The Bangladesh famine of 1974 began in March 1974 and ended in about December of the same year. The famine is considered the worst in recent decades; it was characterised by massive flooding along the Brahmaputra River as well as high mortality.
| Bangladesh famine of 1974 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country | Bangladesh |
| Period | March-December 1974 |
| Total deaths | Government estimate:27,000 Unofficial estimate: 1.5 million. |
| Relief | None provided |
| Impact on demographics | Population of Bengal declined |
| Preceded by | Bengal famine of 1943 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangladesh_famine_of_1974
The Bengal famine of 1943 was a famine in the Bengal province of British India (now Bangladesh and eastern India) during World War II. An estimated 2.1–3 million,[A] out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria, and other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Millions were impoverished as the crisis overwhelmed large segments of the economy and catastrophically disrupted the social fabric. Eventually, families disintegrated; men sold their small farms and left home to look for work or to join the British Indian Army, and women and children became homeless migrants, often travelling to Calcutta or other large cities in search of organised relief.[8] Historians usually characterise the famine as anthropogenic (man-made),[9]asserting that wartime colonial policies created and then exacerbated the crisis. A minority view holds, however, that the famine was the result of natural causes.[10]
Bengal's economy had been predominantly agrarian, with between half and three-quarters of the rural poor subsisting in a "semi-starved condition".[11] 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 capita availability of rice and growing numbers of the land-poor and landless labourers.[12] 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.[13]
| Bengal famine of 1943 | |
|---|---|
.jpg) 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. | |
| Country | British India |
| Location | Bengal and Orissa[1] |
| Period | 1943–1944 |
| Total deaths | Estimated 2.1 to 3 million[A] in Bengal alone |
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