The Bengal famine of 1943 occurred in undivided Bengal (now independent Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal) in 1943. It is estimated that over three million people died from starvation, malnutrition and related illnesses during the famine.
In the rice growing season of 1942- 1943, weather conditions were exactly right to encourage an epidemic of the rice disease brown spot. Brown spot in rice is caused by the fungus Helminthosporium oryzae , the outbreak of the disease caused almost complete destruction of the rice crop. Severe food shortages were worsened by the second world war with British administration of India exporting foods to allied soldiers and the cessation of rice imports from Burma following the Japanese control of the country.
The shortage of rice forced rice prices up, wartime inflation compounded the problem. The civil administration did not intervene to control the price of rice, therefore the price of rice exceeded the means of ordinary people. People migrated to the cities to find food and employment, finding neither they starved.
Reference
- Padmanabhan, S.Y. The Great Bengal Famine. Annual Review of Phytopathology, 11:11-24, 1973
