Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at cattle mortality during two massive famines that broke out in India at the end of the nineteenth century. It will discuss colonial famine policies and examine the various ideological motivations that lay behind the relief measures that were implemented by the state.

Paper long abstract:

This paper looks at the two massive famines that broke out in India at the end of the nineteenth century: in 1896-7 and again in 1899. However, instead of looking at the human cost of famines, which has been the subject of most studies till now, it examines the question of cattle mortality during these disasters. The huge numbers of cattle that perished during famines not only created an ecological imbalance, but also had a massive impact on the livelihood of peasants, on agrarian structures, on agricultural productivity, and on cropping patterns, and this is one of the questions we will deal with. Besides this, we will also discuss colonial famine policies and examine the various ideological motivations that lay behind the relief measures that were implemented by the state. We will look, in particular, at the ideologies of Malthusianism and free trade and argue that, together with the avowed need to maintain "fiscal prudence", they were used by the colonial state to justify minimal famine relief. Even this minimal state relief was, however, not accessed by the affected peasants to the extent that one would expect, and we will also examine the reasons behind this.