The Statement Potrikar Darpane 1942-43 Saler Kanthir Durbhikkho

Bengal famine of 1943 was one of the terrible famines during the colonial period that caused millions of deaths and socio-economic crisis.Kanthi sub-division of Midnapur was one of the worst affected regions which is located near coastal area in southern Bengal.Since the end of 1942, a famine situation arisen here.This famine is blamed as 'man-made disaster' by many modern scholars.According to Madhusree Mukherjee the then British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was responsible for the crisis and it was occurred mainly for the economic exploitation of the then British government and the destructive impact of World War II.The rice imports from Burma hampered when Burma was occupied by Japanese soldiers during War.Damage of agricultural crops due to October's cyclone and flood in South Bengal also contributed to the crisis.As a result, food shortage was seen in many parts of India especially in Eastern India.From May 1943, famine occurred in some parts of Bengal province.Within next few months, the entire province faced terrible crisis.An estimated 3.5 million people died due to starvation and severe epidemic diseases.1943's famine reflects the cruelty of British government because colonial government did not take sufficient relief works to prevent famine.Whatever measures were taken was largely city-centric.Moreover, they wanted to suppress the news of the famine as much as possible.Various NGOs like Hindu Mahasabha, Bengal Relief Committee, Muslim Chamber of Commerce Relief Committee, Ramkrishna Mission and Bharat Sevasram Sangha paid relief work in Midnapur especially at Kanthi and Nandigram.The British Government had to face a lot of criticism.Newspapers were banned to suppress the real facts of the famine.However,