History & The Arts
Hero and villain: Robert Clive of the East India Company
...work programmes for famine victims. In fact, the EIC’s policies made the famine more devastating, since when the rains failed, it increased its taxes. Under the Mughals, during famine years taxes had been reduced or waived, grain had been given to the poor and money lent to farmers so they could replace their lost crops. The EIC, in contrast, acted against the welfare...