Bihar Famine of 1873-74
1873 CE to 1874 CE
The Bihar famine of 1873–1874 (also the Bengal famine of 1873–1874) is a famine in British India that follows a drought in the province of Bihar and the neighboring provinces of Bengal and the North-Western Provinces and Oudh; it affects an area of 54,000 square miles (140,000 km2) and a population of 21.5 million.
The relief effort—organized by Sir Richard Temple, the newly appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal—is one of the success stories of the famine relief in British India; there is little or no mortality during the famine.
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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)
The construction of the Irrawaddy Valley State Railway in Burma, which begins in 1874, also provides employment in the earthworks for many famine immigrants from Bengal.
The one hundred and sixty-three-mile (two hundred and sixty-two kilometers) Rangoon-to-Prome line, following the Irrawaddy River, will be built over a three-year period with labor imported from India (particularly the areas affected by the Bihar famine of 1873–74).
The Bihar famine had proved to be less severe than had originally been anticipated, and one hundred thousand tons of grain is left unused at the end of the relief effort.
Since the expenditure associated with the relief effort is considered excessive, Sir Richard Temple is criticized by various British officials.
Taking the criticism to heart, he revises the official famine relief philosophy, which hereafter will become concerned with thrift and efficiency.
The relief efforts in the subsequent Great Famine of 1876–78 in Bombay and South India will therefore be very modest, which in turn will lead to excessive mortality.