Famine has been a recurrent feature of life in the Indian subcontinent countries of India and Bangladesh, most commonly cited as a feature of British rule. Famines in India resulted in millions of dea
Victims of the Great Famine of 1876–78 in India, pictured in 1877
People waiting for famine relief in Bangalore. From the Illustrated London News, 20 October 1877.
Victims of the Great Famine of 1876–1878
A contemporary print of the Madras famine of 1877 showing the distribution of relief in Bellary, Madras Presidency. From the Illustrated London News, (1877)
The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine during World War II in the Bengal Province and Orissa Province of British India. An estimated 800,000–3.8 million people died, in the Bengal region, from starvat
Famine in India
…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. Some commentators have identified British government inaction as a contributing factor to the severity of famines during the British rule in India…
From the photo spread in The Statesman on 22 August 1943 showing famine conditions in Calcutta. These photographs made world headlines and spurred government action.
Rice farmers ploughing a rice field with water buffaloes near Gushkara, Bengal, 1944
Indian refugees flee Burma along the Prome Road from Rangoon to Mandalay and eventually on to India, January 1942.
American soldiers at the Calcutta Jain Temple, July 1943. Calcutta became a hub for hundreds of thousands of Allied troops.