INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

56 REOENT FAMINES.
(i. e., high-caste women), who from want were
driven to, dire straits, but by reason of their
respectability could not be expected to mix in
the crowd of labourers employed in the reliefworks.
The very name by which, they are
designated is suggestive of the diffieuity that
accompanies the case. A committee of native
gentlemen was formed, and asked by Government
to make a house-to-house visitation, to
make the necessary inquiries concerping them.
But for this movement by Government, the sufferings
of this class, who would prefer death to
exposure, must have been very great; and there
is no doubt but that in previous famines they
suffered unmitigated misery.
Another characteristic point connected with
this famine was the appointment of an officer
by Government, at a comparatively early date,
to inquire into the several disorganised phases
of society attributable to the disaster. The
origin of the proceeding was due to the influence
that public opinion (British and Anglo­
Indian) was now obtaining in the country. On
the 28th January 1861, the Bengal Chamber of
Commerce drew the attention of the Government