The Government of Bengal and its Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Richard Temple, were criticised for excessive expenditure on charitable relief.
Earlier, in the Bihar famine of 1873–74, severe mortality had been avoided by importing rice from Burma. The famine occurred at a time when the colonial government was attempting to reduce expenses on welfare. The cultivation of alternate cash crops, in addition to the commodification of grain, played a significant role in the events. The regular export of grain by the colonial government continued during the famine, the viceroy, Lord Robert Bulwer-Lytton, oversaw the export to England of a record 6.4 million hundredweight (320,000 tons) of wheat, which made the region more vulnerable. This was part of a larger pattern of drought and crop failure across India, China, South America and parts of Africa caused by an interplay between a strong El Niño and an active Indian Ocean Dipole that led to between 19 and 50 million deaths. The Great Famine may have partially been caused by an intense drought resulting in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau. Grain destined for export stacked on Madras beaches (February 1877). The famine is also known as the Southern India famine of 1876–1878 and the Madras famine of 1877. The excess mortality in the famine has been estimated in a range whose low end is 5.6 million human fatalities, high end 9.6 million fatalities, and a careful modern demographic estimate 8.2 million fatalities. The famine ultimately affected an area of 670,000 square kilometres (257,000 sq mi) and caused distress to a population totalling 58,500,000. In 1877, famine came to affect regions northward, including parts of the Central Provinces and the North-Western Provinces, and a small area in Punjab. It affected south and Southwestern India-the British-administered presidencies of Madras and Bombay, and the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad-for a period of two years. It began in 1876 after an intense drought resulted in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau. The Great Famine of 1876–1878 was a famine in India under Crown rule.
Map of the British Indian Empire (1885), showing the regions affected by various famines of the 19th century, including the Great Famine of 1876–1878.
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