As an impending famine in Bihar comes…

As an impending famine in Bihar comes to light, a decision is made at the highest level to save lives at any cost.

Rs.4 crores are spent on importing four hundred and fifty thousand tons of rice from Burma.

Another Rs. 2.25 crores are spent in organizing relief for three hundred million units (1 unit = one person for one day).

In addition, for the first time, inspection of villages by the government officials is carried out in order to identify those in need of aid or employment.

In Sir Richard Temple's own description (in a contemporary correspondence), the generous aid allows the laborers to stay in good physical condition and to return to their fields in a timely fashion when the rains finally arrive; in addition, their actions put to rest any fears among relief officials that the government handouts are making the laborers "dependent."

Road construction becomes a major project of the famine relief works; the Road Cess Act of 1873, which is enacted just before the famine begins, establishes a fund for the "construction of roads, especially their metaling and bridging."

(Yang, Anand A. (1998), Bazaar India: Markets, Society, and the Colonial State in Bihar, Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 50)