INDIAN FAMINES - Institute for Social and Economic Change

66 RECENT FAMINES.
clearing obstacles and improving matters generally
would have been forthcoming. Rice, however,
was at last provided, and it rescued from
famine a portion of the people. Of course, long
before the rice was available, death had made
sad havoc, and starvation had placed many beyond
the healing influences of an after-plenty.
Floods and cholera aided the former neglect,
and the result of all was" The Orissa Famine."
There now only remains the 1868-69 famine to
be noticed. The area which this famine covered
was very considerable. It affected a very large
portion of the North - Western Province, the
whole of Bundelcund and the neighbouring
petty states, part of the Central Provinces,
Hajputana, and a considerable portion of the
Punjab. Except in the native states of Rajputana,
it was kept well in hand, and only lasted
till the autumn harvest of 1869; but in Rajputana
the effects were severely felt till the corresponding
period of 1870.
With the exception of the Central Provinces,
the Punjab, and the native states, the area
affected was under the administration of the
North - Western Province. This Province,