Ecological Crisis and Forced Migration: Unravelling the Impact of Famine Outbreaks in Chotanagpur, 1850-1950

This research centres on the late 19th and early 20th-century food crisis in Chotanagpur, with the primary objective of investigating its impact on the substantial increase in the migration of people from this region to newly established tea and sugar plantations. Chotanagpur underwent a sharp ecological change in colonial period as its economy based on mixed agro-forestry to one based more on mono culture of rice made it vulnerable to the climatic crisis. Hunger deaths and outbreak of epidemic diseases like Cholera, specifically during famine period channelized heavy migration, as it was the only option left for the people. Large scale tribal migration from the region to work in Imperial plantation regimes of the 19th century (sugar and tea plantations) drew millions from the region to work as indentured labour. The diversified agro-forestry system and a food economy based on exploitation of a wide range of eco niches like millets, various tubes and roots were transformed as Chotanagpur became the largest source of indentured labour migration working to produce global food crops ranging from indigo, rice to sugar and tea. Whether it is about the large-scale tribal migration from this region to Imperial plantation regimes of the 19th century as sugar and tea plantations were booming in Mauritius or British Guiana or financial contribution of these colonies to famine struck India, these transnational connections will help to provide this intensive micro-local history a wide Imperial context.