Which of the following commissions are related to famine in British India? 1. Campbell Commission 2. Lyall Commission 3. Strachey Commission 4. Hunter Commission Select the correct answer from the code given below:
- (a)Only 1, 2 and 3
- (b)Only 1, 2 and 4
- (c)Only 1, 3 and 4
- (d)All 1, 2, 3 and 4
Correct — A, Only 1, 2 and 3.
After several of the great famines of the later nineteenth century the Government of India appointed a commission of inquiry, known by the name of its chairman.
Sir George Campbell's inquiry followed the Orissa famine of 1866. Sir Richard Strachey chaired the Famine Commission of 1880, and Sir James Lyall's commission reported in 1898 after the famine of 1896–97.
Item 4 belongs to a different subject on both of its readings. Sir William Wilson Hunter chaired the Indian Education Commission of 1882, and William Hunter, Lord Hunter chaired the 1919 committee that inquired into the Jallianwala Bagh firing in the Punjab.
That leaves Only 1, 2 and 3. The idea worth carrying away is the chain of famine inquiries: Campbell 1866 → Strachey 1880 → Lyall 1898 → MacDonnell 1901.
- (b)Only 1, 2 and 4 — This keeps Campbell and Lyall but swaps Strachey out for Hunter. Strachey chaired the Famine Commission of 1880, whose report shaped the famine codes that later governed relief administration in the provinces.
Hunter is the right name for the Indian Education Commission of 1882, which reviewed how the education Despatch of 1854 was working and urged attention to primary schooling.
- (c)Only 1, 3 and 4 — This drops Lyall and puts Hunter in his place. The Lyall Commission reported in 1898 on the relief measures taken during the famine of 1896–97, so it belongs in any famine list that already contains Campbell and Strachey.
The other Hunter is the right name for the 1919 Disorders Inquiry Committee on the Jallianwala Bagh firing, chaired by Lord Hunter — a Punjab inquiry into the disturbances of that year.
- (d)All 1, 2, 3 and 4 — Items 1 to 3 are famine commissions, so the code turns entirely on item 4, and the Hunter name attaches to education and to the Punjab disorders rather than to famine relief.
"All four" would be right if item 4 read MacDonnell Commission — the famine inquiry chaired by Sir Antony MacDonnell that reported in 1901, after the famine of 1899–1900.
British Indian famine policy was written by commissions of inquiry appointed after several of the great scarcities, and each is remembered by the surname of its chairman rather than by a number or a subject label.
The sequence runs Campbell after the Orissa famine of 1866, Strachey in 1880, Lyall in 1898 and MacDonnell in 1901. Their reports moved relief away from ad hoc charity and towards written rules on when scarcity was to be declared and how relief works were to be run.
Famine administration sits inside the larger theme of the economic consequences of colonial rule, alongside land revenue settlements, commercialisation of agriculture and the drain of wealth. The commissions are the documentary spine of that story.
The same period produced commissions on quite different subjects — education, universities, the Punjab disturbances — and several share a chairman's surname with a famine body, so the name alone does not fix the subject.
- A commission headed by Sir George Campbell inquired into the Orissa famine of 1866.
- The Famine Commission of 1880 was chaired by Sir Richard Strachey, and its report led to the framing of famine codes for relief administration.
- The Famine Commission chaired by Sir James Lyall reported in 1898, following the famine of 1896–97.
- The Famine Commission chaired by Sir Antony MacDonnell reported in 1901, after the famine of 1899–1900.
- The Indian Education Commission of 1882 was chaired by Sir William Wilson Hunter and reviewed the working of the Despatch of 1854.
- The committee appointed in 1919 to inquire into the Jallianwala Bagh firing and the Punjab disturbances was chaired by William Hunter, Lord Hunter.
The first four rows form one chain of famine inquiries; the last two share a surname but sit on education and on the Punjab disturbances.
- The surname Hunter labels two unrelated inquiries — the education commission of 1882 and the 1919 Punjab disorders committee — so recognising the name proves nothing about the subject.
- The option "All 1, 2, 3 and 4" is settled by the single item you are least sure of, so verify item 4 on its own rather than on the strength of items 1 to 3.
- Lyall and MacDonnell both belong to the turn-of-the-century famines and are easily transposed; anchor Lyall to 1896–97 and MacDonnell to 1899–1900.
- A list of surnames invites you to check the dates and miss the subject. Each item here has to be tested for what the body inquired into, not for whether the name sounds nineteenth-century.
The Hunter surname has been examined in more than one shape: matched to an event in a list-pairing item, placed in a chronological sequence beside Wood's Despatch and Sadler, and offered as a single name against four competing subjects.
This item is the mirror of that last shape. The name sits inside a list of famine commissions, and the code turns on whether you strike item 4 out.
UPSC_2001_GS1_Q712001Same surname, different inquiry. That question asks what the Hunter Commission was appointed after, and the answer is the Jallianwala Bagh firing of 1919. Here the same name is offered as a famine body and has to be rejected; together the two show why the name alone cannot settle the subject.
CDS_GK_2020_I_Q1052020Tests the other Hunter body — the 1882 commission on the state of education and its treatment of the Despatch of 1854. It asks what that commission recommended; this UKPSC item only asks what field it belonged to, and the field is education rather than famine.
HPSC_2014_PRE_GSII_Q522014Also on the recommendations of the education commission of 1882, so it works at a finer level of detail than this item. The overlap is the identification of Hunter with schooling; the difference is that UKPSC embeds the name in a famine list as the item to strike out.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The report of which of the following famine commissions led to the framing of the first Famine Code in British India?
- (a)Campbell Commission
- (b)Strachey Commission
- (c)Lyall Commission
- (d)MacDonnell Commission
Answerb — the Famine Commission of 1880 under Sir Richard Strachey drew up the general principles of relief from which the first code, the Provisional Famine Code of 1883, was framed.Campbell's inquiry (a) came earlier and dealt with the Orissa famine of 1866. Lyall (c) reported in 1898 on relief during the 1896–97 famine, and MacDonnell (d) reported in 1901 after the famine of 1899–1900; both reviewed how the existing code worked rather than originating it.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Famine Commission appointed after the famine of 1899–1900 was headed by
- (a)Sir George Campbell
- (b)Sir Richard Strachey
- (c)Sir James Lyall
- (d)Sir Antony MacDonnell
Answerd — Sir Antony MacDonnell chaired the commission that reported in 1901 on the famine of 1899–1900.Campbell (a) headed the inquiry into the Orissa famine of 1866, Strachey (b) the Famine Commission of 1880, and Lyall (c) the commission that reported in 1898 on the famine of 1896–97. Each is tied to an earlier scarcity than the one named in the question.
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Indian Education Commission of 1882 is better known by the name of its chairman as the
- (a)Hunter Commission
- (b)Sadler Commission
- (c)Raleigh Commission
- (d)Hartog Committee
Answera — Sir William Wilson Hunter chaired the Indian Education Commission appointed in 1882, which examined how the Despatch of 1854 had worked and pressed the case for primary education.The Sadler Commission (b) was the Calcutta University Commission of 1917–19. The Raleigh Commission (c) of 1902 inquired into the universities and preceded the Indian Universities Act of 1904. The Hartog Committee (d) reported in 1929 as part of the Simon Commission's work.