Drought and Famine in India, 1870–2016

Abstract

Millions of people died due to famines in India in the 19th and 20th centuries; however, the relationship of historical famines with drought is complicated and not well understood. Using station‐based observations and simulations, we reconstruct soil moisture (agricultural) drought in India for the period 1870‐2016. We show that over this century and a half period, India experienced seven major drought periods (1876‐1882, 1895‐1900, 1908‐1924, 1937‐1945, 1982‐1990, 1997‐2004, and 2011‐2015) based on severity‐area‐duration (SAD) analysis of reconstructed soil moisture. Out of six major famines (1873‐74, 1876, 1877, 1896‐97, 1899, and 1943) that occurred during 1870‐2016, five are linked to soil moisture drought, and one (1943) was not. The three most deadly droughts (1877, 1896, and 1899) were linked with the positive phase of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Five major droughts were not linked with famine, and three of those five non‐famine droughts occurred after Indian Independence in 1947.

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doi: 10.1029/2018GL081477
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Drought and famine in India, 1870-2016
Vimal Mishra1, Amar Deep Tiwari1, Saran Aadhar1, Reepal Shah1, Mu Xiao2, D.S. Pai3,
Dennis Lettenmaier2
1. Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, India
2. Department of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
3. India Meteorological Department (IMD), Pune
Abstract
Millions of people died due to famines in India in the 19th and 20th centuries; however, the
relationship of historical famines with drought is complicated and not well understood. Using
station-based observations and simulations, we reconstruct soil moisture (agricultural)
drought in India for the period 1870-2016. We show that over this century and a half period,
India experienced seven major drought periods (1876-1882, 1895-1900, 1908-1924, 1937-
1945, 1982-1990, 1997-2004, and 2011-2015) based on severity-area-duration (SAD)
analysis of reconstructed soil moisture. Out of six major famines (1873-74, 1876, 1877,
1896-97, 1899, and 1943) that occurred during 1870-2016, five are linked to soil moisture
drought, and one (1943) was not. The three most deadly droughts (1877, 1896, and 1899)
were linked with the positive phase of El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Five major
droughts were not linked with famine, and three of those five non-famine droughts occurred
after Indian Independence in 1947.
1.0 Introduction
Famine is defined as "food shortage accompanied by a significant number of deaths” (Dyson,
1991). India has a long history of famines that led to the starvation of millions of people
(Passmore, 1951). During the era of British rule in India (1765-1947), twelve major famines
occurred (in 1769-70, 1783-84, 1791-92, 1837-38, 1860-61, 1865-67, 1868-70, 1873-74,
1876-78, 1896-97, 1899-1900, and 1943-44) which lead to the deaths of millions people
(Maharatna, 1996). Many of these famines were caused by the failure of the summer
monsoon, which led to widespread droughts and crop failures (Cook et al., 2010). Although
no major famines have occurred since Indian independence in 1947, large-scale droughts in
the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries have continued to have devastating effects
on India (Bhalme et al., 1983; Gadgil & Gadgil, 2006; Mishra et al., 2016; Parthasarathy et
al., 1987). Droughts in the late 18th and early 19th centuries had progressively more severe
effects due to a rising population, low crop yields, and lack of irrigation (FAO, 2014). Hence,
an understanding of historical famine and drought in India relates both to physical factors
associated with drought, and agricultural productivity and management.
Soil moisture drought affects crop production and food security in India especially in the
absence of irrigation (Mishra et al., 2014, 2018). Soil moisture droughts doubtless affected
food production and famines in India before the widespread advent of irrigation in the mid-
20th century. However, the crucial role of soil moisture in famines in India has received little
attention, perhaps due to the general absence of long-term observations. Most previous
attempts to study 18th and 19th-century droughts in India have been limited to meteorological

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
(Bhalme et al., 1983; Mooley & Parthasarathy, 1984) or paleoclimate reconstructions (Cook
et al., 2010) and mainly facilitate studies of the role of large-scale climate variability. Here,
we provide the first reconstruction of droughts based on soil moisture (their proximate link to
dryland agriculture) for the last century and a half (1870-2016) and their relationship to
famines. We use the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) model to reconstruct soil moisture
using methods similar to those demonstrated previously for the conterminous U.S.
(Andreadis & Lettenmaier, 2006) and China (Wang et al., 2011).
2. Data and Methods:
We obtained 0.25° daily gridded precipitation data from the India Meteorology Department
(IMD) for the period 1901-2016 (Pai et al., 2015), which we regridded to 0.5°spatial
resolution by using synergic mapping (SYMAP) algorithm as described in Maurer et al.
(2002). Pai et al., (2015) developed the IMD gridded precipitation product using data from
6995 observational stations across India using inverse distance weighting (Shepard, 1984).
Orographic features and spatial variability in the Indian summer monsoon precipitation are
well captured by the gridded precipitation (Pai et al., 2015). Because the IMD gridded
precipitation product is available only for the post-1900 period, we developed a compatible
product at 0.5 degree using station observations for 1870-1900. Data availability and the
number of stations varied during this period; however, we were able to obtain reasonably
complete precipitation data from 1690 stations spread across India for most of the pre-1900
period. More detailed information on data preparation from observations, 20th Century
reanalysis (20CR) and Berkeley Earth and data evaluation can be obtained from supplemental
section S1(Compo et al., 2006; Dai et al., 2004; Wood et al., 2002).
.
We used the Variable Infiltration Capacity (Liang et al., 1994) macroscale hydrology model (
Section S2, Nijssen et al., 2001; Shuttleworth, 1993; Mishra et al., 2010), which simulates
water and energy fluxes by taking soil and vegetation parameters, and meteorological forcing
as inputs. The VIC model has been widely applied for soil moisture drought assessments at a
range of spatial scales (e.g., (Andreadis & Lettenmaier, 2006; Mishra et al., 2014, 2018; Shah
& Mishra, 2016, 2016a; Shah &Mishra, 2015; Shah&Mishra, 2014; Sheffield et al., 2004)).
We applied the VIC model at a daily time-step for each 0.5º grid for 1870-2016 (see
supplemental section S2 for more details). We aggregated daily soil moisture for each grid to
monthly to avoid the influence of precipitation and temperature variability within a month.
This is important as we resampled daily precipitation and temperature from the 20CR, for
which monthly aggregates are more accurate than daily values. We estimated soil moisture
percentiles (SMP) using the empirical Weibull plotting position method (Andreadis &
Lettenmaier, 2006). SMP less than 20 is categorized as drought (SMP 20-30: Abnormally
dry; 10-20: Moderate drought; 5-10: Severe drought; 2-5: Extreme drought; and less than 2:
Exceptional drought, (Svoboda et al., 2002)). We estimated monthly soil moisture percentiles
at 60 cm depth, which is a typical root-zone depth for most crops, following Mishra et al.
(2018).
We used severity-area-duration (SAD) analysis as developed by Andreadis and Lettenmaier
(2006) and applied by Sheffield et al. (2009) and Wang et al. (2011) among others to identify
major droughts during 1870-2016. We identified drought periods in time and space using the
clustering algorithm of Andreadis and Lettenmaier, (2006). The algorithm considers drought
clusters with a minimum area threshold (0.1 million km2) for which drought duration and

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
severity are computed. In the SAD analysis, duration is the primary variable; for a given
duration of a prospective drought event, the SAD analysis performs a bivariate analysis of
severity and area. Severity and area in the SAD analysis clearly are linked, as the severity,
which is an average over the area, increases or decreases as the area contracts or expands. We
estimated monthly soil moisture percentiles using the empirical Weibull distribution. We
evaluated droughts of different duration, severity, and spatial extent (area) using SAD
analysis. The severity of a drought is defined as:
1SMP
St


where S is drought severity, SMP is monthly soil moisture percentile (Sheffield et al. 2004),
and t is drought duration (months). We calculated drought severity for 3, 6, 12, 24, and 48
months’ duration. It should be noted that a region can experience a drought of short (3
months) or long (12-48 months) durations where the short duration is within the time span of
the longer duration, but the severity and areal extent for the “events” can be much different.
We identified seven major drought periods from the SAD analysis. We identified famines and
affected regions during the period of 1870-2016 from the literature (Table S1). We
constructed sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the monsoon season for the major
droughts that caused famines using NOAA’s extended reconstructed SST version 5 (Huang
et al., 2017).
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 All India droughts identified using SAD Analysis
We first identified the major soil moisture drought periods in India using the SAD analysis
applied to the 1870-2016 record (Fig. 1). We identified drought severity and area for 3-48
month durations as indicated above so as to include both short and long-term droughts in
India. Our analysis indicated that 1876-1882, 1895-1900, 1908-1924, 1937-1945, 1982-1990,
1997-2004, and 2011-2015 are the major periods for soil moisture droughts (Fig. 1). India
experienced 3 and 6-month soil moisture droughts during 1876-1882 while during 1895-1900
both short and long-term droughts occurred. Most severe and widespread (more than 2.0
million km2 area) soil moisture droughts occurred during 1895-1900 and 1908-1924 (Table
S2). In comparison to the 1895-1900 drought that covered almost the entire country (~65% of
total area), the 1876-1882 drought period was mainly located in the southern part of the
country and had a smaller extent (0.40 million km2) (Table S2). Among all of the seven major
drought periods, the most recent (2011-2015) was exceptionally severe (severity = 0.99) but
not widespread like the 1895-1900 drought (area = 0.13 million km2).
We further analyzed the ten months with the most widespread drought conditions within each
of the major drought periods (1876-1882, 1895-1900, 1908-1924, 1937-1945, 1982-1990,
1997-2004, and 2011-2015) obtained from the SAD analysis (see Table S3). We find that
during the 1876-1882 drought period, the most widespread drought conditions occurred in
August 1877 with coverage of 56.6% of the area of the country. From April to July of 1876,
more than 36% of the country’s area experienced soil moisture drought. Moreover, a major
part of the country remained under soil moisture drought until February 1878. Similarly, for
the 1895-1900 period, the most widespread extent of drought occurred in December 1896
(64.2%) followed by December 1899 (61.4%). More than 60% of India was under soil
moisture drought between October and December 1896 (Table S3).

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
The 1908-1924 drought period was the most widespread in January 1908, October 1918,
December 1920, and May 1921 (Tables S2 and S3). Soil moisture drought in October 1918
and in December 1920 covered more than 65% of the country. The 1908-1924 drought period
was widespread; however, the drought was less severe than that of 1895-1900 (Fig. 1). The
1937-1945 drought period was of a lesser extent than 1895-1900 and 1908-1924. The month
with the largest extent (46.8%) during the 1937-1945 period was August 1941. Similarly,
during the 1982-1900 period, drought covered 47.3% of the country in August 1987 (Table
S3). During the 1997-2004 period, the drought was most widespread in February 2001 (56%)
and January 2003 (54.4%). The most recent drought period identified by the SAD analysis
occurred during 2011-2015, which had the largest extent (43%) in October 2015. Overall, the
SAD analysis shows that the frequency and severity of major soil moisture drought periods
was greatest before 1924.
3.2 Major Famines in India during 1870-2016
Next, we analyzed famines (Table S1) and associated causes during the century and a half
period 1870-2016. Our focus is on root-zone soil moisture (60 cm following (Mishra et al.,
2018)) from which we identified overlaps between famines and soil moisture droughts. In
particular, we find five major famines (1873-1874, 1876-1878, 1896-1897, 1899-1900, and
1943-1944) based on the past literature that occurred during the 1870-2016 record (Table S1).
Three of the famines are consistent with the drought periods identified by the SAD analysis.
The two exceptions are 1873-1874 and 1943-1944. Those two sequences of years were not
identified as drought periods in our SAD analysis likely because either a) they were too
localized to appear on the SAD envelope curves, or b) the famine was not coincident with
soil moisture deficits, and likely was caused by some other factor (e.g., failure of food
distribution systems). The identification of major droughts using the SAD analysis is for the
entire country while the famines were located in different regions of India (Fig. 2, Table S1).
Therefore, there inevitably is some disparity in the drought periods we identify from
continental scale soil moisture and the temporal extent of the famines.
The 1873-74 famine occurred in Bihar and Bengal, which were part of the northwestern
province and Oudh during the British period (Table S1). Long-term precipitation deficit
(based on 12-month anomaly based on moving average) of 13.5% caused soil moisture deficit
(~10%) in June 1873 (Fig. S8). The deficit in the monsoon season precipitation started in
1872 and continued until the monsoon season of 1874 (Fig. S8). Depleted soil moisture
primarily due to precipitation deficit created an exceptional drought (SMP <2.0) in Bengal
and the western part of Bihar during June 1873 (Fig. 2a and Fig. S8). Since the soil moisture
drought in 1873 was centered in a relatively small domain, it was not identified by the SAD
analysis (against the threshold of 0.1 million km2). During the 1873 famine, soil moisture
drought that affected more than 50% of Bihar and Bengal (Fig. 2 and Fig. S8), was caused by
a long-term precipitation deficit that started during the monsoon season of 1872, which was
further worsened by 25% below normal precipitation in the famine-affected region in June
1873. The precipitation deficit in June might have caused a reduction in the area under
cultivation and, the region did not get any relief in drought till the end of the monsoon season
of 1874 (Fig. S8). We find that precipitation deficit, rather than warmth, was the proximate
cause of the drought (Fig. 2 and Fig. S8). About 21.5 million people were affected by the
1873 famine, but little or no mortality was reported (Hall-Matthews, 2008; IGI, 1907). The
low mortality during the 1873 famine was mainly attributable to food imports from Burma
and timely relief aid provided by the British government (Hall-Matthews, 2008; IGI, 1907).

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
The famine was over in 1874 with 17% surplus monsoon precipitation (Fig. S8) and good
food production.
The second famine occurred during 1876-1878 (Table S1), which has also been called the
Great Famine of Southern India, or Madras Famine (Cook et al., 2010; Dyson, 1991;
Lardinois, 2009). Precipitation deficit started from 1875, which affected southern India until
mid-1878 (Fig. S8). In October 1876, the precipitation deficit was about 41% that created
significant soil moisture depletion (deficit of 12.5%) in the region (Fig. S9). As identified by
the SAD analysis, soil moisture deficits led to drought throughout much of southern India
(Fig 1, Fig. 2, and Fig. S9). The drought covered more than 85% of the famine-affected
region in October 1876 (Fig. 2), which remained under drought until October 1877. Soil
moisture drought in 1876 caused crop failures in South India (Roy, 2006). However, the
British government exported a substantial amount of wheat to England during this time,
which made the region especially vulnerable (Guha, 2006).
North India (and especially the central, north-western provinces, and Punjab) experienced an
extreme to exceptional soil moisture drought in 1877. Poor monsoon season precipitation in
1876 and 1877 led to an accumulated precipitation deficit of more than 27% in the famine
affected region in September 1877 (Fig. S10). The precipitation deficit caused anomalously
high (1.3ºC) air temperature that resulted in a soil moisture deficit of 13% in September 1877
(Fig. S10). In September 1877, about 48% of the country experienced soil moisture drought
(Table S3, Fig. 2). The famine-affected region had an extent of 79% and 78%, respectively in
August and September 1877. The 1876-1877 famine in the south and north India affected
more than 50 million people (IGI, 1907) of which about 6.1 to 10.3 million (Table S1)
perished (Davis, 2001; Fieldhouse, 1996).
The 1895-1900 drought period identified by the SAD analysis includes two famines: 1896-97
and 1899-1900. During October 1896 to January 1897, more than 57% of the country was
affected by soil moisture drought (Table S3). The 1896-97 famine was caused by a
precipitation deficit that started with a poor monsoon in 1895 and continued till the end of
1897 (Fig. S11). A large region was affected by the soil moisture deficit (11%), which was
caused by the combined impact of precipitation deficit (~ 17%) and above normal
temperature anomaly (1.0ºC) (Fig. S11). The famine of 1896-97 started in the Bundelkhand
area (Agra province in the British era) in north India (Fig. 2 and Fig. S11). More than 82% of
the famine-affected region was under soil moisture drought during October to December
1896, which overlaps with the major crop growing season (November to March) (Fig. S11).
The 1896-97 famine affected 69.5 million people in India (IGI, 1907) and caused the death of
5 million people (Table S1) as relief measures failed in the central province (Fieldhouse,
1996).
The population was still recovering from the 1896-97 famine when the 1899-1900 famine
started with a monsoon failure in central and western India (Fig. 2, Fig. S12). Below normal
monsoon season precipitation in 1898 affected the region and continued till the end of 1900
(Fig. S12). The combination of substantial (~46.7%) precipitation deficit and above normal
air temperature (1.2ºC) resulted in a widespread soil moisture deficit in the region, which
peaked (15.5% deficit) in September 1899 (Fig. S12). More than 56% of the country was in
soil moisture drought between September 1899 and February 1900 (Table S3). From July
1899 till June 1900, more than 50% of the famine-affected region experienced soil moisture
drought that peaked in September 1899 with 85% coverage (Fig. 2, Fig. S12). In the famine-
affected region, the monsoon season precipitation deficit was 57%, 67%, and 60%,

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
respectively in July, August, and September while air temperature was above normal starting
from July till December 1899 (Fig. 2). The soil moisture drought in 1899-1900 resulted in
major crop failure in the famine-affected region and food could not be exported from the
other regions of the country due to lack of transportation or availability of food (Dreze,
1988). The 1899 famine affected 59.5 million people (IGI, 1907) with mortality estimates of
1 to 4.5 million (Table S1) (Fagan, 2009; Fieldhouse, 1996). Deccan and Bombay had the
highest mortality rates (Attwood, 2005). Apart from human mortality, a large number of
cattle died due to acute shortage of fodder (IGI, 1907).
The last major famine in the British era occurred in 1943, which is also known as the Bengal
Famine. The famine resulted in 2-3 million deaths (Devereux, 2000). Our SAD analysis
identified 1937-1945 as a period under drought based on severity, area, and duration.
However, we find the drought was most widespread during August and December 1941
(Table S2 and S3) – prior to the famine. This was the only famine that does not appear to be
linked directly to soil moisture drought and crop failures (Fig. S13, S14). The famine-affected
region received 15, 3, 9, and 4% above normal precipitation during June, July, August, and
September of 1943 (Fig. S13). We find that the Bengal famine was likely caused by other
factors related at least in part to the ongoing Asian Theater of World War II including
malaria, starvation and, malnutrition (Sen, 1976). In early 1943, military and political events
adversely affected Bengal’s economy (Tauger, 2009), which was exacerbated by refugees
from Burma (Maharatna, 1996). Additionally, wartime grain import restrictions imposed by
the British government played a major role in the famine (FIC, 1945). We note that aside
from the 1943 Bengal Famine, all the other famines in the 1870-2016 appear to be related at
least in part to widespread soil moisture drought.
3.3 Famines and Sea Surface Temperature Conditions
Out of six major famines we identified in our study period, five were caused by soil moisture
droughts, which were primarily driven by the monsoon (June to September) failures. As year-
to-year variability of the Indian summer monsoon is linked with SST anomalies in tropical
Pacific Ocean (Mishra et al., 2012), we constructed SST anomalies for the monsoon seasons
prior to the droughts that caused famines (Fig. 3). We find that the 1873 Bihar-Bengal and
1876 South India famines were not associated with the positive phase (El Nino) of El Nino
Southern Oscillation (ENSO) (Fig. 3a,b). In fact, these two (1873 and 1876) major droughts
that caused famines during negative phases (La Nina) of ENSO. The other three (e.g., 1877,
1896, and 1899) droughts occurred during strong El Ninos (Fig. 3c-e). The composite of all
five droughts that caused famine reveals a strong influence of El Nino that resulted in the
major monsoon failures (Fig. 3). Recently, Singh et al., (2018) reported that 1870-76 period
that had two (1873 and 1876) famines in India occurred during cool tropical Pacific
conditions. Our results show that the droughts occurred during 1873 and 1876 did not affect a
large area of India (Fig 2). All India monsoon season rainfall was 2% above the long-term
mean in 1873 while 6% below long-term mean in 1876. While El-Nino is the major driver of
monsoon season droughts (Mishra et al., 2012), precipitation anomalies in 1873 and 1876 are
not associated with the warm phase of ENSO.
3.4 Droughts that did not cause famine
Finally, we identify the major soil moisture drought periods in the post-1900 period that were
not coincident with famines (Fig. 4 and Table S1). For each post-1900 drought period
identified by the SAD analysis (e.g., 1908-1924, 1937-1945, 1982-1990, 1997-2004, and

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
2011-2015), we selected the month with the greatest areal coverage for our analysis. We find
that soil moisture droughts in October 1918 and December 1920 are comparable (based on
areal coverage) to those that occurred in December 1896 and December 1899, which were
associated with famines (Fig. 2). In October 1918, more than 65% of the country was affected
by soil moisture drought (Fig. 4a). Similarly, the 1908-1924 drought had covered a large area
(65.4%) in December 1920 (Fig. 4), which prominently affected central India. The 1937-1945
drought period had the largest extent in August 1941, which affected 46.8% (mainly
northwestern and southern regions) of India (Fig. 4c). Similarly, the drought period of 1982-
1990 affected 47.3% of the country in August 1987 (Fig. 4d, Table S3). The 1997-2004
drought period had more than 47% areal extent between November 2000 and March
2001(Table S3). The soil moisture drought (1997-2004) peaked in February 2001 and
affected 56% of the country (Fig. 4e, Table S3). The most recent drought period identified by
the SAD analysis occurred in 2011-2015 with the largest extent in October 2015 (Fig. 4f,
Table S3).
4. Discussion and conclusions
Limited irrigation (McGinn, 2009) and low crop yields almost certainly combined with soil
moisture droughts leading to crop failures and food shortages in the era of British rule. Soil
moisture droughts resulted in crop failures that not only affected food availability, but also
the livelihood of much of the population, especially given that a transportation system was
not in place to ship food from one place to another. Dreze, (1988) reported that British era
droughts resulted not only in massive crop failures and food shortages, but also they shattered
the rural economy. Among the six famines identified above, 1873 and 1943 provide some
important insights. For instance, despite the monsoon failure and drought in 1873 in Bihar
and Bengal provinces, there was minimal mortality (Hall-Matthews, 2008). Moreover, human
mortality was substantially higher in the other four droughts than in the 1873-74 famine,
which can be attributed to policy failures and mismanagement (Davis, 2001; Ferguson,
2004). The 1943 Bengal famine was not caused by drought rather but rather was a result of a
complete policy failure during the British era.
A series of famines from 1870 through 1943 killed well over ten million people in India. All
but one of the major famines in this period are linked to soil moisture drought. Out of five
major droughts that caused famines in India, three were driven by the positive SST anomalies
(El Niño) in the tropical Pacific Ocean. India has experienced soil moisture droughts that
were as severe as those that accompanied the deadly pre-1900 famines (for instance, 1918
and 1920). The fact that these droughts did not lead to famine deaths appears to be the result
mostly of more effective government responses. Despite substantial population growth
between 1900 and 2016, famine deaths have been essentially eliminated in modern India.
The primary reasons are better food distribution, and buffer food stocks, rural employment
generation, transportation, and groundwater-based irrigation (Aiyar, 2012). Rapid depletion
of groundwater in northern India (Asoka et al., 2017; Rodell et al., 2009) raises concerns for
food and fresh water security in India. Our results showing the linkage between droughts and
famine in India have implications for food and fresh water security of the region.
Acknowledgment: The work is financially supported by the grants from the Ministry of
Water Resources, India. All the data used in this study are freely available from IMD

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
(www.imd.gov.in), 20CR (https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/psd/data/20thC_Rean/), and Berkeley-
Earth (http://berkeleyearth.org).

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
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Figure 1. Severity-Area-Duration (SAD) curves for the major drought periods in India during
1870-2016 for (a) 3-month, (b) 6-month, (c) 12-month, (d) 24-month, and (e) 48-month
durations. Severity and area (million km2) for seven major drought periods were estimated
using SAD analysis.

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
Figure 2. Soil moisture droughts that were coincident with famines. (a) The extent of drought
during June 1873. Cyan polygon shows the famine-affected regions that were identified by
the British Provinces from the map of British India (W. H. Allen and Co. - Pope, G. U.
(1880)). (b) Monthly precipitation (blue, %), temperature (red, ºC) anomalies and areal extent
(green,%) of soil moisture drought. (c-j) same as (a,b) but for different famines during 1870-
1900 in India. The region with soil moisture percentile above 30 is shown with white in
(a,c,e,g,i) represents no drought condition. The drought extent and anomalies in (b,d,f,h, and
j) are estimated for the famine affected regions (shown as cyan polygons) in (a,c,e,g,i).

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
Figure 3. (a-e) Sea surface temperature (SST, ºC) anomaly for the monsoon season (JJAS) for
droughts that caused famines in India, and (f) SST anomaly composite for all five (1873,
1876, 1877, 1896, and 1899) droughts.

© 2019 American Geophysical Union. All rights reserved.
Figure 4. Major soil moisture droughts and their areal coverage (%) that were not associated
with famines. The region with soil moisture percentile above 30 is shown with white
represents no drought condition