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ABOUT THE BOOK: This book deals with a more or less discarded piece of the history of famines in British Malabar – a region that presently constitutes the northern and central Kerala in India during the 18th, 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. Wh at distinguishes this study from a host of scholarly works on famines in different parts of the world is (a) the analysis of issues on a macrohistoric framework with elaborate notes and references, (b) integrating in this framework the causes, consequences and features of famines in Malabar with the help of hitherto unused primary data in the regional and national archives, and (c) a booklength treatment, for the first time, of the casual mechanism precipitating hunger and destitution into fullblown famine, and its prevention and mitigation as the primary responsibility of the State, be it democratic, authoritarian or imperialistic. Despite being an original work, this book is expected to be highly useful for postgraduate teachers of British economic history as a reference text; for general readers to have a comprehensive view of the subject under study; and for new generation students to identify easily verifiable topics for further research, not necessarily of famine alone. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Dr. M. Raghavan did his PhD from the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning , Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Several of his research papers, mainly on food security related aspects, have been published in Economic and Political Weekly, Social Scientist, and the Hindu Business Line. Dr. Raghavan was in the Indian Economic Service. He quit the service, while serving as Director, Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP), and worked as Professor in the Institute o f Technology, Kannur University and, then, in KMCT School of Business, Calicut University. CONTENTS: Acknowledgement. 11 Preface. 13 Chapter 1 Introduction. 19 Chapter 2 Famines in Malabar: A Historical Sketch. 53 Chapter 3 Food Availability Crisis a