Name: Role of Cooperatives in Food Security
Uploaded: 2019-07-19
Duration: 5 min 55 s
Description: This video unveils the role played by cooperatives such as Amul, Mother Dairy, and Maharashtra ADS to ensure food security.

Question

Some people say that the Bengal famine happened because there was a shortage of rice. Study the table and find out whether you agree with the statement?

Year	Production (Lakh tonnes)	Imports (Lakh tonnes)	Exports (Lakh tonnes)	Total Availability (Lakh tonnes)
$1938$	$85$	-	-	$85$
$1939$	$79$	$04$	-	$83$
$1940$	$82$	$03$	-	$85$
$1941$	$68$	$02$	-	$70$
$1942$	$93$	-	$01$	$92$
$1943$	$76$	$03$	-	$79$

Accepted Answer

Bengal's famine occurred in the year $1943$ , and from the given table, we can understand that the production of rice declined in this year compared to the previous year but was sufficient to meet the needs of the people in Bengal, so I disagree with the statement.

During these times, India was under British rule and had several other priorities than providing food security to the common masses. Their focus was on the distribution of essential supplies to the military, civil services, and others.

This was also the period of the second world war, which resulted in starvation, population displacement, malnutrition, malaria, etc.

They failed to declare that Bengal was hit by famine. So, we can conclude that the Bengal famine happened due to the policy failure made by Britishers and the ongoing war.

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