Ending Famine in India

The task of ending famine in India was taken up by many at the begin­ning of the twentieth century. Only decades earlier, famine in India had been believed to be a necessary evil. Now it was the reason for the increasing activities of doctors, nutritionists, social reformers, agricul­tural experts, missionaries, anti-colonial activists and colonial administrators, all involved in temporary relief and finding permanent solutions to famine. The involvement of this panoply of historical actors places Indian famines in the centre of the converging histories of humanitarianism, development, nutrition and (anti-) colonialism. Tracing their activities renders such convergences visible and pushes the boundaries of the history of famines in South Asia beyond its common spatial and tem­poral frames.