Talk:Bengal famine of 1770
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there are some images on the bengal famine at [1]. but copyright status is uncertain. barma 14:14, 6 January 2006 (UTC)
The following points are missing: a) The characterization of the Company's behavior as"Free Trade" - characterizing the relationship as 'trade' is a whitewashing of the behavior of the Company, which included mass hangings, systematic rapings, and violent tax collection. b) References and impact of famine on Bengali literature Wiki article on [2] can be a model for this article. In 1765 Reja Khan was appointed as the tax collector by East India company. He immediately increased the tax by 20% for the Jamindars. Bamkim Chandra's [3] novel Anandamath highlighted the tragedy. Later Anandamath became a source of inspiration for Indian freedom movement.
[edit] Neutrality issues
It is critical that scholarship not mitigate the shocking crimes of the British in India. There was not a weather pattern that lasted only during British colonialism and improved upon their removal. Aggressive attempts to shift blame for these atrocities to nature or to Indians themselves (see comments above) are nothing short of holocaust denial. Critical review of the fact makes such attempts obvious, as in the quote below, where the writer tries to describe a strange weather phenomena that existed for only 60 years and then resolved: 'Although all scholars will admit that the famine was exacerbated by British policy using words like "fault" implies that the famine was man-made when there are multiple sources that indicate that shortages in rainfall led to food shortages for as long as 60 years (starting from 1752 in Murshidabad, when the East India Company was not in power). Also the fact that the rains failed in 1769 needs to be reiterated instead of putting absolute blame on the Company.'
c.f. The New Cambridge History of India, Bengal:The British Bridgehead (Eastern India 1740-1828). Marshall, P.J. 1988. Cambridge University Press pp 18-19. --Antorjal 15:22, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
Indeed, there was not a weather pattern that lasted only during the colonial period, hence India suffering famines before the colonial period as well as after it. Avoid using terms such as "holocaust denial", nobody denied that a famine took place. I have checked Antorjal's source, and he/she is correct, there was a serious famine in 1752, and after 1770 there wasn't a serious famine for several decades. Although taxation and non-intervention by the company undeniable exacerabted the famine, it did not cause it.Led125 (talk) 14:34, 12 February 2008 (UTC)
In regards to the above: India, like all other regions of the world, suffered famines before the colonial period, but at a starkly lower rate than during colonialism. Bhatia is the oft cited source, though arguably pro-Anglo source, says there were 14 famines in the 600 years preceeding British occupation. Sen says there were 32 in the 90 years after the First War of Independence - from roughly 2 per century to 1 every 2-3 years. An economically exploited civilization will not be able to handle the typical variations in weather - in effect oscillating from the brink of famine to famine. After independence there was one event, largely deemed a 'near miss' in Bihar in 1967. So, 1-2 famines per century before the British, 1 famine every few years during the British, and none in the 60+ years since the British. Is it not obviouse that British colonialization was wholly responsible? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.146.139 (talk) 13:42, 15 February 2008 (UTC)
Actually there is no way of comparing the famines in pre-colonial India to the nineteenth century famines because good data only began to be gathered from 1878 onwards. "One cannot compare, for instance, the absence of complaints or solicitations for relief rice in Mughal India with their replete presence in colonial records and assume this means Mughal kings took care of their populations during famines and British colonial officals did not. It MIGHT mean this, although the historical evidence is certainly weighed against such a conclusion. But it is also possible, and perhaps probable, that the absence of solicitations in Mughal documents means that no one expected the Mughal officials to supply any relief, so it was pointless to ask" Darren C. Zook in Agrarian Environments: Resources, Representations, and Rule in India, page 112. On Bhatia I will cite [url]http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0022-0507(197903)39%3A1%3C143%3ADFARTC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-M]this article[/url] by Michelle Burge McAlpin as well as her book Subject to Famine. Deficient rainfall caused crop failures and improved communications actually mitigated the severity of famines. This view is support by Neil Charlesworth in his book "Pesants and Imperial Rule" and Tirthankar Roy in his "Rethinking Economic Change in India". Finally INdia did suffer a famine in 1972-73 which claimed 130,000 lives. See Cormac O'Grada's article "Making Famine History" (you can find ti by googleing it)Led125 (talk) 22:18, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
