The Bengal Famine of 1943, Which Killed Some Three Million People in a Province That Had Food
In 1943, in British-ruled Bengal, around three million people died of starvation and famine disease while rice remained available for those who could pay. War policy — the fall of Burma, 'denial' seizures of boats and rice, prioritisation of Calcutta's war industries, and London's repeated refusal of shipping for relief — turned price shock into mass death. Amartya Sen's analysis of it reshaped how famine itself is understood.
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