Why was there a sudden spurt in famines in colonial India since the mid-eighteenth century? Give reasons. (UPSC 2022)

Famines became more frequent in colonial India from the mid-eighteenth century because the rural economy was reorganised to serve colonial revenue and trade. This weakened peasant resilience and made harvest failures far more deadly.

• High land revenue demand: Permanent Settlement, Ryotwari and Mahalwari systems fixed heavy cash taxes, forcing peasants to sell grain and lose food stocks.
• Shift to cash crops: Farmers were pushed towards indigo, opium, cotton and jute, reducing land for food crops.
• De-industrialisation: Collapse of handicrafts drove more people onto land, increasing pressure on already limited resources.
• Weaker local safety nets: Village grain reserves, common resources and community support systems declined under colonial rule.
• Laissez-faire and exports: The state avoided intervention in hoarding and speculation, while grain exports often continued during scarcity.
• Poor irrigation priority: Railways got more attention than canals, leaving rain-fed regions exposed to monsoon failure.

Thus, colonial policy turned climate shocks into repeated famines by removing buffers, reducing food availability and prioritising revenue over survival.