GS Paper I — Q3
Why was there a sudden spurt in famines in colonial India since the mid-eighteenth century ? Give reasons. (Answer in 150 words)…
Why was there a sudden spurt in famines in colonial India since the mid-eighteenth century ? Give reasons. (Answer in 150 words) 10 marks
हिंदी में प्रश्न पढ़ें
औपनिवेशिक भारत की अठारहवीं शताब्दी के मध्य से क्यों अकाल पड़ने में अचानक वृद्धि देखने को मिलती है ? कारण बताएं। (150 शब्दों में उत्तर दें)
Model answer
Written by UPSC Answer Check against this question's marking rubric, to the 150-word length. UPSC does not publish answers for Mains — this is one way to score well, not an official key.
Unlike pre-colonial famines caused primarily by localized climatic failures, the post-1750 surge in famines resulted from structural colonial policies.
Colonial land revenue systems like the Permanent Settlement and Ryotwari imposed exorbitant, rigid cash assessments. This drove peasants into chronic indebtedness and land alienation, destroying their traditional subsistence reserves. Simultaneously, the forced commercialization of agriculture replaced staple food crops with export-oriented cash crops—namely indigo, opium, and cotton—drastically reducing local food availability.
Furthermore, integrating India into volatile global markets generated price inflation and speculative hoarding. Instead of aiding relief, the newly expanded railway network functioned as a suction pump, accelerating the export of food grains from starving hinterlands to Britain, while the colonial administration systematically neglected traditional community irrigation systems.
Crucially, relief administration was paralyzed by laissez-faire orthodoxy and Malthusian doctrines—exemplified during Lord Lytton’s tenure—which attributed starvation to overpopulation rather than state failure, strictly limiting relief expenditure.
Consequently, famines in colonial India transformed from natural subsistence crises into man-made, market-induced entitlement failures.
What "Explain" is asking you to do
Make the working of something clear — what sets it off, what follows from what, and what it produces. Explain is the Commission's mechanism word: it dominates the technical papers and the “explain why” stems, where the marks sit in the causal chain and not in the label.
Structure that answers it
State what it is → the initiating condition → the chain of cause, step by step → an instance where it plays out → what the chain produces
Where marks are lost
Describing what something looks like instead of why it works that way. Naming the stages without linking them reads as description too.
How this answer will be evaluated
Approach
Framework: GS1 History: British objective, Indian response, synthesis. explain: definition/context > points in order > small example > short close Full marks: Identifies structural causes (commercialization, revenue) and links to specific colonial policies.
Key points expected
- Link famines to British colonial economic policies
- Explain the shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture
- Mention the impact of land revenue systems (e.g., Zamindari/Ryotwari)
- Discuss the role of deindustrialization and trade imbalances
Evaluation rubric
Each sub-part is marked on its own, against the marks and word limit printed on the paper.
- The answer Analytical reasons for the sudden spurt in famines in colonial India since the mid-18th century. 10 marks · 150 words
explain— definition/context → points in order → small example → short close
Must cover
- Link famines to British colonial economic policies
- Explain the shift from subsistence to commercial agriculture
- Mention the impact of land revenue systems (e.g., Zamindari/Ryotwari)
- Discuss the role of deindustrialization and trade imbalances
Loses marks
- Narrating chronology of famines without analysis
- Attributing famines solely to natural causes (drought)
- Using emotive language without structural reasoning
Earns more
- Reference to specific famines (e.g., Bengal 1770)
- Mention of 'drain of wealth' or resource extraction
- Contrast with pre-colonial famine resilience
- Reference to the 'commercialization of agriculture'
Extra mark
- Cite a specific statistic on grain export during famine
- Mention a specific historian (e.g., Mike Davis, Amartya Sen)
Practice this exact question
Write your answer and it is marked point by point against the model answer above — what you covered, what you missed, what you got wrong.
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