Keywords: 1876 1877 1878 1879 Famine Genocide in India Madras under British colonial rule.jpg en 1876-1879 famine in India Digby estimated 10 3 million people starved to death most of which were in South India some refer to the tragedy as the Madras famine Maharatna estimated 8 2 million died from hunger and diseases that followed British colonial rule argued that famine relief would be an inappropriate response and encourage laziness Some officials argued the Thomas R Malthus theory that famines are a nature's way for population control and argued British government should not intervene British government continued its policy of forced export of food from India in 1876-1879 while the famine swept among its people The poverty misery and diseases wiped out villages and families Some farmers and their families committed suicide during this 3 year period from the trauma and the extended period of starvation Parents killed themselves so that their children could eat the remaining scraps of food creating a pool of abandoned and foresaken children Photograph by Willoughby Wallace Hooper 1876-1879 For more on the famine see Late Victorian Holocausts El NiƱo Famines and the Making of the Third World by Mike Davis 1879-01-01 Photograph from a personal copy of a copyright expired publication Willoughby Wallace Hooper photo taken in 1876-1879 other versions PD-old-70-1923 Uploaded with UploadWizard Famines in India Willoughby Wallace Hooper |