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Merged paragraph as no attempt was made to integrate this newly introduced information with rest of the summary. Chronologically it's confusing. The critique of Churchill and inflation policies should be integrated with the other relevent paragraphs and not mashed together in a separate paragraph to make a point. Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit |
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Bengal's economy had been predominantly [[Agrarian society|agrarian]], with between half and three-quarters of the rural poor subsisting in a "semi-starved condition". Stagnant agricultural productivity and a stable land base were unable to cope with a rapidly increasing population, resulting in both long-term decline in per{{nbsp}}capita availability of rice and growing numbers of the land-poor and landless labourers. A high proportion laboured beneath a chronic and spiralling cycle of debt that ended in [[debt bondage]] and the loss of their landholdings due to [[land grabbing]].
The financing of military escalation led to wartime inflation. Many workers received monetary wages rather than payment in kind with a portion of the harvest. When prices rose sharply, their wages failed to follow suit; this drop in [[real wages]] left them less able to purchase food. During the [[Japanese occupation of Burma]], many rice imports were lost as the region's market supplies and transport systems were disrupted by British "[[#March 1942: Denial policies|denial policies]]" for rice and boats (a "[[scorched earth]]" response to the occupation). The British also implemented inflation policies during the war aimed at making more resources available for Allied troops. These policies, along with other economic measures, created the "forced transferences of purchasing power" to the military from ordinary people, reducing their food consumption.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-11-15 |title=Profit Inflation, Keynes and the Holocaust in Bengal, 1943–44 - New Cold War: Know Better |url=https://newcoldwar.org/profit-inflation-keynes-and-the-holocaust-in-bengal-1943-44/ |access-date=2024-06-19 |language=en-GB}}</ref> The Bengal Chamber of Commerce (composed mainly of British-owned firms), with the approval of the Government of Bengal, devised a Foodstuffs Scheme to provide preferential distribution of goods and services to workers in high-priority roles such as armed forces, war industries, civil servants and other "priority classes", to prevent them from leaving their positions. These factors were compounded by restricted access to grain: domestic sources were constrained by emergency inter-provincial [[Embargo|trade barriers]], while aid from [[Churchill war ministry|Churchill's war cabinet]] was limited, [[#1942–1944: Refusal of imports|ostensibly]] due to a wartime shortage of shipping. More proximate causes included [[list of Bangladesh tropical cyclones|large-scale natural disasters in south-western Bengal]] (a [[cyclone]], [[Storm surge|tidal waves]] and flooding, and [[Cochliobolus miyabeanus|rice crop disease]]). The relative impact of each of these factors on the death toll is a [[#Historiography|matter of debate]].▼
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The provincial government never formally declared a state of famine, and its [[humanitarian aid]] was ineffective through the worst months of the crisis. It attempted to fix the price of rice [[Paddy (unmilled rice)|paddy]] through price controls which resulted in a [[black market]] which encouraged sellers to withhold stocks, leading to hyperinflation from [[speculation]] and [[Hoarding (economics)|hoarding]] after controls were abandoned. Aid increased significantly when the British Indian Army took control of funding in October 1943, but effective relief arrived after a record rice harvest that December. Deaths from starvation declined, yet over half the famine-related deaths occurred in 1944 after the [[food security]] crisis had abated, as a result of disease. British Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] has been criticized for his role in the famine, with critics arguing that his war priorities and the refusal to divert food supplies to Bengal significantly worsened the situation.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Safi |first=Michael |date=2019-03-29 |title=Churchill's policies contributed to 1943 Bengal famine – study |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/29/winston-churchill-policies-contributed-to-1943-bengal-famine-study |access-date=2024-06-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=2020-07-20 |title=Churchill's legacy leaves Indians questioning his hero status |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53405121 |access-date=2024-06-19 |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Remembering WW2's forgotten famine |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/av/magazine-32058977 |access-date=2024-06-19 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Osborne |first=Samuel |date=2017-08-14 |title=5 of the worst atrocities carried out by British Empire, after 'historical amnesia' claims {{!}} The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/worst-atrocities-british-empire-amritsar-boer-war-concentration-camp-mau-mau-a7612176.html |access-date=2024-06-19 |work=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>
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