History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c44.146

v2.c44.146

Generally speaking, the whole of Orissa is barren and unproductive compared to the rich deltas of the great rivers and the Malabar country. The yield of the harvest is also poor and irrigation is required in many tracts to produce any crops at all. Consequently Orissa has suffered from famine from time immemorial. Famines were of frequent occurrence before the opening of the Railways from Madras to Puri and from Puri to Calcutta. Famines of a less severe nature occur with regularity even now and are called scarcities in official records. The greatest famines of Orissa of the Maratha period were those of 1770 and 1780. In 1770 rice was sold at less than two seers to the rupee and thousands of people died. Land lay untilled for years and in 1780 most of the country was waste. There was famine in 1792-93 and again in 1803. The greatest famine of the British period was that of 1865-66. The callousness of officials made the calamity more severe. The quantity of food exported from Balasore was unusually large in 1865. The officials did not take any steps even when the harvest failed, as they could not realise the gravity of the situation and no special enquiries were instituted. It was discovered suddenly in May 1866 that there were not sufficient food grains in the markets to feed the prisoners in the jails and the Government officials. Importation of grain by sea had become impossible, as the southern monsoon had started and Orissa was totally isolated from the rest of India, as the only road to Calcutta and Madras was without any bridges and unmetalled. Nearly 1,000,000 people died of starvation and diseases. The Government succeeded in importing 10,000 tons of food grains only at the end of November. This is a general account of the whole of Orissa. In Balasore the rice crop was exceptionally good in 1864. In 1865 the crops were ruined at the end of October. Prices rose to 11 seers per rupee in November. Early in 1866 the poorer people started plundering the houses of their richer neighbours and began to flock into the town. The Government succeeded in importing rice by ships in June but this was interrupted in the middle of July and at that time and in the first half of August thousands of people died in Balasore town. In a village ten miles south of Bhadrak rice sold at one rupee a seer on the 25th August. Distress was not relieved till the new rice crop was in the market. The next famine was that of 1897 on account of excessive rainfall and floods. But no rice had to be imported and people were relieved by the new railway works.¹