Timeline of major famines in India during British rule 1871 to 382 million in 1941. At least 15-35 million people may have died in famines caused by droughts and the El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomenon during the British rule. The year 1765 is chosen as the start year because that year the British East India Company, after its victory in the Battle of Buxar, was granted the "Diwani" (rights to land revenue) in the region of Bengal (although it would not directly administer Bengal until 1784 when it was granted the "Nizamat", or control of law and order.) The year 1947 is the year in which the British Raj was
Political warfare in British colonial India aspect, the Company codified Muslim and Hindu law to take the flexibility out of the law’s traditional practice, to strengthen the Company’s indirect rule and entrench the local elites. Initially, the British in the East India Company favoured the Hindus over the Muslims as government agents because the Hindus were generally less hostile to their presence; the Company systematically removed Muslims from positions of power over its tenure in India. However, by 1893 Hindu power in the Indian National Congress was growing at rate disquieting to the British, so they reversed their traditional policies and began encouraging Muslims to enter