Q)Discuss the  

causes and consequences of the Bengal famine.

Bengal famine affected the people of the province for three years beginning 1942, it is most
commonly referred as the Bengal famine of 1943. In 1943, The Bengal Famine took lives of
approximately 2-4 million Indians, a famine that wasn’t declared as one even long after it
happened. The deaths were mostly due to the side effects of starvation and malnutrition,
diseases like malaria and cholera were worsened due to population displacement, poor
sanitation and shortage of health care. Historians often name this famine as “man-made”
arguing that it was created and intensified by wartime colonial policies. The famine could
have been prevented. After Japanese air raid, thousands of Bengals shifted from the city to
countryside during such raids while the city food-grain dealers closed their shops. The
authorities seized rice stocks from wholesale dealers to feed workers in prioritised
industries in Calcutta. The food crisis thus began. By May 1943 there was full-scale famine.

The main reason for the famine of 1943 in Bengal, was clearly scarcity of rice. In spite of the
fact that Bengal primarily had an agricultural economy and delivered one third of India’s
rice, although years prior to the famine, poor rural areas suffered from a semi-starved
situation that was due to the improper distribution of rice and making it accessible. Another
cause for the situation before famine was the consequences of the Second World War.
Thousands of Bengalis lost their lands due to seizure, social, economic and political forces
affected income distribution structure of Bengal including its agricultural sector. Peasants
who had small landholdings had to lent money from local lenders for different purposes,
especially in-between harvesting seasons. A relatively bad harvest in winter crop of 1942,
led to supply shortages caused many to fell into the debt-cycle, unable to pay debt, they had
to forfeit their lands to their creditors. During the famine, noticeably the landless
agricultural laborers suffered the most in terms of impoverishment and death. A very rapid
increase in population rate compared to the agricultural productivity and land potential was
one of early reasons for famine. However, the elite and some working class in Calcutta,
remained largely untouched by the famine as the British government implemented a policy
to provide rice at stable price to workers in key factories, in order to not affect the war.

Bengal was the frontline land against Japanese army for Britain. In March 1943, British army
ordered removal or destruction of Bengal boats on the coast to prepare for attacks from
Japan, from British India through Burma via the eastern border of Bengal, bridges and rice
stocks were demolished too, in other words, almost all the transportation links were gone.
After the Empire of Japan occupied Burma (Myanmar) same year, rice imports from Burma
were lost. With Britain’s “Denial Policy” led them to put Restriction on inter-state trade of
rice and other food grains at the time further aggravated the issue. This was lifted
temporarily for eastern states but then put back again as the rice prices in other states also
skyrocketed.

Rice stockers and traders thought of the unethical economic profit of this devastating
condition that only intensified the famine, they hoarded rice stocks by traders and farmers
with hope of a huge rise in rice prices in future as rice shortage was becoming evident.

Winston Churchill followed the Denial Policy. He even stated that any aid sent would be
insufficient because " Famine or no famine, Indians breeding like rabbits" or “If there’s a
famine, why doesn’t Gandhi die?”. This lack of action on part of British authority to import
more rice from abroad to control the situation was a cause too. If the event at the time was
declared as Famine, it would have allowed government to act on supplementary reserves.
This was due to the fact that government didn’t have enough reserves to fulfil the demand.
Bose and Jalal stated that “the deliberate absence of relief measures contributed to one of
the more catastrophic but less publicized holocausts of WW2.”

When such a disaster happens, there are inevitable side effects of it too. Eye witnesses
suggest that they witnessed disintegration and abandonment of families, prostitution,
sexual exploitation and child selling. Many children became homeless and orphans. Dead
bodies were also left to rot and putrefy in open spaces which attracted vultures and jackals.
The crisis also led to cloth famine and instances of robbing clothes from graveyards,
disrobing people for dearth of clothes and minor sporadic rioting were also reported.

The famine, led Bengals to poverty and income inequality. The latter was palpable from the
compulsive strategy of selling assets for food. According to sources, around 1.6 million
families, made effort to survive by selling or mortgaging their lands. This eventually led
them to become labourers from landholders.

Resources:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41720326

https://www.jstor.org/stable/4132358