Agra famine of 1837–1838
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The Agra famine of 1837–1838[2] was a famine in the newly established North-Western Provinces (formerly Ceded and Conquered Provinces) of Company-ruled India that affected an area of 25,000 square miles (65,000 km2) and a population of 8 million people.[3] The central Doab in present-day Uttar Pradesh—the region of the districts of Kanpur, Etawah, Mainpuri, Agra and Kalpi—was the hardest hit; the trans-Jumna districts of Jalaun, Hamirpur, and Banda also suffered extreme distress.[3]
By the end of 1838, approximately 800,000 people had died of starvation, as had an even larger number of livestock.[3] The famine came to be known in folk memory as chauranvee, (Hindi, literally, "of ninety four,") for the year 1894 in the Samvat calendar corresponding to the year 1838 CE.[4]