1878.] 
Famines in India. 
437 
been seriously affeCted by drought, but, as the countries 
which suffered most were not then subject to British rule, 
very little information is obtainable relative to that famine. 
In the years 1790 to 1792 there was a very serious drought 
in the Madras Presidency, and at an early period Govern- 
ment suspended the import and transit duties on all kinds 
of grain and provisions, and themselves imported grain from 
Bengal. Rice was distributed gratuitously by Government, 
and relief was afforded by employing the poor on public 
works. In 1824-25 Madras was again visited with famine, 
which was caused by failure of rain in most of the provinces 
of that Presidency, and more particularly in the Carnatic 
and Western Districts; numbers of starving poor flocked 
into Madras, and relief establishments were formed for them 
partly by private charity and partly at the expense of 
Government. The year 1837-38 was long afterwards re- 
membered in consequence of the failure of rain, which 
brought scarcity and famine to the North-western Provinces 
and to Rajputana. No sooner had the serious pressure of 
famine begun to be felt than the ordinary bonds of society 
seemed to be broken by it. Beginning at Rohilkhund, the 
population gathered into bands for plunder, and attacked 
the grain stores in the larger villages and towns. This 
calamity was of such intensity and magnitude as to have 
been almost unmanageable, and the deaths from starvation 
alone are believed to have exceeded 800,000. Relief Com- 
mittees were formed for the distribution of private charity, 
and Government expended very large sums in the employ- 
ment of the population on relief works, in addition to which, 
before February, 1838, no less a sum than £600,000, on 
account of revenue, had been remitted. 
The next serious famine seems to have occurred in 
1860-61, the effects of which extended over the Punjab and 
parts of the North-western Provinces, affecting districts 
having a population of about 13 millions, and a cultivated 
area, in ordinary Seasons, of 12,293,000 acres, of which 
4,457,000 acres were thrown out of cultivation during the 
famine period. Up to the 30th April, 1861, as many as 
26 central and 75 district relief-houses had been established 
in the famine districts, at which, on the average, 80,000 people 
were relieved daily, and, besides this, a series of special 
relief works was organised for the relief of the able-bodied 
poor, upon which 143,500 people were, on the average, daily 
employed. Owing to the better means of communication, 
greater promptness in anticipating the effects of the drought, 
and improved organisation for dealing with the distress, the 
