Rare video of The Bengal famine of 1943

The Bengal famine of 1943 (Bengali: pônchasher mônnôntôr) was a famine in the Bengal province of British India during World War II. An estimated 2.1–3 million, out of a population of 60.3 million, died of starvation, malaria, or other diseases aggravated by malnutrition, population displacement, unsanitary conditions and lack of health care. Millions were impoverished as the crisis overwhelmed large segments of the economy and catastrophically disrupted the social fabric. Eventually, families disintegrated; men sold their small farms and left home to look for work or to join the army, and women and children became homeless migrants, often travelling to Calcutta or another large city in search of organised relief. Historians have frequently characterised the famine as "man-made",asserting that wartime colonial policies created and then exacerbated the crisis. A minority view holds that the famine arose instead from natural causes.[