In South India, minor rain fluctuations (and not extreme weather) caused famines under British rule

Extreme rainfall deficiencies were not the only causes of famines in semi-arid regions of southern India in the 18th to 20th centuries, according to research that blends paleoclimate reconstruction and British administrative records for the area.

A minor 13% to 17% deficit in rainfall, rather than extreme events, triggered famines in southern India’s semi-arid regions, including the Great Famine of 1875–1878 and the Indian Famine of 1899–1900, which, according to the colonial records, were caused by “rain failure” killing millions.

Climate change risks

The findings underscore the need to consider the potential impacts of minor fluctuations in rainfall patterns in drought-prone semi-arid regions in climate change risk assessments. “We focus on understanding extreme events (such as floods due to extreme rainfall). And that is critical because our infrastructures and practices are not equipped to deal with these extremes, given that these extremes have become more frequent,” the study’s corresponding author Atreyee Bhattacharya told Mongabay-India.

She cautions that “we are vulnerable even more than we think we are” because minor fluctuations are not given importance due to the assumption that one is resilient to these fluctuations, which are part of normal climate variability.

“It appears that we are vulnerable to ‘normal’ variations in climate, particularly rainfall, especially in rain-fed agricultural societies in…

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