Bihar Famine Report 1966-1967 Government of Bihar

Abstract

Bihar is most vulnerable to floods and droughts; earthquakes have been far between; hail storms, though more frequent, come suddenly and do not follow any particular pattern as regards incidence of vulnerable area. Outbreaks of fire are a fairly regular feature during the summer months. Famine in Bihar, in the past, has usually resulted from the failure of the kharif harvest. The failure of rabi crops, following upon that of kharif, considerably aggravates the distress. the severity of these visitations varied considerably in different parts of the State, according to the extent to which the food supply of the people is derived from the kharif and Rabi crops. the failure of the monsoon or ill-distribution of rainfall over the different periods of agricultural operations and at different stages of the crop growth always proved destructive to crops and produced scarcity or famine conditions.