This article analyses the strategies, which the Bahawalpur State employed to protect itself and its people during the years of great Indian famines, when its neighbouring areas and rest of India was in the clutches of dearth, hunger and mortality. This study covers the time period of three great famines of India. The article traces the leading features of preventive and relief measures during scarcity that were coordinated with the public works. These projects served both objectives: improving the economic conditions of the people and providing relief to the immigrants in distress. The study of these historical paradigms of a State that was situated on the verge of desert will certainly help to tackle the present paucity of water and food grains in the deserts of Thar and Cholistan in Pakistan. The paper is mainly based on archival documentation mainly official reports of famine and scarcity department under Government of India.