INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

2U
PREVENTIVE AND
humanity and interest have equally failed to
hasten the sluggish course of the Indian Government,
it is difficult to know what feeling u)
appeal to. There is little to be said beyond the
fact that every one knows, that by well-devised
works of irrigation, India might be made at
least as safe from recurrent famine as England
now is." Another article in the same stram
follows j and again, on April 13th, 1867, wit}
the experience of six years, the following ap·
pears: "A famine in India is as much thl
direct act of man as a famine in England wouk
be if we neglected to sow the necessary seed
For the most part, the one only essential t,
insure productive harvests, is water, and th'
water is there in abundance if we choose to us
it. 'Ve have not so chosen, because it woul"
cost money to make the needful reservoirs an"
canals; and because we could not see the wi;:;·
dom of borrowing at 4 per cent to repay t
the Government from 10 to 100 or 200 pel
cent, and to the people all that is comprehended
in the difference between periodicr'
starvation and unbroken plenty." Audi altera) ,
paTtern: the Ganges Canal is allowed to be tht