workingclasshistory:

On this day, 14 February 1874, this drawing was published in Penny Illustrated magazine in London depicting the Bihar famine of 1873-4.
A drought in the region endangered food supplies, so the newly-appointed British Governor of Bengal, Richard Temple organised a massive relief effort, importing hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rice from Burma (now Myanmar) and organising relief packages to provide 300 million units of relief (each unit catering for one person for one day). The swift action meant that there were few or no deaths from the famine.
However, Temple was strongly rebuked by the British government for spending too much. So when the next famine hit south and south-west India in 1876, Temple massively reduced aid, while hundreds of thousands of tonnes of food were exported to England, and around 5.5 million Indians died. https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1349661421885671/?type=3