ABSTRACT
Drought and famine are not new to India. Indeed, in Arthasastra – a classic treatise on government written in India over 2,000 years ago – Kautilya writes that when famine is imminent a good king should ‘institute the building of forts or waterworks with the grant of food, or share [his] provisions [with the people], or entrust the country [to another king]’ (quoted in Drèze 1990: 19). Over centuries, numerous interventions were undertaken, including free kitchens, free distribution of foodgrains, remission of taxes and other forms of revenue, monetary advances and the construction of canals, roads and embankments in order to provide employment (Srivastava 1968: 28; Walker 1989: 101). However, there are no records of a comprehensive famine relief policy in the country until the arrival of the British.
