Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Carestia del Bengala del 1943-1944" in Italian language version.
«The total extent of the cultivated land in Bengal is nearly 29 million acres. Some of this is cropped more than once, and the total area sown under various crops is normally 35 million acres. The principal crop is rice which accounts for a little less than 26 million acres. In fact, Bengal may be described as a land of rice growers and rice eaters. The area under other staple foodgrains is small; that under wheat, for instance, is less than 200,000 acres, and the total area under food crops of all kinds other than rice is somewhat over 4 million acres. This includes land devoted to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. The most important non-food crop is jute, which accounts normally for between 2 million and 2.5 million acres."»
«"... a peasant [i.e., ryot] differs from a landless labourer in terms of ownership (since he owns land, which the labourer does not), the landless share-cropper differs from the landless labourer not in their respective ownerships, but in the way they can use the only resource they own, viz. labour power. The landless labourer will be employed in exchange for a wage, while the share-cropper will do the cultivation and own a part of the product [including especially rice]"»
«When Burma fell in April 1942 the hidden mechanism which had for years kept supply and demand in Bengal was rudely jarred [...] The transport network was already stretched thin by military demands [...] no [other provinces] were willing to accept loss of supply [...] The result was a derangement of the entire rice market of India.»
«"Once the black market was introduced it was easily found out that the government had neither any reserve of stock for dumping on the market to preserve their [controlled price rate] nor an effective organisation to punish breaches of the control."»
«[W]hen crops begin to fail the cultivator [sells or barters]... his wife's jewelry, grain, cattle...[or reduces] his current food intake... Starving Indian peasants, once they fail in the market, forage in fields, ponds and jungles; they beg on a large scale; they migrate, often over long distances by travelling ticketless on the railways;... [and they] take shelter in the protection of a rural patron.»
«A section of the contractors has made a profession of selling girls to [soldiers]. There are places in Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali where women sell themselves literally in hordes, and young boys act as pimps..."»
«Finally, and perhaps most compellingly, responsible officials in the Revenue and Civil Supplies ministries simply did not know how to proceed with relief under the bizarre conditions that had developed by mid–1943.»
«The 1943–44 famine has become paradigmatic as an 'entitlements famine,' whereby speculation born of greed and panic produced an 'artificial' shortage of rice, the staple food.»
«[...] The lack of political will to divert foodstuffs from the war effort rather than [market] speculation... was mainly responsible for the famine»
«"... a peasant [i.e., ryot] differs from a landless labourer in terms of ownership (since he owns land, which the labourer does not), the landless share-cropper differs from the landless labourer not in their respective ownerships, but in the way they can use the only resource they own, viz. labour power. The landless labourer will be employed in exchange for a wage, while the share-cropper will do the cultivation and own a part of the product [including especially rice]"»
«Instructions were given in May for the confiscation, destruction or removal of all mechanical transport – private cars, bicycles, carriages and bullock carts "not required for Military of Civil Defense purposes" – the Victoria Memorial was "camouflaged" in cow dung, andplans were hatched to blow up as many as seventeen bridges in and around Calcutta.»
«At no recorded instance did either the [Bengal] governor or the viceroy express concern for their subjects: their every request for grain would be phrased in terms of the war effort. Contemporaries attested that Herbert cared about the starvation in Bengal; so prioritising the war effort may reflect his and Linlithgow's estimation of which concerns might possibly have moved their superiors.»
«The 1943–44 famine has become paradigmatic as an 'entitlements famine,' whereby speculation born of greed and panic produced an 'artificial' shortage of rice, the staple food.»
«[...] The lack of political will to divert foodstuffs from the war effort rather than [market] speculation... was mainly responsible for the famine»
«"On 29 November 1941 the central government conferred, by notification, concurrent powers on the provincial governments under the Defence of India Rules (DIR) to restrict/prohibit the movement of food grains and to requisition both food grains and any other commodity they considered necessary. With regard to food grains, the provincial governments had the power to restrict/stop, seize them and regulate their price, divert them from their usual channels of transportation and, as stated, their movement"»
«[W]hen crops begin to fail the cultivator [sells or barters]... his wife's jewelry, grain, cattle...[or reduces] his current food intake... Starving Indian peasants, once they fail in the market, forage in fields, ponds and jungles; they beg on a large scale; they migrate, often over long distances by travelling ticketless on the railways;... [and they] take shelter in the protection of a rural patron.»
«A section of the contractors has made a profession of selling girls to [soldiers]. There are places in Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali where women sell themselves literally in hordes, and young boys act as pimps..."»
«[W]hen crops begin to fail the cultivator [sells or barters]... his wife's jewelry, grain, cattle...[or reduces] his current food intake... Starving Indian peasants, once they fail in the market, forage in fields, ponds and jungles; they beg on a large scale; they migrate, often over long distances by travelling ticketless on the railways;... [and they] take shelter in the protection of a rural patron.»
«A section of the contractors has made a profession of selling girls to [soldiers]. There are places in Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali where women sell themselves literally in hordes, and young boys act as pimps..."»
«[W]hen crops begin to fail the cultivator [sells or barters]... his wife's jewelry, grain, cattle...[or reduces] his current food intake... Starving Indian peasants, once they fail in the market, forage in fields, ponds and jungles; they beg on a large scale; they migrate, often over long distances by travelling ticketless on the railways;... [and they] take shelter in the protection of a rural patron.»
«A section of the contractors has made a profession of selling girls to [soldiers]. There are places in Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali where women sell themselves literally in hordes, and young boys act as pimps..."»
«"On 29 November 1941 the central government conferred, by notification, concurrent powers on the provincial governments under the Defence of India Rules (DIR) to restrict/prohibit the movement of food grains and to requisition both food grains and any other commodity they considered necessary. With regard to food grains, the provincial governments had the power to restrict/stop, seize them and regulate their price, divert them from their usual channels of transportation and, as stated, their movement"»
«The 1943–44 famine has become paradigmatic as an 'entitlements famine,' whereby speculation born of greed and panic produced an 'artificial' shortage of rice, the staple food.»
«[...] The lack of political will to divert foodstuffs from the war effort rather than [market] speculation... was mainly responsible for the famine»
«The conclusion is inescapable: famines are always political.»
«The total extent of the cultivated land in Bengal is nearly 29 million acres. Some of this is cropped more than once, and the total area sown under various crops is normally 35 million acres. The principal crop is rice which accounts for a little less than 26 million acres. In fact, Bengal may be described as a land of rice growers and rice eaters. The area under other staple foodgrains is small; that under wheat, for instance, is less than 200,000 acres, and the total area under food crops of all kinds other than rice is somewhat over 4 million acres. This includes land devoted to the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. The most important non-food crop is jute, which accounts normally for between 2 million and 2.5 million acres."»
«A section of the contractors has made a profession of selling girls to [soldiers]. There are places in Chittagong, Comilla and Noakhali where women sell themselves literally in hordes, and young boys act as pimps..."»
