New Delhi, India – The Bengal famine of 1943 estimated to have killed up to three million people was not caused by drought but instead was a result of a “complete policy failure” of the then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, a recent study has said.

In case of Bengal, the primary reason for the famine was shortages in Rice. A variety of factors led to the shortage, but most prominent among them was not supply shortage rather it was due to improper allocation of the available rice stocks. A relatively bad harvest in winter crop of 1942, led to supply shortages.

Researchers have used old weather data and modern simulation methods to reach a conclusion long acknowledged by historians — the Bengal famine of 1943-44 was not caused by an agricultural drought but was man-made.

Though administrative failures were immediately responsible for this human suffering, the principal cause of the short crop supply in 1943 was the epidemic of brown spot disease which attacked the rice crop in Bengal in 1942 [1].

In India as a whole, the food supply was rarely inadequate, even in times of droughts. The Famine Commission of 1880 identified that the loss of wages from lack of employment of agricultural laborers and artisans was the cause of famines.

“We find that the Bengal famine was likely caused by other factors related at least in part to the ongoing threat of World War II — including malaria, starvation and malnutrition,” he added. Previous research has shown that in early 1943, military and other political events adversely affected Bengal economy.

Droughts, combined with policy failures, have periodically led to major Indian famines, including the Bengal famine of 1770, the Chalisa famine, the Doji bara famine, the Great Famine of 1876–1878, and the Bengal famine of 1943.

1943
Bengal famine of 1943/Start dates

Between 1.25 and 10 million people died in the famine.

The 1943 Bengal famine that caused the death of over 30 lakh people in British India was caused by the then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s policies, and not a drought.

The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine in the Bengal province of British India (now Bangladesh and eastern India) during World War II. An estimated 2.1-3 million, out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria, and other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Millions were impoverished as the crisis overwhelmed large segments of the economy and catastrophically disrupted the social fabric.

The Great Bengal Famine of 1770 ( Bengali: ৭৬-এর মন্বন্তর, Chhiattōrer monnōntór; lit The Famine of ’76) was a famine between 1769 and 1773 (1176 to 1180 in the Bengali calendar ) that affected the lower Gangetic plain of India from Bihar to the Bengal region .