A major characteristic of British rule in India, and the net result of British economic policies was the prevalence of extreme poverty among its people.
The poverty of the people found its culmination in a series of famines which ravaged all parts of India in the second half of the 19th century.
The first of these famines occurred in western UP in 1960-61 and cost over 2 lakh of lives. In 1865-66 a famine engulfed Orissa, Bengal, Bihar and Madras and took a fall of nearly 20 lakhs of lives, Orissa alone losing 10 lakhs of people. More than 14 lakhs of persons died in the famine of 1868-70 in western U.P., Bombay and Punjab.
Many states of Rajputana, another affected area, lost one-fourth to one-third of their population. Perhaps the worst famine in Indian history till then occurred in 1876-78 in Madras, Mysore, Hyderabad, Maharashtra, Western U.P., and the Punjab.
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Maharashtra cost 8 lakhs people, Madras nearly 35 lakhs. Mysore nearly 20% of its population and UP over 12 lakhs. Drought led to a countrywide famine in 1896-97 which affected over 9.5 crores of people of whom nearly 45 lakhs died. The famine of 1899-1900 followed quickly and caused widespread distress. In spite of official efforts to save lives through provision of famine relief, over 25 lakhs people died.
Apart from these major famines, many other local famines and sear cities occurred. William Digby, a British writer has calculated that, in all, over 28,825,000 people died during famines from 1854 to 1901. India’s economic backwardness and poverty were not due to the niggardliness of nature.
They were abundant and capable of yielding, if properly utilized, a high degree of prosperity to the people. But as a result of foreign rule and exploitation, and of a backward agrarian and industrial economic structure-in fact as the total outcome of its historical and social development- India presented the paradox of a poor people living in a rich country.