'I saw children like us lying dead on the streets' | I remember the Bengal Famine | BBC News India
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- Опубліковано 22 сер 2024
- In 1943, during World War Two, Bengal in British-run India was hit with a severe food shortage and at least three million people died of starvation and disease. Many people say British Prime Minister Winston Churchill caused the famine. In this film, Zebunnessa Khair recalls what she witnessed as a little child and shares it with her family.
Produced by Phelan Chatterjee
Edited by Isabelle Rodd
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And they teach India about human rights
No, you have Modi for that, he'll teach you all about human rights! Besides, life is cheap in India.
you mean purport to teach
@@SenorSolbut better quality than in living under dum Charles
@@luisfernando5998 Errr....no. Firstly, it's spelled 'dumb', not "dum", so your English skills are poor. Secondly, look at the per capita income divide between Britain and India and you'll realise how stupid and wrong your comment is!!
Besides, how would you really know? You've never been outside of India, nor have you been to the UK. Will you let us know when that changes?
@@SenorSol Don't worry your so called human rights protest is double standard..
Why not release it in your main bbc media.. Let your British viewers also know what their ancestors did.
they never going to. because BBC India has Indian staff and BBC has white or coconut staff.
They will be ashamed of their Rotten Legacy.
These all r fake news.
Probably cause nobody believes in woke leftist media like BBC anymore.
Also british people didn't have control over weather.
@@sunnymitra6372as compared to whose ??
Don't act as if all Indians in the past were Indians.
Beautifully made and so affecting. This story should be so much better known in the UK.
The British did the same thing in Ireland. Yet, they still say it was the “Irish potato famine.”
Now israel did same thing in palestine and india country support this thing.
@@YasminPoratSupportPalestine Well Palestine leaders should have thought this before supporting pakistan.
@@sam-kj7li how palestine support pakistan. Are they give weapon?
@@YasminPoratSupportPalestine one does not have to give weapons for support. Support can be in various ways like moral support, transfer of knowledge and techniques like to how to do a terrorist attack on other country without getting killed or caught etc.
I know! I love Ireland and I felt an affinity and understanding when I went there.
There are Some Britishers who seriously think that colonization was good for India. Some of them work at BBC.
@@newadam573jump
Architect of this massacre is Winston Churchill. Bbc conveniently sugar coated that fact.
Aided by certain Kolkata businessmen.
@@newadam573Not even god can save you buddy
@@newadam573 When you rule another people, and send their food to your own, you're not a nationalist, you're a parasite.
@@JohnAutumn why bring religion into this buddy??
@@newadam573right, the systematic exploitation by the bloodthirsty, and classless Churchill and his minions had nothing to do with it.
Winston Churchill induced famines of Bengal are neatly ignored by the "Government Funded Media" . Now I didn't coin the term. Twitter did. In fact the Churchill induced famine is also nearly kept out of history books. So much for the fair tribe and they give lectures to the former colonies. We will forgive but not forget. Lessons for a country.
Musk corrected his erroneous Twitter outburst about the BBC being "government-funded media", it's clearly not and he acknowledged his mistake. The BBC is licence-fee payer funded, ie the British public, so at least get that right.
To oversimplify the Bengal famine and blame it all on Churchill is just silly and historically wrong. There were other factors such as the weather, a failed crop the previous year, and local Indian administrators who were (as usual!) corrupt! Those are the real 'lessons' for a country, tackle the endemic and all-pervasive corruption that still plagues India.
@@SenorSol
The absurdity here is that it _was_ Churchill who actually took positive steps to alleviate and then eliminate the Famine.
. . . . .
I will not forgive. Hoyto Amake karo mone nei😂😂😂😂😂
@@sauron2000000
Remind me to worry about it some time.
. . .
@@mauricebuckmaster9368 All Hail John Cleese. Hail lord Bob Willis.
Shame that only 5000 people watched this
They don't teach Colonial History in England. Do they?? Children from England do not know...... how Churchill Policy caused this famine. Don't blame the English children.
Heartbreaking
Thanks for watching our video, Chirantan. We hope to make more such videos. Please share this film and our channel with friends and family.
Commendable being british media corporation they are documenting these things ....wow
BBC India is run by Indians. Their mainstream BBC doesn't cover these - ever.
And we still have people claiming that being a British colony was, on the whole, good for India's development...
It was, that's just a silly comment. You have a form of government, judicial system, education system, military structure, and administration all based on the British systems, and that's before we get to the trains, 'your' national sport, and the electrification of your towns and cities. Bombay wouldn't be what it is today without the Brits using their engineering skills to reclaim the land and turn the seven islands into what Mumbai is now. And of course you have the English language which allows both north and South India to actually communicate with one another, and allows Indians to participate in the wider world. No one outside of India or the diaspora cares about Hindi.
@@SenorSolI pity your knowledge. By the way it satisfies me now to see you ruled by an Indian. I hope Britain licks Indian feet one day. And mind you it will one day
@@SenorSol jaliah wala bagh massacre, rowlatt act, bengal famine, and more.
@@SenorSolNo it was not. Britain's development in Bombay was strategic just like Singapore and Hong Kong. Sure britain had the advanced technology of electrification, industrial manufacturing, steam engines, guns and architectural equipments. They also had the western medicine science which was advanced at that time compared to India. They had the new and efficient administrative reforms and constitution.
Saying that britain developed india is far from truth. Since they had the advanced knowledge, they were able to make cash out of india to fund projects in britain at the cost of Indian people's life through high taxes.
British government was investing in those things in India which only facilitates and profits their administration. It was not simply doing out of a mercy. It is responsible for destroying India's economy in global share from 27% to just 2%. Average expectancy of life from 1880-1923 was just 21 years compared to previous era which was 27 years.
Major colonial policies triggered massive famines breakout. Millions of people died due to that. Cultural artefacts were snatched and thrown into the british museum. People's wages fall down drastically due to high taxes and become more poor and poor. They had to sell land to feed themselves and become homeless. Famines killed them.
Surprisingly since they left not a single major famine hit india. Surprisingly also Japan is a developed country without knowing English as a major language.
This just destroyes your whole overblind saviour attitude for your pro imperialist agenda.
@@nebula669 Oh not this one again.
GDP prior to the Industrial Revolution/ 18th century is estimated based on population. India had 22% of the world's population back then and, therefore, it's estimated it had around the same global share of GDP (not 26% as is claimed).
Per capita, the Indian subcontinent was no more wealthy than Europe.
India's economy didn't shrink under Britain, even if its share of global GDP shrank, the global economy simply grew due to industrialisation, which enabled nations to grow their GDP's at a rate disproportionate to their populations.
India's economy actually doubled under British rule, growing 33% in the century under the East India Company and 77% in the century under direct British control. For comparison, it has only grown 20% over the last century of Mughal rule.
Angus Maddison claimed that the Mughal Empire accounted for 24% of the worlds GDP in 1700, some of which was attributable to European trade, which was well established in India by the early 17th century. But economic decline was already underway in India as early as 1600. By 1700 India’s per capita income was around half of what it was in England. Also, the last powerful Mughal emperor (Aurangzeb) died in 1707, and after his reign the Mughal Empire was beset with internecine conflict. Subsequently, in 1738 the Islamic Persian emperor Nadir Shah invaded India, killed 20k Indian soldiers, ransacked Delhi, and enslaved more than 100k Hindus. This was followed by a series of invasions carried out by the Durrani between 1748-1767. All of which devastated the Mughal economy. This occurred before the British East India Company came to power in Bengal and Bihar after the Battle of Plassey in 1757. So, by the time the British arrived in Delhi in 1803 they found a desolate city, and inherited a ruined economy. Consequently, the British were responsible for generating an economic recovery in India, which peaked at 16% of the worlds GDP in 1820. Britain introduced nutrition and food storage policies that directly benefitted India. There were famines every 40 years in India, nothing to do with the British, population of India soared from 170 million to 450 million over the course of the Raj, because of medicine, health and accurate nutritional standards and food storage compared to how it had been.
My grandparents died during the that of disease that was spread by famine.
wow powerfull; from the great great great grandson of an irish potato famine surviver
So sorry to hear that 😢
@@andreamcgill6738 thanks; my great great great grandfather lost siblings in the potato famine; he emigrated to america during the last year of the famine; i have actually translated from the irish language some parts of his journals he kept; where he notes how much other food was exported for profit during the famine while the people whose labour produced that food died of starvation in the millions
I heard that story as well. I am glad your great great great grandfather got out Noah and your are testimony to his survival. 😊
There was no famine.
Ireland produced excess, Oats, barley, butter and cheese that was all exported to England.
The brits did not want to give the Irish, food that was fit for higher born people.
There was a Potato blight and a shortfall in Potatoes, but there was NO FAMINE.
Also, in the history books, the shortfall in rice production was recorded at 5% !
5% reduction in rice should never result in 1/4 of the population dying !
It was human engineered mismanagement of the supply chain, in BOTH CASES.
In both Bengal and Ireland, there was MORE than enough food available to feed everyone.
In Bengal, there was a hyperinflation problem, so Bengalis could not buy rice, or flour or ghee or even CLOTHEs . That's why so many of them were naked.
Many of them died from EXPOSURE , and also starvation. Most of them died from exposure at nighttime.
Many lived in the streets because they were refugees and no food or clothes or housing was provided for them.
Being malnourished decreases the body's resistance to the cold.
So heartbreaking
The stories of atrocities have to told by the ones who created it.. the irony of Indian history..
Indian media have also covered it many times but chamchas and bhura sahebs name them as godi media.
She is the eye witness much powerful than any other source . What's wrong with that?
0:09 that woman was bengali.
@@amusicalinstrument9745 the story is published on which channel? i am talking abt them dude
@@chickengainer1311 no one said anything wrong with that. i was talking about the occupiers.
Mere heart pay lagi 🥹😔❤️🇧🇩
And these western country tell about human right
Hypocrisy
Churchill was the one who made this calamity happen, knowingly. And Indians, definitely Bengalis, even today go head over heels praising Churchill for his "brilliant" writings. Bengalis claim never to overlook someone's talents. Such is life.
Bengalis have some issues with identity, I have seen that.
A lot of Odia and Bengali literature is based on this too. When i was a kid my dad would read stories based on the famines. Of families dying, kids dying. It was heart renching. Dying fo hunger takes the humane out of human.
This is heartbreaking.
Still their children aren't taught about the atrocities committed by the so called heroes of the Empire. Shame
I call it Churchill famine
Shocking that a country mp with no experience of governing India or Indian politics was in charge of the whole of the nation. What a mess they made of that! 3 million innocent lives gone because of British politics. I feel ashamed being British! That's just 1 of many many things they messed up.
The first thing to say after watching this documentary is that it is a very professional and authentic work. This terrible famine raises many questions!!! As the mismanagement of the British rulers is responsible for this, it also raises questions about the duties of Indian Maharajas, landlords, rich Indians of that time!?
Thanks for watching and commenting. I hope you'll continue to watch our films and share them forward.
What rich Indians?
Those rich Indians still praise Their gora sahebs, go to hardwvard asks for foreign interference in Indian politics and still dream about becoming pm of india and their chamchas praise Gore saheb day and night.
@@thendino1 Birlas.
Jagirdars and Zamindars. @@thendino1
Millions of Indians died for Westerners personal war some on battle field some at home without food.leading producers of food died of hunger.
It’s not India, it’s Bengali. I am Bengali. You don’t hear about it, we don’t talk abt it. We just work hard and keep our head above the water. We are the only people who had to fight for their language too.
I never shake hands with British people, met a few here.
I stay polite and to the point but I never shake hands with them.
@@sahilsahota1976 why???
Do you have STD????
Lol
And Churchill famously said-the grains are better rotting in British grainaries than feeding a half naked man in Calcutta
May Churchill burn in hell forever with his crusader ancestors.
You too.
@@mauricebuckmaster9368 You and your progeny too. We're the people of paradise you s.o.b
@@IrfanKhan-pi7hr
Phukk me. A talking dog.
. . . .
Winston Churchill left the chat.
Gujju baniya entered it😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@@sauron2000000
Those gujju baniyas are eradicating the poverty created by ur gora saheb and their chatukar bhure baabu.
@@SarojSingh-nq5ql 😆😆😆😆😆😆😆 Old Narrative. Bangla Pokkho exposing you now.
The things he did his linage will suffer from the curse .
@@SarojSingh-nq5ql Those baniye are increasing own bank balance by exploiting others. Have been doing so for a long time. Erradicating poverty😆😆😆😆😆😆😆😆
Actually BBC and british try to downplay the horror they inflicted in India.
They and colonism try to downplay many atrocities! The slave trade is concluded by making themselves look good for ending it! Millions of nationality people died around the world🌎 but we only get constantly reminded of one lot killed by Hitler!
Never again. Let us as a nation of Bengalis, from the East or the West, resolve with tears in our eyes and fire in our heart: Never again! Just like the Jews had resolved once Never again. This was no less than the Holocaust.
We are divided already.
@@sauron2000000 That is the sad truth. Always.
My dad was with the RAF in India and Burna during this time and he left some photos, two of which show the extreme starvation of a family. He said that many Bengalis hated the British forces being there as their needs partly added to the problem and he felt conflicted between shame and doing his duty to prevent the Japanese conquering India.
Thamma dhonnobad...eirokom. Jinis gulo Tumi Jodi na bolte tahole jante partam na ...
Is movie ka ek biography banana chahie. sab logon Ko pata chalna chahie
British looted us so badly that we still not able to recover from that ranpage😔😔
Yeah, it's not like you've been independent for 75 years or have suffered from bad governance and endemic corruption for all that time, eh? And what about breeding like rabbits? That's all on you. Your population doubled TWICE in the space of half a century and you wonder why your cities are overcrowded, congested, and the most polluted in the world?
At what point will Indians actually take responsibility for their own failures and cultural shortcomings?
They did the same, and them and others, i.e. the French are still to this day looting Africa!
Theu are still trying to blamemit on thr cyclones. Someone should read the military correspondence between soldiers stationed in bengal at the time.
It's so upsetting that the young members of her(Zebunnessa Khair ) family seem so distant about these facts. They have no idea what their mother nation has gone through. The young girl said that the Bengal famine was in her A-level history, and it was simply described as a failure of Churchill.
"...a society cannot know itself if it doesn't have an accurate memory of it's own history." Youk Chhang, Director of the documentation center of Cambodia.
If bbc is honest and if they make document on modi .try to make documentry on wiston churchil and bengal famine and jalian wala bagh masacre try if bbc has some guts
A scholarly study found that British colonialism resulted in approximately 165 million deaths in India from 1880 to 1920 while stealing at least $45 trillion in wealth from the country. Tens of millions more Indians died in human-made famines that were caused by the British Empire. The impact of British colonial policies during this period was devastating, with excess deaths far surpassing those caused by famines in the Soviet Union, Maoist China, and North Korea combined. This tragic chapter in history underscores the immense human cost of empire-building and exploitation.
Why are muslims so concerned with bengal famine now?
We all know how they treated bengali hindus during rioting in bengal and we all know how they treat hindu minorities inside bangladesh now.
Why do they only talk of bengal famine now?
Well obviously because bengal was under british rule then and they just cannot get over their partiality and religious bias in picking up bits of history .
These kind of politically motivated hindsight righteousness was dangerous and is still dangerous today.
Manipur still not a news for you?
Ok. British govt failed. What were the Indian Maharajahs, zamindars and Mutt heads, esp. Sankaracharyars who had access to huge wealth doing at that time? What is their effort to mitigate the sufferings?
the issue was there was not enough food, rice was forcibly exported to Britain. Burma had Japanese soldiers so British soldiers torched rice storage in Bengal to make invasion by Japanese troops less appealing. These miss-managements made 1943 a critical year. It is the only famine on record where drought was not a factor.
Discussion while dinner
dats great
And all are listening while eating
Very sad.. that also mean every living creature was also killed and eaten because of the starvation… crazy
Are the respondents and the interviewer of Indian origin British citizens 😅
Yes🤣🤣🤣🤣 Why do you ask?
People never seem to mention the Japanese role in starting a major war in the 1930s and 1940s that lead to many famines in Asia.
List of major reported famines in Asia :
Kazakhstan 1932-1933 5,000,000 - 7,000,000 dead. Mismanagement by Communist Russian political seizing of land.
China 1936. 5,000,000 cause, civil war started by Communist Chinese.
China 1942-43. 700,000 - 1,000,000 causes: Japanese war, Chinese mismanagement.
Iran 1944. 3,000,000 cause : Japanese war, mismanagement by Russia, British and USA, lack of transport.
Bengal 1943. 2,100,000 cause: Japanese war, British and local mismanagement, lack of transport.
Java 1944. 2,400,000 cause: Japanese war and Japanese mismanagement.
Vietnam 1945. 600,000 -2,000,000 cause: Japanese war and lack of transport.
China 1959-1961. 15, 000,000 - 55,000,000 cause: Mismanagement by Communist Chinese for political reasons.
Don't worry bengal population is 10 crores the famine has not affected their population growth
winstonchurchill 😅😅😅
💔💔
So, is it genocide or crime against humanity by the British? Compensation? Apology?
who many felt that.... the other videos, unlike these, are just ment to build the trust .... and then, sell these distorted stories, as if they are REAL ..... and how many felt "take that hand off " ....
Winston Churchill 😅😅
😢😢😢😢
India should bear in mind those days of british mandate..As they have alrrady forgot their past what happened to them in past this is how they are doing the same with the ppl of kashmir.And Both India and Pakistan is same. India forgot all things while pak doesn't wanna recognize it even they don't wanna recognize that they were from british India (not India)
main culprit are landlords ......... they are dealings with english-men.
If you are ruled by foreign countries you will get this golden passport
Why are they having this conversation ehile eating ?
Don't u dare ...
Now they started realising what they did to india 🗿🗿🗿 modi 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿
🤦🏻♂️
@@weebooo1069 ??
Fr
@@NationalistBhartiya modi is a gujju gunda who doesn't care about the poor starving people of this country either
@@NationalistBhartiya😂😂😂😂😂
Bruh you do realise that this BBC channel is woke LEFTIST right?
Come out of that BBC... Do independent channel then we folks will appreciate.. M
the British were in WWII fighting for their lives. Some colonies must die for the rest to survive, thus is war. blame the axis for this.
Trust you to talk rubbish and exonerate yourself
reality of bangali
And she's livin' around monsters who were responsible for famine ans misery in Bengal. Brits will have to pay not because if colonization but for 2 times famine caused in Bengal. Her majesty's greatest opponent will come back to put the monarch on its knees.
But India belonged to the UK then. So the UK has the right to do anything it wanted with India. A slave cannot complain, right?
Fo
It is easy to post shit comment like this.
Think about innocent people who have gone through this.
Sick UK mentality.
But now the preach about human rights!