Dramentheorie: Die Rolle der Frau im Drama

Table of Contents

Acknowledgment

1. Introduction
1.1 Research gaps
1.2 Research question
1.3 Methodological steps & Definitions

2. Chittaproads Illustration on Famine
2.1 Chittaprosad Bhattacharya
2.2 Indian Experiences of Suffering

3. Man-Made Famine? Indian Testimonies and Reasonings
3.1. Natural Catastrophe – Cyclone
3.2 Giving Accountability to Colonizers for “Man-Made Famine”

4. British Governmental Policies and Indian Perceptions
4.1 British Control over India
4.2 Irresponsible Government and Delayed Reports on Famine
4.3 Biopolitics, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Media
4.4 Worse Infrastructure, Economy and Social Disruptions as Cause for Famine

5. Conclusion

References

Appendices

Acknowledgment

First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude to my thesis supervisor Professor Hubertus Büschel (Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at the University of Kassel) for providing structure, encouragement and good advice for this thesis in all stages of this progress. Also, for helping me to understand theoretical concepts better.

I would also like to acknowledge Professor Julia Hauser (Assistant professor of Global History and the History of Globalization Processes at the University of Kassel) who has previously given me valuable suggestions for this study. Before and during the preparation, she has offered me important advice for literature, topics and material regarding the Indian subcontinent.

Last, I wish to express my gratitude to Neele Rother and Susann Delgado Ruiz (who I have been working with in the past) for her services in proofreading in English. Thanks a lot for reading over my thesis.

Without their help, this thesis would not have reached its present form.

1. Introduction

“This sickening catastrophe is man-made. We say with deliberation that the present Bengal famine [of 1943] constitutes the worst and the most reprehensible administrative breakdown in India [..]”¹ –by Omkar Goswami

The Bengal famine of 1943, which occurred during World War II, is known as one of the greatest crises the human civilization has ever faced. The famine, combined with several diseases,² spread fast through Bengal (mostly in Calcutta) within a short time.³ Moreover, this tragedy was characterized by human suffering and daily deaths.⁴ Therefore, eyewitnesses described that Bengal was overcome with a grim catastrophe.⁵ Bengal was gravely affected by the famine. In compliance with this issue, the daily life of the affected people was perceived as extremely difficult. The 20th century was known to be the century of hunger. Since the British arrived in India, the country was constantly plagued by recurring famines.⁶ Famines happened whenever poverty was a topic and people had blocked access to food and nutrition. Mostly, the famine period is viewed as a self-made catastrophe by the country.⁷ On this account, India was increasingly affected by poverty combined with food scarcity and death.⁸ Primarily, occupied territories of (former) colonies were affected by famine periods.⁹ Moreover, it can be adequately emphasized that the rural population was one of the main victims of this tragedy. India was known as a country that lost its population due to the great Bengal famine while being a colonial territory known as the British Raj.¹⁰

The issue had taken centre stage during the time of a widespread opposition towards British rule¹¹ juxtaposing the Second World War. Many Indian nationalists even viewed the Bengal famine as some evidence for the destruction of their land under the British rule. Furthermore, the life in a colony was described as being under an incubus of foreign occupation.¹²

1.1 Research gaps

During the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, many historians began to recognise the need for publishing new stories on colonialism with a post-colonial¹³ critique. At the centre of attention were the differences in the description of the Bengal famine’s mortality rate. For example, several English historians such as James Vernon and Auriol Law-Smith wrote that supposedly 1-1.5 million people died as a consequence of hunger combined with the occurring diseases.¹⁴ The Famine Inquiry Commission report on Bengal of 1944 credited a different amount of death tolls. It was reported that one or two million people died due to the famine.¹⁵ This is reciprocal to the view of Indians. In this context, the Indian historiography mostly states that two or three million people died during this time.

“Two or three million [people] may have died, but throughout their distorted shortened lives.”- Jawaharlal Nehru on 17 December 1943¹⁶.

M. Mufakharul Islam and Manish Sinha agreed with Jawaharlal Nehru on these numbers.¹⁷ According to them, more than one million people died due to famine and diseases. Mufakharul estimated that three million inhabitants of Bengal lost their lives.¹⁸ Looking at this contradiction on the death toll, can be mentioned that the history outside of Europe was characterized by an extreme paucity. Apart from the history of imperial¹⁹ expansion, especially the British Empire has been the most covered historical topic in modern times.²⁰ However, there was an absence of a wide-ranging understanding of the history of famine in India.²¹ In the historical context, the appearance of famine is rarely represented. The history of famine was almost completely missing and there have been only a few examinations and investigations on this topic regarding famine. Additionally, English historiographies left some stories about the Bengal Famine out, like the following example will show. For instance, in their work “The Twentieth Century”, Judith M. Brown and William Roger Louis wrote about the profound history of the British Empire, and even mentioned the Second World War between 1939-1945 in India, however, the Bengal Famine of 1943 was left out.²²

1.2 Research question

With reference to the question of how the Indian governance policy and the famine affected people’s lives in general, the Indian political scientist and anthropologist Partha Chatterjee reported that the peasants and the lower caste class had been ignored and their poverty reinforced by the exploitative colonial rule.²³ The guiding question for the proposed thesis reads as follows: How did the inhabitants of Bengal perceive the Bengal famine and its causes? Therefore, this analysis consists of three main research questions. The main goal of this thesis is to investigate and answer the question of how Bengal’s inhabitants coped with a serious constraint of food and other aspects on a daily basis as well as looking at which caste was primarily affected by the famine. Simultaneously, when seeking explanations of the daily life in Bengal and Calcutta back then, it is important to draw the attention to the credibility and opinions of the Indian public beyond the limits of what was given in experience. As the thesis already mentioned, there were not only different assertions on basic information such as the death toll, the view of the “peasantry and middle/lower class” was mentioned only rarely in the English historiographies. Finally, the thesis does not only seek to understand but also to compare the testimonies of any causes regarding this turmoil.

My hypotheses are:

- The Bengal famine was eminently inscribed as terrible with people starving on the streets, no reliable aid, and governmental rescue measurements being implemented too late.
- The Indian population saw natural catastrophes as the cause of the famine.
- The Indians would blame the political upheaval in the context of “man-made famine” which resulted in the “incapable British governance policy in India”.

1.3 Methodological steps & Definitions

In order to answer these questions, the view of the eyewitnesses on the Bengal famine and how the authorities handled the situation will be examined with different methods. The analysis of the thesis consists of two consecutive methodological steps. Firstly, this thesis will focus on public testimonies of Indians by interpreting the drawing of the Indian artist Bhattacharya Chittaprosad (1915-1978). He illustrated the physically weakened people on the streets and gave a vivid response of people’s suffering back then. Secondly, during 1944-45, the Sample Survey was conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute under the guidance of Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis (1893-1972) in collaboration with the head of the Anthropology Department of the University of Calcutta, Kshitish Prasad Chattopadhyay (1897-1963), in order to examine the after-effects of the Bengal famine of 1943 in India.²⁴ These statistical analyses/surveys have questioned people’s positions by interviewing different caste groups and presenting personal family stories. While doing so, the empirical survey interrogated, the varying castes on their family life, state of health and domestic belongings. This empirical research lack will be filled by investigating public statements of Bengal alongside the sample survey with the Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru ^[25] of 1942 to 1946. The combination can help to provide a theoretical framework to analyse the perceptions of these victims during the Bengal famine. Albeit, in some aspects the response of the British colonial government will also be mentioned. In doing so, The Famine Inquiry Commission Report on Bengal of 1944 and the two primary sources above will give clear insights into the question whether or not the government was to blame for this and if there was any help or amelioration to prevent this catastrophe. When looking at the theory of famine and understanding if it was man-made through political and administrative upheaval, the theory of Paul-Michel Foucault (1926-1984),²⁶ a French philosopher and social theorist, will give further details on colonial governance policies in the former British Raj.

This thesis will begin by defining several concepts such as: British Raj, Government, Imperialism, Habitus, Biopolitics, and Sovereignty.

Government:The government takes the population as its subject and governs in the name of state security and the individual.²⁷ The government includes regularities of security apparatuses.²⁸ Using the term “social governance” can be approached with the strategies and procedures for controlling, regulating, and managing national, global and local issues.²⁹ The governors who were recruited during the British colonial time back then were British.³⁰ Similarly, people who were trained by Englishmen were distributed at huge intervals over the wide area of Bengal.³¹

Imperialism:Imperialism usually refers to the domination or autocratic rule of sovereignty by an individual (king or emperor) or collective actor such as a constitutional government.³²

(British) Raj:The term “Raj” means sovereignty/rule in Sanskrit and other Indian languages.³³ It is linked to the word “raja” meaning king and “rajya”, policy or statecraft. Moreover, “Raj” described the “concentration” of British political power on the Indian subcontinent under colonial rule.³⁴ Although, before 1858, in Bengali, it was more common to use the term “sasha” (administration) to associate it with the British than using the term “Raj”³⁵. Today, it describes a particular governance³⁶.

Caste:Several meanings apply to the term “Caste”: e.g. family, clan, tribe or race.³⁷ The caste system in India is a hierarchy of endogamous groups.³⁸ The Indian population is composed of several endogamous groups (that individuals enter by birth), their partner is defined by the restricted marriage between the clans of particular endogamous groups within a particular caste.³⁹

Biopolitics:Biopolitics presented a specific form of exercising power.⁴⁰ Read this way, it can be understood as rearticulating the sovereign power.⁴¹ According to Michel Foucault (with reference to the term “biopower”), it meant a form of “deduction” as deprivation of goods, services and products.⁴² Coming to the next Foucauldian argument, he referred to “Biopolitics” as an “anatomico-politics of the human body”, associated with discipline.⁴³

Habitus:The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) used the term “Habitus” to describe an aspect of human behaviour in society.⁴⁴ From its socio-cultural context, the “habitus” influences the way in which people see, represent and respond to the world.⁴⁵ A person’s habitus is affected by the time and place in which they were born, by their gender, ethnicity, class and religion.⁴⁶ Moreover, the habitus presents a person’s skills and disposition from one situation to another.⁴⁷

2. Chittaproads Illustration on Famine

2.1 Chittaprosad Bhattacharya

Paradoxically, India was considered the crown jewel in the British Empire.⁴⁸ However, the circumstances during the second half of the twentieth century were not at all glamorous, especially in Bengal.⁴⁹ In order to give an answer how the eyewitnesses described the Bengal famine, illustrations of Chittaprosad will be presented. With his drawings about the famine in Bengal, Chittaprosad was known as one of the most important and political Indian artists of his generation,⁵⁰ who contributed a vital part in the Indian revolutionary popular art in the 40s.⁵¹ Also, he was regarded as an important voice to combat colonialism.⁵² Hence, his pictures are influenced by an anti-colonial view with iconic illustrations of people resisting foreign colonial power.⁵³ He saw art as a constitutionally political act which can be seen in the following words:

“In my artwork, I present the traditions of moralists and political reforms.” “[Also,] to save people means to save art itself. The activity of an artist means the active denial of death.”⁵⁴

He was born on 21 June 1915 in Naihati, a district in West-Bengal and died in November 1978.⁵⁵ Accordingly, at the time of the Great Bengal Famine, he was 27/28 years old. Although he was unable to gain much recognition for his work outside of India, his sketches were exposed in Documenta 14 in Kassel/Germany later in 2017.⁵⁶

2.2 Indian Experiences of Suffering

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, Halisahan Chittaganj (1944)

In the first drawing⁵⁷ of Chittaprosad, we can see a person lying in bed although it is difficult to identify the gender of this person. The person in this picture is clearly suffering and looks exhausted. This becomes especially apparent when we look at the way Chittaprosad drew the face and rib bones. This rib bones are completely sticking up and showing the emaciated body of this visibly starving person on the verge of death. His sketches are frequently characterized by a stark form of black and white.⁵⁸ The artist used a combination of heavy strokes of an ink-loaded brush and mainly pointed out the face, hands, sunken eyes and projecting ribs.⁵⁹ Chittaprosad was a self-taught artist who worked with ink drawing and printmaking.⁶⁰ The starving person was drawn in the foreground and the parts of the body who are sticking out are mostly drawn with a darker shape. Presumably, to draw attention to his emaciated physical appearance, the long-term semistarvation which occurred in famine had severe physical and mental effects on the vulnerable.⁶¹ People transformed from a normal human body to a skeleton and gaunt appearance.⁶²

Also, Jawaharlal Nehru pointed out that thousands of people were dying daily of starvation and were reduced to skin and bones. He continued to describe the situation in 1943 as follows: “People have been roused by the stark horror of Bengal’s plight.”⁶³ Consequently, living in Bengal was viewed as hell.⁶⁴

2.2.1 Personal Narratives of Extreme Starvation

Further, the testimonies of eyewitnesses were in accordance with Chitttaprosad’s point of view. An unidentified married woman with three children was interrogated by the Indian Statistical Institute in 1944.⁶⁵ She openly reported about her husband’s state of health with following words: “His eyes had a languid look,” and that he was on the verge of starvation like the person in Chittaprosad’s drawing.⁶⁶ His state of health was extremely bad as a consequence of rapid weight loss, which led him to be only “skin and bones”⁶⁷. Basically, she committed that her husband was waiting for death as he was convinced that dying would eventually relieve him from his agony. Losing weight was a common consequence while being on a malnourished diet. In agreement with this, Jawaharlal Nehru also complained upon his health condition, while also his mind was agitated, and he was sometimes depressed. Lying ill with high temperatures and weight loss were therefore common issues people were suffering from.⁶⁸

“Abstinence from food, more or less, because of this, brought my way to 126 pounds today. This is, I think, my lowest weight during the last dozen years or more. I have gone back to 1930”—Jawaharlal Nehru on 21 September 1943.”⁶⁹

2.2.2 Malnourished Children

When coming to investigate the perception of famine, the next drawing of Chittaprosad gives a profound image of what it was like to be a child during a famine period and of what starvation and weight loos meant.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

When analysing the second illustration⁷⁰ of Chittaprosads arts, the attention was immediately drawn to the woman and child in the foreground. The female person is suffering and marked with the common emaciated frame, while the child (gender unknown) is depicted with a conspicuous distended abdomen. The artist particularly known for showing children who were extremely thin with a bloated abdomen. Having a distended abdomen known as “Kwashiorkor” was the result of malnourishment in times of famine.⁷¹ Further exemplifications by the following testimonies also refer to their children’s health and complications due to starvation.

I. Example= Sundari Haldar, female, married, 25 years old.
II. Example= Mayurjan, female, married, 45 years old, five children.⁷²

By investigating the case of Sundari Haldar, the harrowing reality of having not enough food becomes clear when looking at people’s states of health. She reported that she had to leave her village in July 1943 due to a lack of food, then she arrived in Calcutta for 15 days, but eventually returned back to home.⁷³ It was reported that she had two children between five and three years of age. Her youngest son, named Nanda, died as a consequence of bowel-complaints, when the family returned to their previous residence.⁷⁴ Building upon this narrative, the case of Mayurjan (Number II.) was identically. She had to endure the fact that her daughter Phulchum, aged five, and her son Kboke, aged two, were all skin and bones which led to an extreme emaciation.⁷⁵ Mayurjan had five children, the others were at the age of eight to twenty. However, their state of health has not been documented. She acknowledged leaving her home behind when the paucity of food was high.⁷⁶ A similar experience was reported by Kunda Haldar (see page 15). Her two-year old son Abhiram died due to bowel issues which started with starvation.⁷⁷ Information about her older children aged between eight and twelve were not given albeit they were not said to be dead.⁷⁸ When coming to analyse the two cases alongside Chittaprosads drawing, it can be said that frequently the youngest had to suffer immensely and died as a consequence. For instance, children between two and five were most prone to fall ill with abdomen issues and death. Furthermore, the reason why people in general suffered physically with stomach problems was due to eating unwholesome food. They began to eat wild roots, fruit and leaves in order to survive.⁷⁹ Malnourishment lead to severe dangerous physical impacts, like having dry skin and being sensitive to wounds.

“Flies had settled on the festering wounds and on the face of the child. Her face was writing with pain but she had not even the strength to cry.”⁸⁰

Her health and physical appearance deteriorated as a result of extreme malnourishment. As a consequence of inadequate nutrition and medical help,⁸¹ the hygiene standards were also terribly bad and challenging.

3. Man-Made Famine? Indian Testimonies and Reasonings

After investigating the first narrative perception on the Bengal Famine, the thesis will be answering what was the mainstream view of potential reasons for famine which brought a tremendous amount of suffering to the Indians. As a matter of fact, there were many contradictions regarding the causes of famine, for instance, the first aspect that famine was caused by a natural catastrophe should be considered. Albeit some eyewitnesses were certain that a decline in food availability was not caused by a natural catastrophe. For instance, Jawaharlal Nehru reported that it was not a “calamity of nature” that had brought a vital impact for people to suffer from famine.⁸² In accordance with this statement, he argued that any competent observer agreed that the Bengal Famine pertained under the category of “man-made” famine, which could be foreseen and avoided.⁸³ In the following investigation, a critical analysis of its trajectory of the cyclone will be presented juxtaposing by personal experiences.

3.1. Natural Catastrophe – Cyclone

“Live [was] dangerously,” that is to say, individuals are constantly exposed to danger, or rather, they are conditioned to experience their situation, their life, their present, and their future as containing danger.”⁸⁴ ---Michel Foucault.

During Mid-October of 1942, a devastating cyclone occurred at the coastal district of Midnapur and 24-Parganas district.⁸⁵ Looking at the geographical position of Bengal, tropical cyclones were frequent over the north Indian Ocean from 1877 to 1998.⁸⁶ Tropical cyclones, hitherto known as the most destructive natural disasters of the world,⁸⁷ were combined with physical impacts and human responses.⁸⁸ Cyclones got particularly exacerbated during October/November and May.⁸⁹ This natural catastrophe mostly happened intensely in the Bay of Bengal⁹⁰, where the majority of north Indian Ocean cyclones developed.⁹¹ When coming to understand the different perceptions of the Bengal famine, personal experiences of Bengalese at the end of 1942 and forward should be taken into account. Interestingly, these people exemplified vividly what impacts the cyclone had on their daily life and their aftereffects.

III. Example= Name: Kunda Haldar, female, married, 40 years old, Hindu.
IV. Example= Name: Jagaddhari Haldar of Basar Gopinathpur, male, dowager, 60 years old, Religion unknown.

Tarakchandra Das from the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta conducted an empirically Sociological Inquiry Scheme, dated on September 1943. He interrogated mostly people from Calcutta on their own experience with handling the cyclone.⁹² The two above examples of Tarakchandra Das’s study reported of human suffering while cyclones had raging in the 24-Pargannas district.⁹³ As already mentioned, the coast of Bengal was extremely susceptible to be affected by cyclones. The coastal zone of Bengal covers the parts of North and South 24 Parganas, parts of Midnapore and Howrah district.⁹⁴ It can thus be said, that these districts were extremely vulnerable to suffer from this natural disaster.

3.1.1. Devastation and Losing Family Members

The first example of the survey was the case of Kunda Haldar. When asked about the reason of abandoning her home, Haldar explained that she had to leave her home due to a flood, which caused crop failure.⁹⁵ The following case of Jagaddhari Haldar was quite similar to the first case. He responded that the cyclone and flood had destroyed his whole belongings.⁹⁶ Subsequently, his house, domestic animals and other utensils were lost. Dramatically, he lost his family members too. His younger brother, wife and mother had been drowned.⁹⁷ Moreover, he drew the attention to the question of food. Due to the flood and cyclone, he had also lost his food-grains.⁹⁸ He himself was able to survive, however, since then, he had been on constant search for food.⁹⁹ Indeed, the cyclone had caused a loss of crops in Bengal.¹⁰⁰ This was correlated with losing crop’s fertility for many years.¹⁰¹ This historical analysis of its trajectory had shown alongside the personal experience that nature indeed had an impact on human suffering with malnourishment. Therefore, having said that nature did not play a vital role in famine is quite questionable.

3.1.2 Crop Failure – Question on Food

The previous section has given a profound example of what it meant to endure such a natural disaster in 1942, when family members died, and harvests and its fertility had been destroyed for many years. The loss of crop leads to the question if there were any other resources of food available back then. This question resulted from Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi’s quote which reads as follows:

“[M]eat] would make [him] strong and if the whole country took to meat eating, the English could be overcome.”¹⁰² – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi¹⁰³ (1869-1948)

In this general context, the question of having another food alternative like cattle due to losing crops through cyclone was given. Like Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi already explained that if people had eaten meat, the country would had been stronger.¹⁰⁴ The question occurred when starvation and deprivation intensified, if the owner of cows/cattle would inevitably sacrifice his animals?¹⁰⁵ Would a person have gone for slaughter if the pressure and hunger were far too strong?¹⁰⁶ By looking at the previous personal experiences, the question about the possibility of eating meat would probably have been rejected. Kundar Haldar pertained to the Hindu religion. The answer of this question from Hindus would certainly be not, because in Hinduism, there is usually one main taboo.¹⁰⁷

3.1.3 Eating Cattle?

The function of a caste structure is defined by food hierarchy.¹⁰⁸ The first is the taboo of eating meat.¹⁰⁹ Basically, on the basis of the Hindu religion is “ahimsá” which means “no-violence” to not killing the animal world.¹¹⁰ The cow/cattle needs to be protected.¹¹¹ However, as a matter of fact, the general owner of Hindu cattle would rather neglect his cattle and [himself] to death than slaughter it.¹¹² Therefore, the question mostly was if the rule of non-cattle eating could be excluded¹¹³ during a chronic nutrition crisis in times of famine.¹¹⁴ Complementary, if people had changed their mind-set of eating cattle, it would perhaps not have made the situation any better. In this context, Jagaddhari Haldar’s case can be mentioned who lost his cattle, therefore, his animals could not be slaughtered since they drowned when the cyclone had occurred.¹¹⁵ All in all, 180,000 cattle died due to the flood,¹¹⁶ which made a net loss of about 13 per cent.¹¹⁷ Even though the number of cattle increased during the Bengal Famine, the cattle position was still not satisfactory.¹¹⁸ Moreover, 8,5 per cent of rural Bengalese families lost their cattle and not all families possessed cattle before the famine started.¹¹⁹ Subsequently, even if some Hindus had contemplated eating beef, the attempt would have been difficult as a result of losing several cattle.

3.2 Giving Accountability to Colonizers for “Man-Made Famine”

When coming to find a “second “culprit for all the “misery” the people had to endure, a further artwork of Chittaprosad can provide a possible answer (who also contributed strongly to the argument of “man-made” famine). The next illustration represented his thoughts about having “Europeans” on the Indian subcontinent. With his drawings, he began a methodical attack on the “ruling power”¹²⁰.

It can be said that his art is a statement to draw the attention to the suppressed inhabitants in Bengal/India and a condemnation of the ruling class.¹²¹ Moreover, it was a self-conscious answer and a forcible wave of protest towards the “tyranny of domination”¹²².

3.2.1 Plundering of Resources

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

In this picture of Chittaprosd’s artwork¹²³, a woman is standing in the centre of the picture. It is safe to say that the woman and the child she is carrying are incredibly hungry and exhausted which can be seen by their body and face appearance. On the right side of the picture is a group of men maybe soldiers who have goods around them. On the goods we can find the word “Home”. Also, a few bottles and maybe food are in this package. The group of men are depicted as laughing at her. Presumably, they are British colonizers who are taking the goods which they took from India out of the country. Albeit there are no clears signs of describing the men as British. Jawaharlal Nehru pointed out that the British Raj had suffered from a tremendous deprivation of all “necessities of live” which included food and other things.¹²⁴ However, the piles in the background are interesting in this context. There are three piles. On the first pile, there a lying people on the ground with a sign: 1942. Already in 1942, people died due to cyclone and tensions in British Raj grew at the beginning of 1942 due to the threat of war.¹²⁵ However, in comparison to the first and second piles showing bodies of dying people, there is another the pile with a sign which reads: Bengal Famine. Here we can see only skulls and no bodies of dead people. Moreover, it is astonishing that these piles are bigger than the others. With this picture, Chittaprosad Bhattacharya wanted to show us which effects the British colonisation and its policy brought to their land. His main motive for drawing all these pictures about the Bengal Famine of 1943 was to document the effects of colonialism, and to show how tremendous the Bengal famine really was.

3.2.2 Leaving “Over-Whelming Problems” for Indians

Further, he opened up his thoughts regarding British colonizers in his unpublished manuscript known as the Story of Modern India which was signed by Chittaprosad himself on 22 August 1956, claiming that the British imperialist “had left behind nothing and over-whelming problems.”¹²⁶ Also, in the document it is written that people in India had plenty of food and work before the British rule.¹²⁷ By making a precise analysis of the different testimonies regarding taking up work in times of famine, there will be some examples.

V. Name of the leader of the unit: Kalo Baishnav, female, married, 20 years old, Religion: Hindu.¹²⁸
VI. Name of the leader of the unit: Bachu, female, 25 years old, Religion: Hindu.¹²⁹

Indeed, famine had weakened the people and made them hopeless of taking up any work. For instance, the VI. case of Bachu, who confessed having the thought that nobody would give her work.¹³⁰ Another case that experienced a similar situation was the case of Mayurijan (Nr. II see page 15). When being interrogated if there was any willingness to take up work, she reported that disease made her unable to work.¹³¹ Only Kalo Baishnav (Case: V.) reported of being still able to do manual work, even when times were rough.¹³² To sum up, comparing Chittaporsad artwork and the personal experiences of Bengal’s inhabitants, it can be seen that some similarities and testimonies are in accordance with Chittaprosad’s view on the Bengal Famine. Notably, Chittaprosads artwork had caused a wider range of outrage and antagonistic feelings about the impacts the British colonialism brought to India, especially Bengal. But most importantly, he was not the only person who blamed the British Governance and its bureaucracy for the horrific situation back then.

4. British Governmental Policies and Indian Perceptions

- The current British administration in India is discredited. [..]. “[..]the whole history of British rule in India is a record of recurrent famines [..].”¹³³

This section is going to investigate the role of the British administration/authority regarding the Bengal Famine. As already explained, Chittaprosad Bhattacharya was an anti-colonist and did not welcome the British rule in India. However, importance is given in taking people’s perception on the British rule in times of famine into account. All in all, the transformation of the relations of goods and a “cultural articulation” which colonialism brought had formed a new set of tastes, prejudices and values for the Bengalese people. With colonialism, people had to take a new habitus in their daily life.¹³⁴ It was described that the British imperial policy had taken a vital role in changing the meaning of hunger.¹³⁵ Also, Bengal’s inhabitants feared that their habitus of living would be accompanied by famine. Jawaharlal Nehru noted that people feared that they had to get accustomed to the daily starvation and death.¹³⁶ The following sentence gives evidence of it: “We ha[d] to get accustomed to anything, any depth of human misery and sorrow.”¹³⁷

4.1 British Control over India

“Civil society is, I believe, a concept of governmental technology, or rather, it is the correlate of a technology of government[..].”¹³⁸

It can thus be assumed that one “main achievement” for the British was seizing control over the people on the Indian subcontinent. John Atkinson Hobson (1858-1940), an English economist and social scientist, made some interpretations of imperialism.¹³⁹ There are two “neutral” associations of imperialism, the second one is used by those who associated it with expansionism and the control of “uncivilized”¹⁴⁰ parts of the word.¹⁴¹ Control is a central instrument of the imperialists according to the Foucauldian theory.¹⁴² In this case, in keeping with Jawaharlal Nehru, more than three million people died due to starvation and disease. It is quite questionable if the (British) Government of India¹⁴³ had the sovereign power over death and life. As stated in the quote of Michel Foucault, the sovereigns (here: the British authority) not only had a relationship of power in form of products and services which can be accounted as the “Machttechnologie” (technology of power), but also the right over the life of the “uncivilized” which is known under the theory of Biopolitics.¹⁴⁴

4.1.1 Having Control over Indians

“The modern man is an animal whose politics places his existing as a living being in question.”¹⁴⁵ —Michel Foucault

In the 19th century, this theory was mostly applied to the collective people which was the case in the famine. Moreover, the pressure of the biological was imposed on the historical in form of famine and disease, while the sovereigns were able to take a relative domination over life.¹⁴⁶ Mainly, in form of creating an exposed territory of them to have control over the inhabitants there.¹⁴⁷ Sovereign power is less defined as the “right to kill”¹⁴⁸. More expansion of political technology (in form of the ability to seize, exert and manage influence) was imposed on body, health and living conditions.¹⁴⁹ Indeed, the victims of the Bengal famine had no more control over their bodies, they were not only exposed to disease. In compliance with not having control over themselves but also in order to survive and get food, young women increasingly sold their bodies and were often afraid of being molested, especially when the famine period reached its peak.¹⁵⁰ The situation was described as “people were sleeping under the open sky,”¹⁵¹ therefore, they were afraid of their own security. Also, the living conditions the inhabitants of Bengal were anything than human. People began to beg for food and eat leaves of trees in order not to die. Shockingly, the lower classes even ate dogs, cats and rats according to the sample survey.¹⁵² More and more people were associated with “animals”¹⁵³ according to the following quote of Jawaharlal Nehru as people had “To die like sheep [..]”¹⁵⁴.

4.1.2 Resentment towards British Authority

In 1943, more opponent arguments about the Bengal government regarding famine were produced. In his letters and diary, Jawaharlal Nehru, for instance, bemoaned that the government back then was incapable of dealing with this situation. Additionally, it was being characterized as cruel, incompetent, conceited and selfish.”¹⁵⁵

“In other words, governments can be mistaken. And the greatest evil of government, what makes it a bad government, [..] he is ignorant.”¹⁵⁶ —Michel Foucault.

Basically, Nehru was convinced that the government only existed of “unhappy” and “miserable” people.¹⁵⁷ It was even bemoaned that people were in control of the government as can be seen in the following quote: “[H]undreds of millions of our countrymen [the Indians] are in the hands of these selfish [..] & fools.”¹⁵⁸ Thus, it is safe to say that the British policy influence was not really accepted by Indians. Jawaharlal Nehru clearly blamed the British for their “misery” in 1943. In accordance with the results, also Mufakharul Islam claimed in his work “Bengal Famine and the Question of FAD”, famine probably happened due to an administrative inefficiency shown by the government.¹⁵⁹

“Everyone agreed that there was amazing indifference, incompetence, and complacency shown by all the authorities.”¹⁶⁰ – Jawaharlal Nehru.

When coming to ask who was to blame, the answer will also be the government. It was reported that eventually everyone working for the government should be blamed for it and whoever was responsible should be punished, fired and lose their position.¹⁶¹ Many Englishmen were blamed for this catastrophe and therefore should have taken responsibility for the Bengal Famine of 1943.¹⁶² However, the question why people thought that the government acted completely irresponsibly is still open.

4.2 Irresponsible Government and Delayed Reports on Famine

One of the main aspects which could amplify the claim of having an irresponsible government was the late documentation of any essential information. As already mentioned in the introduction, the effects of the famine on politics and on the society as a whole have almost been completely ignored and neglected.¹⁶³ Soon this lack was filled with the understanding of the South Asian history in the mid-twentieth century.¹⁶⁴ For example, the Sample Survey and the Famine Inquiry Commission. Report on Bengal also provided a solid foundation for vital scientific analysis and information.¹⁶⁵ Although reports on famine were only published years later. For instance, the Famine Inquiry Commission. Report on Bengal was published two years later after the Bengal Famine “officially” occurred in 1943.¹⁶⁶ Undoubtedly, the government of Bengal recognized the need for documenting the grim and horrendous circumstance but almost endangered the useful research on the impacts of this famine period. Comparable with the Sample Survey which was conducted by the Indian Statistical Institute by the request of the Government of Bengal.¹⁶⁷ Tarakchandra Das from the University of Calcutta complained that reports on the Bengal famine were written in 1944 but could not be completed until July 1948.¹⁶⁸

4.2.1 Indian Mistrust for Governmental Acting

For Michel Foucault, inhabitants were a “social body”, defined under statistical analysis, like birth rate, health status, the likely age of an individual person and his production or material estates.¹⁶⁹ The Famine Inquiry Commission Report and especially the Sample Survey collected some dates like health situation, age and gender of the suffering people, but also the personal belongings of each individual. Nonetheless, these dates could not be collected equally, because some were too young or too old. The survey was conducted by 52,8 per cent from teachers of the Department of Anthropology.¹⁷⁰ The essential data were collected by16,2 % of students who acquired practical knowledge in field work of preparation like collecting dates.¹⁷¹ Last, 14,6 per cent of the students received a special training for conducting a survey.¹⁷² This extra training was pertinent according to the mainstream view.¹⁷³ The methods used for the survey were building up through genealogical and narrative methods like personal observation (noted as the most accurate method), and knowledge.¹⁷⁴

Moreover, to give a precise objective view, the data were collected by different boroughs of the region.¹⁷⁵ The inhabitants of Bengal were willing and satisfied to co-operate with them seeing the investigators as helpful according to public mind.¹⁷⁶ However, some of them would prefer not to be interrogated due to their distrust and aversion for the government.¹⁷⁷ Thus, it was common that many of them would accuse the investigators of working for the government or that. Like investigators were disguised as government agents, characterized by “all sorts of mischief”, henceforth, some rejected to answer their questions.¹⁷⁸ Apparently, people who were distressed by the famine invoked to not trust the government in addition to not talking about their misfortune. In combination with the distrust towards the government, there were also Indians trying to co-operate with the government. However, they had been “filled with anxiety” and juxtaposing with the feeling they had never felt before, like “bitterness” against the British authority.¹⁷⁹ Also, Nehru saw the British as horrible enemies.¹⁸⁰ On 17th December 1943, it was even reported that when famine had reached its peak, most Indians developed an extreme anti-British attitude, which meant that their “thinking had grown bitter against the British.”¹⁸¹

4.2.2 Lack of Finance & Information

“Still, much has happened in recent months which has angered and embittered me.”¹⁸² —Jawaharlal Nehru

Not only the distrust in the government has embittered the people on the whole, but also the uncompleted research of the Anthropological Department of Calcutta due to financial lack. The theoretical knowledge of collecting dates was that statistical control in comparative investigation data was often inadequate as a result of lack of information and limited resources.¹⁸³ Regarding the paucity of information, Tarakchandra Das said in his writing of 1949 that the government of Bengal failed to collect scientifically reliable date of each individual in Bengal¹⁸⁴. The unreliable attitude was noted as a “crime”¹⁸⁵. First, financial assistance was given by the Government of Bengal.¹⁸⁶ Simultaneously, travel costs were increased by the government itself which made it difficult to visit other spheres. Consequently, the investigation was extended over six months.¹⁸⁷ All in all, people felt that they had not received reliable available information about the famine.

“We were hoping that necessary financial help would be received from the Government of Bengal to enable us to complete the work.”¹⁸⁸

The entire programme of work and it’s labour were postponed as a result of financial lack and delay of receiving orders from the government, which made it impossible to finish the field survey.¹⁸⁹ Although it should be mentioned that it was also hinted that even before the work of the survey started, financial help and funds had already been “exhausted.”¹⁹⁰ Of course, further requests of more additional funds were made. Notwithstanding, the government of Bengal did not respond. Hence, people assumed the investigation did not “deserve” any financial support.¹⁹¹

4.3 Biopolitics, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Media

There was not only a delay of publishing reliable data, the Bengalese government did not feel the need to declare famine either. The Foucauldian theory of “Biopolitics” about the right of death and life could give a theoretical framework for discussing the urgency of publishing facts in newspapers. In the case the sovereignty sees its existence threatened (e.g. by the “negative” publicity), he can set a measure as opposition against his subjects (here: blocked reports on famine).¹⁹²

In this theory, the thesis seeks to understand the next Foucauldian theory on “political technology of life,”¹⁹³ which means the “Regulation of inhabitants” with regard to the “disciplinary technology”¹⁹⁴. In this theory, the sovereignty could perform the dressage and observation of each individual body.¹⁹⁵ In this case, the government took their whole control and applied it on the citizen through having control over media, too. Nehru has already criticized the media coverage regarding the Bengal famine. On 30th July 1943, according to Nehru’s writing, the government did not see themselves accountable for starvation.¹⁹⁶ Moreover, the debate of famine was hardly mentioned.¹⁹⁷ When coming to analyse the prohibition¹⁹⁸ to talk openly about the circumstance, it should be emphasized that any evidence of honest stories regarding famine was controlled and blacked out by a certain censor.¹⁹⁹ In the centre of this argument was clearly a sentence of Jawaharlal Nehru. On 28 August 1943, he wrote the following:

“News of starvation and death in Bengal and Orissa is so harrowing that one feels sick of heart***” [..].”²⁰⁰ —Jawaharlal Nehru

Due to controls, it was literally impossible to speak about famine and the whole situation.

4.3.1 Censored Reports

The Indian Social Club, established in the 1912, had gone public regarding the crisis of famishment which was obviously still not present in the newspaper and media outrage.²⁰¹ The advert, published by Mr. V.R. Bengeri, wrote an open letter in order to draw “urgent” attention to the present famine, which he described as a tragedy with hundreds of Indians dying on a daily basis.²⁰² He also made sure to address emergency in other parts of British Raj, which should not be forgotten. According to him, famine was all over India. Last, V.R Bengeri aimed for urgent aid which can be seen in the following statement: “The Indian Social Club appeals to you for help.”²⁰³ Related to the plea, the Statesman published pictures of dying people and corpses on the street in Calcutta²⁰⁴ in order to draw international attention. More countries abroad were planned to be “attracted to the grim tragedy”²⁰⁵. Jawaharlal Nehru already mentioned in his statement that news that included stories of starving and death bodies were not only “strictly censored”, but also not allowed to go outside of the British Raj.²⁰⁶ Furthermore, he published a statement on 12 September of 1943 which reads as follows:

“We regret we are unable to publish statistics regarding cases of starvation admitted in the Calcutta hospitals or similar information illustrating effects [..] the Government [..] have stopped supplying their figures to the press.”²⁰⁷

All in all, according to Jawaharlal Nehru, the press was not only “suppressed” by the censor, but also famine was denied, even if it was impossible for him to deny the existence of famine.²⁰⁸ This was mostly due to a need of “propaganda drive” at the end of April and May 1943 by dodging and prohibiting any horrific stories.²⁰⁹ For example, it was proclaimed by the government that there was no food shortage in 1943.²¹⁰ Although, at the same time, people knew the truth about the harrowing situation.²¹¹ People were aware of the current situation and tried to “send anything” like general material and money to Bengal.²¹² This was, however, not the only thing which disappointed the people.

4.3.2 Denial of Existing Famine

The Bengal Famine Report revealed that the Bengal Famine had already affected many parts of Bengal at the end of June.²¹³ This was in contrast to the fact that the famine was already imminent in January 1943.²¹⁴ Nonetheless, the government took action only on 11 June calling for further information.²¹⁵ Feeling more disappointment than ever before, people bemoaned the declaration of famine and aid should have been given “at least three months earlier”.²¹⁶ Questions about any reliable help arose. Moreover, there were thoughts about international help. However, Indians like Jawaharlal Nehru increasingly felt the need to complain about not receiving international help especially from the Indian subcontinent’s colonizer Great Britain

“Not a single generous, really friendly gesture has come from England in regard to this famine[..].”²¹⁷ Moreover, Tarakchandra also commented “They could not attract the attention of the world on their miserable plight.”²¹⁸

However, it needs to be said that these arguments were not true because international reports like the Famine Campaign of the Federation of Indian Associations in Great Britain opened up about the famine. Despite the fact that these newspapers only published reports of the Bengal Famine in December 1943 and 1944. Anyway, the Famine Campaign of Federation reported on 7 December 1943 that the aim was first to cover the Bengal Famine.²¹⁹ They also mentioned that on 11 November 1943, the Daily Express from the correspondent in New Delhi declared that the (Calcutta) Famine was over, reporting “the back of the famine is definitely broken [..]”²²⁰. This stood in contrast to the advert of the “Famine Campaign of the Federation of the India Association in Great Britain” that reported on 7 December 1943 (after the Daily Express claimed the end of the famine almost one month before), with large capital letters that the famine was increasing. Also, the famine would not be over in a “long way”²²¹. Last, the Manchester Guardian used the following words: “[the situation is] horrible beyond description”²²². Obviously, there were dissimilar arguments regarding famine, however, the news of the Bengal Famine reached attention abroad and was discussed all over Great Britain.²²³

4.3.3 Jawaharlal Nehru’s Assumption for Blocked Information

Already Jawaharlal Nehru commented that the British authority in India had “deliberately and continuously played down” the hunger crisis, which the havoc of famine had brought,²²⁴ by publishing illustrations of starving people, which represents a condemnation with a reproach character. A famine in which people were starving and dying could not make a good image. Simply, famine represented an image of poverty and ugliness of British rule according to Nehru.²²⁵ He also accused the famine and poverty of being a “culmination and fulfilment” done by British rule in India.²²⁶ Last, by censoring pictures, the Government of India could rigorously block out any negativity in their eyes.²²⁷ Coherently, the government wished not to dramatize this situation.²²⁸ Therefore, a spokesman of the Government of India protested against this kind of “dramatization”²²⁹. The absorption of dramatizing the situation could only be achieved through avoiding any negative criticism in order to maintain their prestige,²³⁰ which was extremely important for the British.²³¹ Furthermore, Jawaharlal Nehru wrote that for the government, it was a normal occurrence having people die of malnourishment and disease.²³² To sum up, the most perceived view was that the Government of Bengal/India did not take the circumstance seriously.

4.4 Worse Infrastructure, Economy and Social Disruptions as Cause for Famine

“A deliberate, well profiled policy executed with powerful means and accompanied by an ideology that justifies the striving for empire and domination.”—Henry Pachter²³³

When coming to investigate Henry Pacher’s quote on the meaning of imperialism, it was often common that imperialists (like the British) wanted to seize more profit for themselves. Historically, imperialism has always been irrational, a reflection of people’s needs of wanting to survive. Therefore, it was more a response to the social interest for the ruling individuals/class.²³⁴ According to the Foucauldian theory of Biopolitics, when coming to survival, the sovereign had the power to expose a whole population to death, which was the underside of the power to secure the survival/existing of another population.²³⁵ Like giving large quantities of rice to the British troops who were stationed in the Middle East during the Second World War.²³⁶ Having stationed a large number of British troops in eastern India had put a burden on the food situation which resulted in shortage and higher prices.²³⁷

Also, the government²³⁸ was blamed for the failure due to dealing with “such enemies of society”²³⁹. These enemies would be identified by the Bengal report and eyewitnesses as “large profiteers”²⁴⁰ known as the culprits.²⁴¹ The traders were identified as “wealthy buyers”²⁴². Conspicuously, people thought the Bengal Famine was caused by having an inappropriate economic “food drive” situation.²⁴³ Primarily, large traders, producers and consumers were involved in making the “food situation” even worse. For instance, at the time, traders held and bought a large amount of food. It was perceived that consumers who were able to obtain these items, bought more than they actually needed.²⁴⁴ Usually, some people could profit but other groups like peasants were neglected. The traders were being characterized as greedy by being surrounded under an “atmosphere of fear [..] and speculation”²⁴⁵.

4.4.1 Increasing Grocery Prices & No market Control

However, the Indian Relief Committee²⁴⁶ punctuated the question of the “failed food drive” and higher prizes control by the government, which dramatically affected the economy of the British Raj. Thus, they demanded that the prices and stocks should be controlled (especially from the Government of India).²⁴⁷ In agreement with the Foucauldian theory on price, he argued that a market determines that a government was no longer a “simple government” that functions according to justice.²⁴⁸ Another main problem was that the traders and producers would rather keep their stock of food for themselves because they knew that 60,000²⁴⁹ tons of rice would be quickly gone and consumed.²⁵⁰ The Bengal Famine Report advised an extreme importance of obtaining control over the market by the Government of Punjab and India. Like who had access over food supplies and the maintenance of price levels.²⁵¹ One of the main problems during famine were the high food prices set by government. It was announced that if price control had been reinforced by an adequate organization and if there had been consistent controls of food supplies, Bengal would have had larger supplies.²⁵² Tarakchandra Das proved in his studies that in March 1943, prices of food (especially of rice) began to rise.²⁵³ Michel Foucault’s theory on soaring prices was that a certain price tended to fluctuate around the value of a product.²⁵⁴ Like in times of famine when shortages of all kinds occurred. For instance, the price for rice in Calcutta soared from 15 Indian rupees on 3 March 1943 to 21 Indian rupees²⁵⁵ by 20 March 1943.²⁵⁶ Obviously, within a short time, the price increased fast and food was more valued due to the limited production. Indeed, the rice production had declined from 1942 to 1943. In 1941, the average rice production was 6.67 millions of tons only in Bengal and 27,000 in the entire country. Albeit in 1942, where times were already rough, rice production increased in Bengal to 9,30 million.²⁵⁷ Nonetheless, the number fluctuated in 1943. In Bengal, it decreased to 7.53 and in India it rose up to 32.39.²⁵⁸ Also, according to the official numbers of food supply by the Famine Inquiry Commission. Report of Bengal, usually 4,5 million tons of rice and paddy crop were available. However, in reality, only 3,75 million tons were brought to Bengal during 1943.²⁵⁹ These figures are proof of the fact that the country was able to produce its own rice because the system in the British Raj was flexible and large enough to feed their own population in times of famine and regional shortages.²⁶⁰

4.4.2 Demand for Governmental Support & Fair Trade

The Famine Inquiry Commission. Report on Bengal was certain that further deterioration could be prevented if any measures of control from the government and other corporations like fair traders were given.²⁶¹ They definitely blamed the government due to the lack of support.²⁶² In consonance with Auriol Law - Smith who confirmed in his work titled “Response and Responsibility” that the famine was caused by a lack of mutual cooperation and effort between the Bengal and the Central government of India.²⁶³ This investigation led to the open question of any potential reason why in Bengal there was a decline of rice production, while in the British Raj the number of food productions increased in 1943. These matters should be mentioned, and there is a strong need for further investigations. Nevertheless, due to the limited scope and the main investigations of this thesis, this issue will not be examined any further. However, in order to provide social help like giving people accommodation and food, the government and volunteers intervened by providing so-called “free kitchens”. Apparently, there was not always a lack of support from the government, which should be taken into account.

4.4.3 Free kitchens

This section will investigate the function of the “Free kitchens” by looking at personal experiences of the cases mentioned above (see pages: 15, 18, 23). When Sundari Haldar (female) and Kalo Baishnav (female) were asked how they maintained themselves, they reported through begging and eating in free kitchens.²⁶⁴ By the 1940s, that no relief work and medical measures would end the famine.²⁶⁵ some small eating places had opened in Calcutta²⁶⁶ for very small prices.²⁶⁷ All in all, 60,000 persons received food there, in general there were 220 free kitchens were run privately by organizations.²⁶⁸ Notably volunteers opened these centres despite the fact that food came from government kitchens.²⁶⁹ However, 30,000 kitchens did not receive any financial help from the government.²⁷⁰ Jawaharlal Nehru claimed

“Everyone agreed that there was amazing indifference, incompetence, and complacency shown by the authorities.”²⁷¹ [..]” The only question that remains is not of giving help to Bengal.”²⁷² —Jawaharlal Nehru.

Not only that the government actually did not support the free kitchens fully, other disadvantages for the people were that not all inhabitants of Bengal were being fed by the free kitchens due to limited accessibility (like problems of transportation).²⁷³ Indeed, the free kitchens were solely open on some occasions and more for the higher caste²⁷⁴ class.²⁷⁵ Consequently, many felt a large resentment towards the British authority in Bengal. The commonly perceived view was that the British were clearly uncertain of maintaining the county and should be replaced. Only the removal of British authority could offer a permanent solution.²⁷⁶ Furthermore, the “Famine Campaign of the Federation of Indian Association” also pointed out that only a government with recruited Indians could tackle the famine problem.²⁷⁷

5. Conclusion

At the beginning of the thesis, a few contradictions were introduced, not only the different amounts of death tolls, but also the perception of the Bengal Famine in 1943. Indeed, the Bengal Famine can be seen as a huge tragedy combined with immense human loss. The famishment had threatened millions of Bengalese/Indian people. When coming to find the perceptive “reason” for the famine, the thesis had shown that there were some indicators for it.

My hypothesis was that the Bengalese inhabitants/Indians described the famishment as terrible. Also, eyewitnesses experienced natural catastrophes as the cause of the famine. In accordance with the personal experiences and the vivid picture of suffering humans from Chittaprosad Bhattacharya, people were depicted as tremendously emaciated and exhausted due to severe malnourishment. Mostly the youngsters had to suffer. Moreover, there was the thought that only death could relieve people from their pain.²⁷⁸ However, before the Bengal famine was officially declared and being noted at the Bengal Famine of1943, a devastating cyclone had occurred in 1942. Combined with the loss of family members, domestic belonging, the crop and its fertility for the next years. When losing crop, the question was if people would slaughter their cattle in order to survive although the Hindu religion has prohibited the slaughter of cattle.²⁷⁹ As personal experiences have shown, there were also Hindus and even their cattle died due to the flood.²⁸⁰

My next hypothesis was that the Bengal Famine was perceived as a “Man-Made Famine” combined with political and economic upheaval. Some Indians thought that the colonial exploitation of British colonizers had led to famine. Indian testimonies (for example, Jawaharlal Nehru and Chittaprosad) had proven extreme resentment towards the Government of India/Bengal (under British authority). For instance, people bemoaned and were disappointed that the government took steps far too late (like the declaration of famine).

When seeking explanations on the style of the governance of British colonialists on the Indian subcontinent, Foucault’s theory of Biopolitics had proven to seem to fit well. His notable theory of Biopolitics had helped to explain the way how the British interacted politically and socially with the Indians back then. According to the Foucauldian theory, a government was not a “government” that functions according to justice.²⁸¹ Not only “wealthy buyers”²⁸² with no market control through government, but also British troops who were stationed in eastern British Raj during the Second World War had put a tremendous burden on the food situation which resulted in high grocery prices.²⁸³ Furthermore, there was a conflict of interest. The government of India and Bengal did not want to publish any publicity regarding famine, which could damage their prestige by giving an “ugly image of British Raj”, while the inhabitants were hoping for receiving any sophisticated information/dates.²⁸⁴

Also, reliable relief measurements were neglected. Some free kitchens were established in Calcutta, food was cooked from government kitchens and by private organizers for small prices.²⁸⁵ However, not all had access to them, frequently only the higher castes. Also, they were open only on some occasions.²⁸⁶

Obviously, Indian inhabitants felt that the British authority was irresponsible, neglecting, and selfish. Literally, they were unable to tackle the famishment and take right decisions regarding the crisis.²⁸⁷ Mostly, the government did not cooperate with the local people’s interests and was keen on maintaining their needs. Therefore, the Bengal Famine was described as “man-made” due to having British colonizers (Man) who were seen as causing the famine.

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Mallik, Sanjoy Kumar. Chittaprosad. A Retrospective 1915-1978. Vol.2, New Delhi: New Delhi Art Gallery, 2011.

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Nally, David. “The Biopolitics of Food Provisioning.” Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 36 (2011): 37-53.

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Olsen, James S., Robert Shandle, Ross Marlay, William G. Ratliff, and Joseph M. Rowe. Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. New York: Greenwood Press. 1991.

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Sathyamala, Christina. “Meat-eating in India: Whose food, whose politics, and whose rights?” Policy Futures in Education (2018): 1-14.

Sinha, Manish. “The Bengal Famine of 1943 and the American Insensitiveness to Food Aid.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 70, (2009-2010): 887-893.

Singh, O.P, Ali Khan, Tariq Masood, and Rahman, Md. Satedur. “Has the frequency of intense tropical cyclones increased in the north Indian Ocean?” 4 (2001): 575-558.

Stevenson, Richard. Bengal Tiger and British Lion. An Account of the Bengal Famine of 1943, New York: iUniverse, 2005.

Stewart, Trueswall A. “Malnutrition in the Third World I.” British Medical Journal 6494 (1985): 525-528.

Streissguth, Thomas. Bangladesh in Pictures. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books (Visual geography series), 2009.

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Sanyal, Sanghita. “31 famines in 120 years of British Raj, the last one killed 4 million people in 1943” Accessed August 27, 2019. https://yourstory.com/2017/08/british-raj-famines.

Appendices

Appendix 1²⁸⁸

Map of several districts of Bengal in 1943.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Appendix 2²⁸⁹:

Map of Bengal (early 1900)

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Appendix 3²⁹⁰:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text:The Federation of Indian Associations in Gt. Britain (7th December 1943):

“Two million persons have so far died in the famine in India, according to the unofficial estimate reported by the correspond of the Manchester Guardian. During the first three years of the war the British Empire’s fighting forces lost 92,089 in killed; or less than one twentieth of lives lost in the famine.”

Appendix 4²⁹¹:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text:“An effort is being made to persuade the public in this country and abroad that famine in India is over. The manner in which this is being done shows some degree of premeditation. On November 11th a dispatch which appeared in the Daily Express from its correspond in New Delhi was captioned“Calcutta Famine is All Over”.It said:“The back of the famine is definitely broken as far as Calcutta is concerned.After a fortnight’s absence I can see an immense difference since the Viceroy’s visit.”

Appendix 5²⁹²:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text: “FAMINE IS NOT OVER, IT IS INCREASING.”

“Famine is not over in India by a long way.Even its fringes have not been touched. This is revealed in a small, inconspicuous paragraph in the Daily Express in a report from Calcutta: “Deaths from all causes in the week ended Nov. 13 totalled 1960, against 1875 for the preceding week, and 707 for the corresponding week last year.” If this is the state of [..]. “

Appendix 6²⁹³:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text: “[..] of the country’s accredit leaders.The current British administration in India is discredited.No one trusts its efficiency, much less its foresight, and the return of confidence is the key to the situation. Listen to the speech of Mr. R. H. Hutchings, [..]”

Appendix 7²⁹⁴:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text: “[..] used to crush the freedom movement in India. Mr. V. S. Shastry (Birmingham) saidthe whole history of British rule in India is a record of recurrent famines,and only theremoval of British authority can offer a permanent solution.”

Appendix 8²⁹⁵:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text: “150 persons were present. Mr. Suresh Vaidya, who was the only speaker, placed the responsibility for the famine on the British Government, and said thatonly a government of the Indian people can tackle this problem successfully.A resolution was unanimously passed calling for speedy relief. It further [..]”

Appendix 9²⁹⁶:

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

Text. “Dear Sir or Madam,

We wish to draw your urgent attention to the present tragedy in India,where hundreds of Indians are dying owning to the famine, which is raging all over India, especially in Bengal, which has been officially declared a Famine Area.” […]

“The Indian Social Club appeals to you for help.”

[...]

---

¹ Cp. Islam, M. Mufakharul. “The Great Bengal Famine and the Question of FAD yet Again.” Modern Asian Studies 41 (2007), p. 422.

² Cp. Das, Tarakchandra. Bengal Famine 1943. As revealed in a Survey of the Destitute in Calcutta. Calcutta: Calcutta University Press, 1949, p. 4: During the Bengal famine of 1943, many diseases spread through the city and the rural areas. Presumably due to the fact that corpses were not removed from the streets, many people suffered from fever, malaria and cholera.

³ Cp. Ibid., p. iii.

⁴ Cp. Woodhead, John. Famine Inquiry Commission. Report on Bengal, No. XXVIII of 1944, 1945, p. 1.

⁵ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. iii.

⁶ Cp. Sanyal, Sanghita. “31 famines in 120 years of British Raj, the last one killed 4 million people in 1943.” Accessed August 27, 2019, p. 1.

⁷ Cp. Gerlach, Christian. “Hunger in der Geschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts.“ Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung 40 (2015), pp. 20-23.

⁸ Cp. Baber, Zaheer. The Science of Empire. Scientific Knowledge, Civilization and colonial Rule in India. New York: State University of New Yorker Press, 1996, p. 218.

⁹ Cp. Gerlach, G. “Hunger in der Geschichte des 20. Jhd. “2015, p. 22.

¹⁰ Cp. Ibid.

¹¹ Cp. Inkster, Ian, “Science, Technology and Imperialism in India.” In Social History of Science in Colonial India, edited by Irfan S. Habib and Dhruv Raina, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 85-199: A direct contact between Indian and Britain was established through the foundation of the English East India Company which can be traced back to the 16th century. In 1763, the British were able to defeat the French. Alongside the decline of the Mughal Empire, the British received opportunities for direct rule and territorial expansion. The reason why the British established direct contact to India was profit. Their base in Bengal was quite convenient for having a protection of their commercial and other interests in India. and Wolpert, Stanley. A New History of India, 7. Vol, New York/ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 237: On 2 August of 1858, the Government of India Act was passed by the British Parliament, which gave them all the rights of India which the English East India Company had already taken to Great Britain, which ruled under the British crown.

¹² Cp. Ibid. pp. 337-339.

¹³ Cp. Ahluwalia, Pal and Bill Ashcroft. Edward Said, Routledge Critical Thinkers, 2. Ed, London/ New York: Routledge, 2000, p. 15: “The postcolonial theory investigates and develops propositions about the cultural and political impact of European conquest on colonised societies, and the nature of those responses [from society]. The post in the term refers to “after colonialism has begun” rather than ended. Moreover, postcolonial studies have established itself in India.

¹⁴ Cp. Vernon, James. Hunger. A New History of India, 7. Ed, New York/ Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007, p. 208. and Law-Smith, Auriol, “Response and Responsibility: of Indian’s role in the Bengal Famine, 1943”, South Asian Studies 13 (1989): p. 49.

¹⁵ Cp. Woodhead, John, “Famine Inquiry Commission” 1945, p. 1.

¹⁶ Cp. Nehru, Jawaharlal. Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, A Project of the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, 1. Serie, Vol. 14, edited by S. Gopal. New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1981, p. 313.

¹⁷ Cp. Sinha, Manish: “The Bengal Famine of 1943 and the American Insensitiveness to Food Aid.” Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 70, (2009-2010), p. 887.

¹⁸ Cp. Islam, M. M. “Famine and Question of FAD” 2007, p. 421.

¹⁹ Cp. Said, Edward W. Culture and Imperialism, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993, p. 9: Colonialism is always a consequence of imperialism. Said argues that it means practice and theory alongside the attitude of dominating a metropolitan centre as a distant territory.

²⁰ Cp. Kumar, Deepak. “Histem in South Asia. An Overview” In Science and Society in India 1750-2000, edited by Arun Bandyopadhyay, New Delhi: Manohar, 2010, p. 41.

²¹ Cp. Gerlach, G. “Hunger in der Geschichte des 20. Jhd.“ 2015, p. 26.

²² Cp. Brown, Judith M. et al. The Twentieth Century. The Oxford History of the British Empire IV. Oxford/ New York: Oxford University Press, 1999, pp. 435-446.

²³ Cp. Chatterjee, Partha. “The Nation and it’s Peasants.” In Mapping Subaltern Studies and the Postcolonial, edited by Vinayak Chaturvedi. London/New York: Verso, 2000, p. 9.

²⁴ Cp. Mahalanobis, Prasanta Chandra, Ramkrishna Mukherjea, and Ambika Ghosh. “A Sample Survey of After-Effects of the Bengal Famine of 1943,” In Sankya: The Indian Journal of Statistics (1933-1960), (1946), p. 337.

²⁵ Cp. Olsen, James S. et al. Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991, pp. 425-426: Jawaharlal Nehru was born on 14th November 1889 in Allahabad/British India into an upper class named Brahmin. He had a special interest in politics combined with the future of Indian independence.

²⁶ Cp. Lemke, Thomas. Biopolitik zur Einführung, Hamburg: Junius, 2007, p. 49.

²⁷ Cp. Nadesan, Maija Holmer. Governmentality, Biopower and Everyday Life, New York: Routledge, 2008, p. 8.

²⁸ Cp. Ibid., p. 9.

²⁹ Cp. Ibid., p. 6.

³⁰ Cp. Frere, Henry Bartle Edward. On impending Bengal Famine. How it will be met and how to prevent future famines in India. London: Murray/Henry’s King & Co, 1874, p. 10.

³¹ Cp. Ibid.

³² Cp. Barth, Lawrence. “Michel Foucault”. In Key Sociological Thinkers, edited by Rob Stones, 3.Ed. London: Palgrave, 2017, p. 223.

³³ Cp. Dharampal-frick, Gita et al. Key Concepts in Modern Indian Studies. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2015, p. 228.

³⁴ Cp. Ibid., p. 230.

³⁵ Cp. Ibid.

³⁶ Cp. Ibid., p. 228.

³⁷ Cp. Ibid., p. 37.

³⁸ Cp. Olcott, Mason. “The Caste System of India.” American Sociological Review 9 (1944), p. 649.

³⁹ Cp. Gupta, Vipin. “Genomie Efficiency of Endogamy in India.” Int J Hum Genet 11 (2011). p. 199.

⁴⁰ Cp. Lemke, Thomas. “The Government of Living Beings: Michel Foucault.” In Biopolitics. An Advanced Introduction, edited by Thomas Lemke et al. New York: NYU Press, 2011, p. 33.

⁴¹ Cp. Ibid., p. 34.

⁴² Cp. Ibid., p. 35.

⁴³ Cp. Wallenstein, Sven-Olov. „Introduction: Foucault, Biopolitics, and Governmentality”. In Foucault, Biopolitics and Governmentality, edited by Jakob Nilsson and Sven-Olov Wallenstein. Huddinge: Söderstörn University, 2013, p. 11.

⁴⁴ Cp. Robbins, Derek. “Pierre Bourdieu “. In Key Sociological Thinkers, edited by Rob Stones, 3. Ed. London: Palgrave, p. 232.

⁴⁵ Cp. Ibid., p. 240.

⁴⁶ Cp. Ibid.

⁴⁷ Cp. Ibid.

⁴⁸ Cp. Olsen, J. S. et al., “Historical Dictionary of Imperialism” 1991, pp. 300- 303.

⁴⁹ Cp. Ibid., p. 52.: Bengal was historically a very vital region of the Indian sub-continent. The British first became interested in Bengal in 1633.Times before the independence in 1947, the region of Bengal consisted of the British ruled province of Bengal. The district Calcutta is the major city of Bengal.

⁵⁰ CP. Art net Gallery Network. “Seminal Indian Political Artist Chittaprosad gets a Long-Overdue New York Show”. Accessed August 11, 2019, p. 1.

⁵¹ Cp. Mallik, Sanjoy Kumar. Chittaprosad. A Retrospective, Vol.1. New Delhi: New Delhi Art Gallery, 2011, pp. 12-13.

⁵² CP. Art net Gallery Network “Seminal Indian Political Artist” 2018, p. 1.

⁵³ Cp. Mallik, S. K. “Chittaprosad. A Retrospective” Vol.1, 2011, p. 26.

⁵⁴ Cp. Ibid.

⁵⁵ Cp. Ibid.

⁵⁶ Cp. Ibid.

⁵⁷ Cp. Art net Gallery Network. “Seminal Indian Political Artist” 2018, p. 1.

⁵⁸ Cp. Mallik, S. K. “Chittaprosad. A Retrospective”, Vol.1, 2011, p. 26.

⁵⁹ Cp. Mallik, S. K. Chittaprosad. A Retrospective 1915-1978, Vol. 2. New Delhi: New Delhi Art Gallery, 2011, p. 252.

⁶⁰ Cp. Art net Gallery Network “Seminal Indian Political Artist” 2018, p.1.

⁶¹ Cp. Brand, Taylor. “Some eat to remember, some to forget. Starvation, Eating, and Coping in the Syrian Famine of World War I.” In Insatiable Appetite. Food as Cultural Signifier in the Middle East and Beyond, edited by Krill Dmitriev et al. Leiden /Boston: Brill, 2019, p. 321.

⁶² Cp. Ibid.

⁶³ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 234.

⁶⁴ Cp. Ibid.

⁶⁵ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p.4.

⁶⁶ Cp. Ibid.

⁶⁷ Cp. Ibid.

⁶⁸ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 241.

⁶⁹ Cp. Ibid.

⁷⁰ Cp. Art net Gallery Network. “Seminal Indian Political Artist” 2018, p. 1.

⁷¹ Cp. Stewart Trueswall, A. “Malnutrition in the Third World I.” British Medical Journal 6494 (1985), pp. 525-527.

⁷² Cp. Das, T. „Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, pp. 23-26.

⁷³ Cp. Ibid.

⁷⁴ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, pp. 23-24.

⁷⁵ Cp. Ibid., pp. 25-26.

⁷⁶ Cp. Ibid.

⁷⁷ Cp. Ibid., pp. 26-27.

⁷⁸ Cp. Ibid.

⁷⁹ Cp. Ibid., pp. 21-22.

⁸⁰ Cp. Ibid., pp. 4-5.

⁸¹ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 20: It was announced that hospitals were only responsible for” a person suffering from disease not who just starving”, therefore, they would not provide any room or medical aid.

⁸² Cp. Nehru, Jawaharlal. The Discovery of India, 12. Ed, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, p. 495.

⁸³ Cp. Ibid.

⁸⁴ Cp. Foucault, Michel. “The Birth of Biopolitics. Lectures at the Collége De France, 1978-79.” edited by Michel Senellart, Francois Eswald and Alessandro Fontana. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 66.

⁸⁵ Cp. Brennan, Lace. “Government Famine Relief in Bengal 1943.” The Journal of Asian Studies (1988), p. 543.

⁸⁶ Cp. Singh, O.P. et al. “Has the frequency of intense tropical cyclones increased in the north Indian Ocean.” Current Science 40 (2001), p. 575.

⁸⁷ Cp. Ibid.

⁸⁸ Cp. Samanta, Arabinda. “Cyclone Hazards and Community Response in Coastal West Bengal. An Anthropo-Historical Perspective.” Economic and Political Weekly 38 (1997), p. 2424.

⁸⁹ Cp. Singh, O.P. et al. “Frequency of intense tropical cyclones” 2001, p. 575.

⁹⁰ Cp. Appendixes 1 and 2, pp. 47-48.

⁹¹ Cp. Singh, O.P. et al. “Frequency of intense tropical cyclones” 2001, p. 575.

⁹² Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitute in Calcutta” 1949, pp. 13-26.

⁹³ Cp. Ibid., pp. 21-26.

⁹⁴ Cp. Samanta, A. “Cyclone Hazards and Community Response” 1997. p. 2424.

⁹⁵ Cp. Ibid.

⁹⁶ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 21.

⁹⁷ Cp. Ibid.

⁹⁸ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 21.

⁹⁹ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁰⁰ Cp. Taylor, Alan J.P. English History 1914-1945. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1955, p. 563.

¹⁰¹ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 118.

¹⁰² Cp. Sathyamala, Christina. „Meat-Eating in India: Whose food, whose politics, and whose rights?”. Policy Futures in Education 1 (2018), p. 4.

¹⁰³ Cp. Arp, Susmita. Gandhi. Hamburg: Rowohlt, 2007, p. 7: Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948) was described as a “great soul” and was an important person in fighting for the Indian independence. Therefore, he was adored as the “father of the nation”, hence, he was among the greatest personalities during the 20th century.

¹⁰⁴ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁰⁵ Cp. Tanner, Ralph, and Colin Mitchell. Religion and the Environment. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2002, p. 198.

¹⁰⁶ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁰⁷ Cp. Sathyamala, C. “Meat-Eating in India” 2018, p. 4.

¹⁰⁸ Cp. Ibid., p. 1.

¹⁰⁹ Cp. Ibid., p. 4.

¹¹⁰ Cp. Alsdorf, Ludwig, and Willem Bollée. The History of Vegetarianism and Cow-Veneration in India. London/New York: Routledge, 2011, p. 1.

¹¹¹ Cp. Ibid.

¹¹² Cp. Tanner, R. and C. Mitchell. “Religion and the Environment” 2002, p. 198.

¹¹³ Cp. Ibid. Basically, during the Bengal famine there was even a more demand for beef, but mostly a responded for armed forces which were recruit in the army while being active at the war.

¹¹⁴ Cp. Alsdorf, L. and W. Bollée. “The History of Vegetarism and Cow-Veneration” 2011, p. 2.

¹¹⁵ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 118.

¹¹⁶ Cp. Greenough, Paul R. “Indian Famines and Peasant Victims: the Case of Bengal in 1943-44.” Modern Asian Studies (1980), p. 209.

¹¹⁷ Cp. Mahalanobis, P. et al. “Sample Survey of After-Effects” 1946, pp. 339-340.

¹¹⁸ Cp. Ibid.

¹¹⁹ Cp. Ibid.

¹²⁰ Cp. Mallik, S. K. “Chittaprosad. A Retrospective” Vol.2. 2011, p. 352.

¹²¹ Cp. Ibid.

¹²² Cp. Ibid.

¹²³ Cp. Elliot, John. “Chittaprosad, the artist. A voice of protest from the past”. In: Riding the Elephant. Accessed November 4, 2019, p. 1.

¹²⁴ Cp. Nehru, Jawaharlal. Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru, A Project of Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund. 2. Series, Vol.13, edited by S. Gopal. New Delhi: A Project of Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Fund, 1992, pp. 403-404.

¹²⁵ Cp. Nehru, J. “The Discovery of India” 1992, p. 4.

¹²⁶ Cp. Mallik, S.K. "Chittaprosad”, Vol. 1. 2011, pp. 162-163.

¹²⁷ Cp. Ibid.

¹²⁸ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, pp. 24-25.

¹²⁹ Cp. Ibid., p. 27.

¹³⁰ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 27.

¹³¹ Cp. Ibid., p. 25.

¹³² Cp. Ibid.

¹³³ Cp. Appendix 6, p. 51.

¹³⁴ Cp. Ray, Utsa. “Eating Modernity. Changing dietary practices in colonial Bengal.” Modern Asian Studies 46 (2012), p. 703.

¹³⁵ Cp. Vernon, J. “Hunger” 2007, p. 3.

¹³⁶ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 242.

¹³⁷ Cp. Ibid.

¹³⁸ Cp. Foucault, M. “The Birth of Biopolitics” 2008, p. 296.

¹³⁹ Cp. Chilcote, Roland H. Theories of Comparative Politics. The Search for a Paradigm Reconsidered.2. Ed. Colorado: Westview Press, 1994, p. 253.

¹⁴⁰ Cp. Streissguth, Thomas. Bangladesh in Pictures. Minneapolis: Twenty-First Century Books, 2009, p. 28: Europeans were often were often portrayed as “civilized” and the Indians “uncivilized”. Primarily, the British considered the traditional Hindu religious practices as “uncivilized”.

¹⁴¹ Cp. Chilcote, R. H. “Theories of Comparative Politics” 1994, p. 253.

¹⁴² Cp. Lemke, T. “Biopolitik zur Einführung“ 2007, p. 51.

¹⁴³ Cp. Frere, H. B. E. “On the impending Bengal famine” 1874, p. 10: The governors who were active in India/Bengal were few scores of Englishmen. Also, persons who were trained by Englishmen were distributed in huge intervals over the wide area of Bengal.

¹⁴⁴ Cp. Lemke, T. „Biopolitik zur Einführung“ 2007, p. 49.

¹⁴⁵ Cp. Foucault, M. “Der Wille zum Wissen“ 2005, p. 72.

¹⁴⁶ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁴⁷ Cp. Lemke, T. “Biopolitik zur Einführung“ 2007, p. 50.

¹⁴⁸ Cp. Nally, David. “The biopolitics of food provisioning.” Transaction of the Institute of British Geographers New Series 36 (2011), p. 38.

¹⁴⁹ CP. Foucault, M. “Der Wille zum Wissen“ 2005, p. 73.

¹⁵⁰ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 10.

¹⁵¹ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁵² Cp. Ibid., p. 6.

¹⁵³ Cp. Sanyal, Sanghita. “31 famines in 120 years of British Raj” 2017, p. 1: Winston Churchill (British politician: 1874-1965) described the Indians as “breed like rabbit”: describing a human being as an “rabbit” was quiet humiliating can be taken as an offence.

¹⁵⁴ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 313.

¹⁵⁵ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 202.

¹⁵⁶ Cp. Foucault, M. “Birth of Biopolitics” 2008, p. 17.

¹⁵⁷ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 202.

¹⁵⁸ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁵⁹ Cp. Islam, M. M. “Bengal Famine and the Question of FAD” 2007, p. 422.

¹⁶⁰ Cp. Nehru, J. “The Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

¹⁶¹ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981 p. 235.

¹⁶² Cp. Appendix 8, p. 52.

¹⁶³ Cp. Mukherjee, Janam. Hungry Bengal. War, Famine and the End of the Empire. London: Hurst & Company, 2015, p. 2.

¹⁶⁴ Cp. Ibid., p. 3.

¹⁶⁵ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁶⁶ Cp. Byrd. Jodi A. Transit of Empire. Indigenous Critiques of Colonialism. Minneapolis/Minnesota: Univ. of Minnesota Press, 2011, p. 163.

¹⁶⁷ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 10.

¹⁶⁸ Cp. Ibid., p. iii.

¹⁶⁹ Cp. Lemke, T. “Biopolitik zur Einführung“ 2007, p. 51.

¹⁷⁰ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 17.

¹⁷¹ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁷² Cp. Ibid.

¹⁷³ Cp. Ibid., p. 30.

¹⁷⁴ Cp. Ibid., pp. 19-22.

¹⁷⁵ Cp. Ibid., pp. 17-19.

¹⁷⁶ Cp. Ibid., p. 22.

¹⁷⁷ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁷⁸ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁷⁹ Cp. Nehru, J. “Discovery of India” 1992, p. 494.

¹⁸⁰ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 311.

¹⁸¹ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁸² Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 311.

¹⁸³ Cp. Chilcote, R. “Theories of Comparative Politics” 1994, p. 374.

¹⁸⁴ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 104. Like the amount of population growth, individual consumptions of cereals and the rate of paddy acre.

¹⁸⁵ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁸⁶ Cp. Mahalanobis, P.C et all. “A Sample Survey of After-Effects” 1946, p. 344.

¹⁸⁷ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁸⁸ Cp. Ibid., p. 345.

¹⁸⁹ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁹⁰ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁹¹ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁹² Cp. Foucault, M. “Der Wille zum Wissen“ 2005, p. 65.

¹⁹³ Cp. Lemke, T. “Biopolitik zur Einführung“ 2007, p. 50.

¹⁹⁴ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁹⁵ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁹⁶ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 201.

¹⁹⁷ Cp. Ibid.

¹⁹⁸ Cp. Mallik, S.K. “Chittaprosad. A Retrospective” Vol.1, p. 26: Also, the British banned Chittaprosad’s artwork as soon as the painting had been completed. Therefore, they had burnt it.

¹⁹⁹ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 234.

²⁰⁰ Cp. Ibid.

²⁰¹ Cp. Appendix 9, p. 53.

²⁰² Cp. Ibid.

²⁰³ Cp. Ibid.

²⁰⁴ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 201: Already on 30th July of 1943, Nehru mentioned the dead bodies lying on the streets/pavements and the debate about removing them. Therefore, it was described that the dead people were “lying open all day long.” The removal of the dead bodies was recognized and discussed during the meeting of Calcutta Corporation on 28 July 1943. However, their issue was not discussed any further. Cp. Nehru, J. “Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495: Nehru described the picture of starving people on the street as “gruesome and ghastly”.

²⁰⁵ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 6.

²⁰⁶ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 243.

²⁰⁷ Cp. Ibid.

²⁰⁸ Cp. Nehru, J. “Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

²⁰⁹ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p.88.

²¹⁰ Cp. Ibid.

²¹¹ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p.88.

²¹² Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 306.

²¹³ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 99.

²¹⁴ Cp. Ibid., p. 87.

²¹⁵ Cp. Ibid., p. 99.

²¹⁶ Cp. Ibid.

²¹⁷ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 313.

²¹⁸ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. iii.

²¹⁹ Cp. Appendix 3, p. 49.

²²⁰ Cp. Appendix 4, p. 50.

²²¹ Cp. Appendix 5, p. 51.

²²² Cp. Vernon, J. “Hunger” 2007, p. 148.

²²³ Cp. Ibid.

²²⁴ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 313.

²²⁵ Cp. Nehru, J. “Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

²²⁶ Cp. Ibid.

²²⁷ Cp. Stevenson, Richard. Bengal Tiger and British Lion. An Account of the Bengal Famine of 1943. New York: iUniverse, 2005, p. 95.

²²⁸ Cp. Nehru, J. “The Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

²²⁹ Cp. Ibid.

²³⁰ Cp. Manning, Patrick and Daniel Rood. Global scientific practice in age of Revolutions, 1750-1850. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2016, p. 218.

²³¹ Cp. Ibid. Also, the British feared their reputation and seizing control in order to maintain their “prestige” also by arresting any critical opponents like Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi in 1942.

²³² Cp. Nehru, J. “Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

²³³ Cp. Chilcote, R.H. “Theories of Cooperative Politics” 1994, p. 255.

²³⁴ Cp. Ibid.

²³⁵ Cp. Foucault, M. “Der Wille zum Wissen“ 2005, p. 67.

²³⁶ Cp. Sinha, M. “American Insensitiveness to Food Aid” 2009-2010, p. 887.

²³⁷ Cp. Ibid., p. 887.

²³⁸ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 83: Here the light was cast to the Government of Bengal because any decisions of vital themes like administration and food policy were referred to them. It was said that the Ministry was not allowed a “free hand to deal” with this situation.

²³⁹ Cp. Ibid.

²⁴⁰ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 234: In the work of Nehru, the “profiteers”, who were for him everywhere were blamed for the famine and accused the government or their irresponsibility that they permit this and were unable to avoid it.

²⁴¹ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 83.

²⁴² Cp. Ibid., 83.

²⁴³ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 83.

²⁴⁴ Cp. Ibid.

²⁴⁵ Cp. Ibid.

²⁴⁶ Cp. Vernon, J. “Hunger” 2007, p. 149: The Famine Relief Committee was founded to provide “controlled food relief” to nursing, mothers, invalids and children.

²⁴⁷ Cp. The Indian League. News India of 1944, 2,000,000 Dead. Accessed August 15, 2019. p. 4.

²⁴⁸ Cp. Foucault, M. “The Birth of Biopolitics” 2008, p. 32.

²⁴⁹ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 89: In times of crisis, some countries did have a plan/protocol in case of an emergency. Bengal had a “rescue plan” as well. This rescue plan considered a dispatch of 60,000 tons of rice to Bengal but solely half about that quantity was eventually attained.

²⁵⁰ Cp. Ibid., p. 87.

²⁵¹ Cp. Ibid., p. 87.

²⁵² Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 87.

²⁵³ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 118.

²⁵⁴ Cp. Foucault, M. “Birth of Biopolitics” 2008, p. 31.

²⁵⁵ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report 1945”, p. 81: In July and August of 1943, the government considered food prices in Calcutta “reasonable.” The Famine report blamed the government for the disturbance of food supplies because they were unable to control the markets.

²⁵⁶ Cp. Ibid. p. 89.

²⁵⁷ Cp. Ibid., p. 83.

²⁵⁸ Cp. Stevenson, R. “Bengal Tiger and British Lion” 2005, p. 114.

²⁵⁹ Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 83.

²⁶⁰ Cp. Ibid.

²⁶¹ Cp. Ibid.

²⁶² Cp. Ibid: p. 95: According to point 56. The Report was convinced that the Bengal Government suffered from a “lack of confidence” in their ability by tackling responsibility of the supplies.

²⁶³ Cp. Law-Smith, A.” Response and Responsibility” 1989, p. 49.

²⁶⁴ Cp. Das, T.” Survey of Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, pp. 23-24.

²⁶⁵ Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru”1981, pp. 242-306: On the 7 December of 1943 Nehru wrote in a letter to someone that the government would not allow any relief work/measurements which were sent by people in order to combat famine. He bemoaned that the government clearly would not allow them to send anything to Bengal, therefore, they gave up upon on this. The reason why the government did not allow any help outside of Bengal was not written about and thus needs further investigations.

²⁶⁶ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, pp. 23-24: Many people fled to Calcutta (like the personal experience of Sundari Haldar) in order to eat in the free kitchens.

²⁶⁷ Cp. Ray, Utsa. „Eating Modernity” 2012, p. 717.

²⁶⁸ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 31.

²⁶⁹ Cp. Ibid., p. 31.

²⁷⁰ Cp. Ibid., p. 31.

²⁷¹ Cp. Nehru, J. “The Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

²⁷² Cp. Nehru, J. “Selected works of Jawaharlal Nehru” 1981, p. 306.

²⁷³ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p.5.

²⁷⁴ Cp. Ibid., p. 116: Indeed, Sabdari Haldar belonged to the Pod caste, that considered themselves a superior class.

²⁷⁵ Cp. Ibid., p. 9.

²⁷⁶ Cp. Appendix 7, p. 52.

²⁷⁷ Cp. Appendix 8, p. 52.

²⁷⁸ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 4.

²⁷⁹ Cp. Alsdorf, L. and W. Bollée. “History of Vegetarianism and Cow-Veneration” 2011, p. 2.

²⁸⁰ Cp. Mahalanobis, P. “Sample Survey of After-Effects” 1946, pp. 339-340.

²⁸¹ Cp. Foucault, M. “The Birth of Biopolitics” 2008, p. 32.

²⁸² Cp. Woodhead, J. “The Bengal Famine Report” 1945, p. 83.

²⁸³ Cp. Sinha, M. “Insensitiveness to Food Aid” 2009-2010, p. 887.

²⁸⁴ Cp. Nehru. J. “Discovery of India” 1992, p. 495.

²⁸⁵ Cp. Das, T. “Survey of the Destitutes of Calcutta” 1949, p. 5.

²⁸⁶ Cp. Ibid., pp. 23-24.

²⁸⁷ Cp. Appendix 7, p. 52.

²⁸⁸ Appendix 1: “Bengal famine of 1943”. Accessed December 03, 2019. https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Bengal_famine_of_1943.

²⁸⁹ Cp. Appendix 2: Scobel, Andrees. Andrees allgemeiner Handatlas in 126 Haupt- und 137 Nebenkarten nebst vollständigem Namensverzeichnis. Bielefeld/Leipzig: Velhagen & Klasing, 1899, p. 133.

²⁹⁰ Cp. Appendix 3: Federation of Indian Associations in great Britain. Famine Campaign Committee. “Press Service of 7th December 1943.” Accessed November 09, 2019. https://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/TUC/A/12/954/24/1, p.1.

²⁹¹ Appendix 4: Cp. Federation of Indian Associations in great Britain. “Press Service of 7th December 1943.” p. 1.

²⁹² Cp. Appendix 5: Federation of Indian Associations in great Britain. “Press Service of 7th December 1943.” p. 2.

²⁹³ Cp. Appendix 6: Cp. Ibid., p. 3.

²⁹⁴ Cp. Appendix 7: Cp. Federation of Indian Associations in great Britain. “Press Service of 7th December 1943. “ p. 3.

²⁹⁵ Appendix 8: Cp. Ibid., p. 4.

²⁹⁶ Appendix 9: Cp. Bengeri. V.R. “The Indian Social Club 1943”. Accessed October 14, 2019. https://wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/tav/id/4829/, p.1.