INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

OF PAST FAMINES.
lief. It is evident that had the majority of the
population required the relief, and had only
received the amounts shown by this column,
that the mortality must have been a hundredfold
greater than reported.
Perhaps the next most striking items of the
column are the comparatively high figures
against Nos. VIII., and XI. famines, and they
certainly attract the more attention when we
consider the very high percentages of mortality
which are attached to them. These facts speak
for themselves-they require no analysing; nor
do they afford any grounds upon which to base
an argument.
Omitting, therefore, the last - mentioned
famines from further consideration here, the
remaining figures still vary enough to make it
difficult to arrive at any conclusion. One
question suggests itself, What percentage of
mortality can be accepted as sufficiently low to
enable us to speak with satisfaction of our
efforts to cope with a famine? Hitherto twothirds
is the lowest that we have succeeded in
attaining. I will therefore start the discussion
with this ligure in view. We can now
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