall, so that the 

 responsibility of our government in the matter cannot be 

 magnified ; they are bound to leave no means untried 

 either to prevent the recurrence of famines or to meet 

 them effectually if they do occur. The Commission, of 

 course, could not but come to the conclusion that the 

 devastating famines to which the provinces of India have 

 from time to time been liable are in all cases to be traced 

 to the occurrence of seasons of unusual drought, the 

 failure of the customary rainfall leading to the failure of 

 the food crops on which the subsistence of the population 

 depends. The Commission have therefore justly con- 

 ceived it to be an important part of their inquiry to 

 ascertain what can be known as to the periodicity of rain- 

 fall throughout the year, and over periods of greater 

 extent if possible. The yearly periodicity of rainfall in 

 India and other tropical countries is well known. In 

 India a strongly marked yearly periodicity is everywhere 

 observed, the chief fall occurring, with few exceptions, in 

 the summer months, between May and October, in the 

 season commonly known as the south-west monsoon. On 

 a part of the Madras coast, on the east of the peninsula, 

 heavy rain falls after the cessation of these summer rains, 

 in the months of November and December, at the 

 beginning of what is termed the season of the north-east 

 monsoon. In the more northern provinces, again, a well- 

 marked season of winter rain occurs, commencing about 

 Christmas and extending to February, but its effects 

 hardly reach south of the tropic, and it has no sensible 

 influence on the agriculture of Southern India. The 

 Vol, XX7I. — No. 572 



main agricultural operations of the country correspond 

 with these principal seasons of rain, and their relative 

 importance is in a great degree dependent on the local 

 distribution of the rainfall at the various seasons of the 

 year, as the period and amount of rain differ much in the 

 several provinces of India. 



A most valuable feature of the Report is the numerous 

 excellent maps which accompany it, and which are a 

 great assistance to understanding the results of the 

 inquiry. One map, for instance, shows the general 

 features of the distribution of annual rainfall. The fall 

 on the Western Ghats and on the tract between them 

 and the sea is very heavy, being from 70 to 100 inches at 

 -the sea level, and as much as 250 inches on the mountain 

 face exposed to the south-west rain-bearing winds. Along 

 the east coast of the Bay of Bengal, and in the eastern 

 districts of the Bengal Province, as also along the foot 

 and outer slopes of the Himalaya throughout its whole 

 extent, the rainfall is also extremely heavy, reaching 100 

 inches or more. Subject to these exceptions, it may be 

 said generally that the portion of India east of the 80th 

 meridian has a rainfall of more than 40 inches, while the 

 portion west of the same meridian has less than 40 inches. 

 The region in which the fall is less than 30 inches 

 includes almost the whole of the Punjab, a considerable 

 part of the North- West Provinces, a large part of Rajpu- 

 tana and Kathiawar, as well as almost the whole of the 

 Deccan and Mysore. In Sindh and in the southern 

 portion of the Punjab and most western part of Rajputana 

 the rainfall is extremely small and irregular, being less 

 than 15 inches. Of the area in which the rainfall is below 

 15 inches, it may be said that it is either actual desert or 

 that agricuUure is impossible without artificial irrigation ; 

 and hence it has followed that where the rain is least 

 copious the population has made itself in a great degree 

 independent of the local rainfall. In the opposite direc- 

 tion it is also generally true that where the rain is most 

 abundant, exceeding 40 or 50 inches, the occurrence of 

 such drought as will cause serious scarcity is rare. The 

 region in which the average rainfall is between 20 and 35 

 inches is that which suffers most from droughts. Here, 

 though on the average of years the rain is sufficient to 

 support an agricultural population, the greater deficiencies 

 which reduce the quantity below what is essential, as well 

 as the smaller which seriously damage the crops, are so 

 frequent as to lead to repeated seasons of scarcity of 

 greater or less severity. From this it can easily be ascer- 

 Tained what are the parts of the country most subject to 

 drought. These are (i) the western and southern parts 

 of the North- Western Provinces and that portion of the 

 Punjab territory which lies east of the Satlej ; (2) the 

 western and northern States of Rajputana and of the 

 central plateau which border on the North- Western Pro- 

 vinces ; (3) the districts of Bombay above the Western 

 Ghats, and the districts of Madras above the Eastern 

 Ghats, together with the southern and western region of 

 Hyderabad and all Mysore, except the strip lying close 

 along the Western Ghats; (4) the districts of Madras 

 along the east coast and at the extremity of the peninsula. 

 The more detailed account of the know^n droughts of the 

 past hundred years, which are given, show how frequently 

 the region whose total rainfall is from 20 to 35 inches has 

 been subject to severe scarcity, and that within it have 



