Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)60
Graded Inequality, Poverty, Epidemics and Mortality during the Great
Famine in Colonial South India
*Sathya.D
AbstractDrought, crop failure, poverty, hunger, epidemics,
and mortality along with failure of humanity in the form
(1876-1878) in Colonial South India. Famine and the misery associated with it is not a new phenomenon to
droughts, storms, avalanches and the like the people belonging to the lower strata faced more misery than the people of higher strata. Baba Sahib Ambedkar termed this
the great famine of 1876-78 in Colonial South India with special reference to poverty, epidemics and mortality.
Key Words: Famine, Social Crisis and Mortality.
University, Puducherry
ISSN : 2348-1757Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)Volume-4 , Issue-2, July-Dec. 2016, pages 60--76
61
Famines are not restricted to natural causes but are also a
famines in the historical past in India. During the Colonial rule about
twenty two famines, the great famine of 1876 to 1878, resulted in
this famine in a single year.1
“the more one hears about this famine, the more one feels that such
seen before.”2
proclaiming at the Grand Delhi Durbar that her Majesty Queen Victoria
country was in the grip of the great famine.3
4
famine deteriorated because of some social evils like inequality
of inequality in any one of the forms, e.g. master-slave, bourgeois-
upper class- lower class. But in the context of Indian society it had its own typical feature, namely inequality varying according to caste
‘graded inequality’ by Dr. Ambedkar.5
1. 2. Complete disarmament of the Shudras and Untouchables;
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)62
3. and Untouchables:
4. Ban on the Shudras and the Untouchables occupying places of power and authority;
5. Ban on the Shudras and the Untouchables acquiring property.6
India by a wholesale disarmament of the people of India. But they forget that disarmament of the Shudras and the Untouchables was the rule of law promulgated by the Brahmins.”7
He further stated, “If the common man belonging to the servile classes in India is today so fallen, so degraded, so devoid
philosophy.”8
only made them inferior in society, but also made them weak economically leading to ‘poverty’. They worked as farm servants,
Great Famine
Graded In-equality
Poverty Epidemics Mortality
63
welcomed various ‘epidemics’ and widespread ‘mortality’.Figure 1:
with Poverty, Epidemics and Mortality.Review of Literature
The term ‘graded inequality’9 was given by Ambedkar as
studies. Smita Narula (2007), used the term ‘graded inequality’ to
to which certain deprived people of the society were subjected. She
every eighteen minutes, three Dalit women are raped, eleven Dalits
employed mostly in the scavenging work, which is the only economic opportunity available for them to earn for their survival. She further
graded inequality wherein the inequality is so ingrained that Dalit
in rank.”10
inequality’ along with Ambedkar’s strategies against the social
Hindu religion is not between the Brahmins and non- Brahmin, whereas it’s between the “Touchables” and Untouchables. During
believed that the communal award was the right of the untouchables
the things impossible.’ To struggle against inequality, he took further
to serve the interests of the Scheduled Casted from inside the government than from outside.” As a result of these strategies, in
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)64
against the ‘graded inequality’ that the ‘rights to equality’
11
Sukhadeo Thorat (2010) used the term ‘graded inequality’
equal opportunity in socio-economic aspects should be available
12
Thus in previous studies scholars used the term graded
occurred at the eve of independence and post-independence. The present paper uses the term ‘graded inequality’ with reference to the second half of the 19th
of the Great Famine.
of Orissa Famine in 1866. He discussed causes, courses and relief
balanced and prosperous. Many colonial policies like ‘Laissez faire’, along with natural causes were responsible for the poverty, which lead to frequent visit of famine in Orissa. The area of 12000 sq. miles
13
not directly related to food and it is dependent on command over food
such as, great Bengal famine of 1943, Ethiopian famine of 1973 etc. 14
65
Epidemics and mortality were interlinked with each other. Scholars discussed about epidemic disease along with mortality. Roland Lordinoise (1985) explained how epidemic and mortality
He explained the demographic crisis as follows: “Thus in August 1877, cholera, small pox and fever put together account for 86,866
cent. On the basis of these remarks, it can be stated that the peaks
which grow over a base of famine.”15 Leela Sami (2011), talked about
Dr. Cornish’s report in support of her arguments. She pointed that
were desperate to minimise the famine expenditure.16
Elizabeth Whitcombe, (1993), wrote about 19th century
She also explained the argument between Dr. Cornish and Richard
17
The present paper seeks: (i) To analyse how the concept
in Colonial South India. (ii) To examine poverty as a social crisis of the lower caste people in Madras Presidency and (iii) To study the
famine.
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)66
Sources and MethodologyThe main sources of this current paper are collected from
Archives and several libraries. The primary sources are, Census Report of the Madras Presidency of 1871, Census Report of the Madras Presidency of 1881, The Famine Campaign in Southern India 1876-1878”, Vol. I, & II and the secondary sources are the
of three methods. The method was used to describe the famine events chronologically. The method was used to compare the concept of graded inequality with other variables such
used to discuss various data.Graded Inequality and Poverty
Poverty is the beginning of all sorts of social crises. It is not
causes for poverty. Moreover, from 1856 to 1871 the land revenue collected by the colonial government increased from 375 to 443 lakhs
75. 18 Col. Baird Smith said that, the sale of land for the payment of public revenue had almost disappeared from public record, while
19
labourers mostly belong to the lower caste people, who mostly depended on their master’s land. So when their masters sold the land, they were pushed into unemployment, which led them into poverty
itself varies according to the graded order in the caste structures.Graded Inequality and Epidemics
The debate between Richard Temple and Cornish shows the
67
special envoy to Madras. David Hall Mathews observes how Richard Temple believed in hierarchical loyalty- which he called ‘imperial
system got a controversy. According to Temple, an Indian can survey with one pound20 of grain per day. But Robert Cornish was a Surgeon- Major and the Sanitary Commissioner, who physically examined 3000 persons and he noted that “a general tenancy to the leanness of all classes... ribs, collar and shoulder bones are all unusually prominent. But many had a fair amount of muscular development and clean,
anaemia.21 Elizabeth Whitcombe, used the annual sanitary report to
follows: Children born in the camps had “the wizened and spider-like in utero.
Of girls aged 12 to 14, barely 20 per cent had reached Puberty.
in birth-rate: in 1877, 25 per cent, in 1878, 50 per cent below the average of two previous years. Analysis of the breast milk of mothers
22
that an Indian needs minimum 30 ounce23 of grain per day. Finally,
argument while preparing Famine Commission Report of 1880.24
In India, for the Brahmins, the other caste people were inferior to
to them. According to Cornish, ’from 1876 to July 1877, 3250
outskirts of Madras: of these 1117 died’.25 The mortality shows the
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)68
line shows how many people died in 1876, the upper line shows the number of deaths occurred in 1877 and the middle line shows, the mortality due to diseases. If we compare the upper line with middle line, the death rate is not at all synchronized. There is a huge gap in
that people died due to epidemics. If it was true it should go together.
reports give the number of deaths due to epidemics, they might well
Table 1: shows the mortality rate due to epidemics.
MONTHMORTALITY RATE DISEASE
18771876 1877
January 61962 116195 85095
February 55432 104717 76489
March 47537 103652 74884
April 49244 89133 60931
May 51696 104086 69220
June 56750 108517 63143
July 65513 150719 77699
August 54994 173933 86866
September 47665 167994 80978
October 45053 141622 67918
November 56511 148393 82143
December 88027 147351 86833
69
Figure 2: Mortality due to epidemicsSource: Sanitary Report of the Madras Presidency
26
in the Census report of 1871 and later it was added to the Census report of 1881. Nearly half millions of women (488,800) and
in the 1871 Census.27
Dr. Cornish commended the Madras government
making these servants record morality as due to ‘old age’, ‘fever’, or
28 The history of poverty lies hidden in census
Graded Inequality and Mortality
ryots (peasants), as the proprietors of the land, had to pay rent
even when there was no rainfall, the peasants had to borrow heavily
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)70
peasants at the mercy of moneylenders. Peasants became debtors to money lenders who were also village bankers and grain dealers.
neighbouring villages.29 Mostly these unfortunate agricultural
3 show the total mortality of lower caste people from 1871 to 1881 as per census reports. The heaviest loss of life was among the lower castes who were the agricultural labourers who died mainly
30 According to George Couper, if the famine mortality in 1879 be tested, it will be found that about 80 per cent of the deaths come from the labouring classes, and nearly the whole of
land as to be hardly removed from labourers.31
Table 2: Mortality of the Lower Caste People
Source: Kanmony Cyril.J, Dalits and Tribes of India.32
Mortality of the Lower Caste people
Figure 3: Mortality of the Lower Caste people
S. No. Caste Groups 187101. Brahmins 1095553 1122070
02. Upper Castes 3703206 3805482
03. Lower Castes 21742217 20758293
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Next to the agricultural labourers the vulnerable people were the out caste and other caste people. One among them were Madigars. They were skilled leather making people and their
no purchasing power to buy their leather. Since they were skilled only
out of their jobs. W. H. Glenny, a civilian in charge of the Adoni Taluk in the Kurnool district of the Madras Presidency, gave a
observed “accustomed as they are to be treated like unclean beasts by their countrymen, it was long before the idea dawned that the Government might be ready to save them also from death.”33
Generally, in South India, the Mussulman were considered as outsiders in the Caste system of the Hindus. The Mussulmans in Adoni Taluk of Kurnool District were considered as a bad class because they were polygamous. Among them the small peasant reaped a scanty
debt. So their bullock carts were taken by the land-holders in lieu of debt.
34
dancing women to gods and thereby to Brahmins who presided over
in the name of God was treated as sacred. The higher caste people who exploited the temple women were never named as the bad class
hierarchy is Tribal community or people those who lived in jungles. One among them were Yanadees, those who lived in the jungles along sea- shore areas of Nellore district. These people were wanderers
They used to sell honey and other hilly products in the plains. The great famine forced them to come out of the jungle to the village for survival. They were not treated as equally as other lower castes.35
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)72
These people were treated worse than the lower class people. That’s what Ambedkar called as ‘Graded inequality.’ They also wandered
Charity MeasuresIt is deemed as the duty of the government to give measures for
36
It was enacted to save the poor people of the country who were
William Digby, “In the year 1876 to 1878, the Indian Government will have expended on famine relief the sum of 11,000,000, that government having ruled over 250 millions of people. In England alone, during the same period, 21,000,000, will have been spent
annum.”37 Hence, it was proven that their aim was to get welfare
from the colony and to not to give welfare to the colony.
from the civil society worked towards saving the oppressed people.
Swamigal, much neglected but important person in history, also called as Vallar meaning “Great Giver.” He started a campaign against the caste system in the name of ‘Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sangam.’ He was generous towards the untouchables and opened “food for hunger” (Dharma Salai) in 1865 in Vadalur, in Tamil Nadu for all caste
38
as the Satya Shodhak Samaj (truth seeking society) for giving social 39
SNDP (Sree Narayana Darma paripalana Yogam) in Kerala for the
made them undertake many charitable works without disparity of
73
people to think of him as equal to god. Digby recorded an incidence
the Rev. J. Davies Thomas.”40 Along with Germany and Switzerland,
France also sent Basel Missionaries one of its catholic missionaries
of Madras presidency.41
ConclusionThe concept of ‘graded inequality’ can be applied for
understanding the impact of the Great Famine in Indian society. During the great famine of 1876 to 1878, there was no messiah like
graded inequality. It is proved how ‘graded inequality’ further lead to
went unrecorded in the history of colonial India. It will be wrong to
were not the originators of caste hierarchy in India, but they were the followers of caste hierarchy which originated thousands of years back and which was strictly followed by the higher caste for their
Ambedkar’s ideas have to be translated into policy decisions
building social equality and economic welfare of all. The silent war against the caste system was started long before. But it is not yet over
restricted to text alone but should be registered in the mind of each and every individual.Acknowledgement
I thank my Supervisor, Prof. G. Chandhrika, Department of
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Indian Journal of Dalit and Tribal Studies (IJDTS)74
History, Pondicherry University, for providing insight into the concept of graded inequality and guiding me in shaping my ideas for the paper.References
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