>
> A great film by Ray is Distant Thunder, about the Bengal famine of the
> early 1940s caused by British control of the food supply and use of it to
> feed its armies while millions starved to death.
> http://www.satyajitray.org/films/ashani.htm
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> During the period of "The Raj" (from 1770 to 1947) over 58 million Indians
> died from manufactured famines.
> "The famines were a product both of uneven rainfall and British economic<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic>
> and administrative <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_administration>
> policies.[50]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTESrivastava1968-58>
> [51]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTESen1982-59>
> [52]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTEBhatia1985-60> Colonial
> polices implicated include rack-renting<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack-rent>,
> levies for war, free trade policies, the expansion of export agriculture,
> and neglect of agricultural investment.[53]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMander20091-61>
> [54]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTEDavis2001299-62> Indian
> exports of opium <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opium>, rice<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice>
> , wheat <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheat>, indigo<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo>
> , jute <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jute>, and cotton<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton> were
> a key component of the economy of the British empire, generating vital
> foreign currency, primarily from China<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China>,
> and stabilizing low prices in the British grain market.[55]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTEDavis2001299.E2.80.93300-63>
> [56]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTEWong1998-64> Export
> crops displaced millions of acres that could have been used for domestic
> subsistence, and increased the vulnerability of Indians to food crises.
> [55]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-FOOTNOTEDavis2001299.E2.80.93300-63> Others
> dispute that exports were a major cause of the famine, pointing out that
> trade did have a stabilizing influence on India's food consumption, albeit
> a small one[57 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India#cite_note-65>
> "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_in_India
Check out Mike Davis*, Late Victorian Holocausts<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Victorian_Holocausts>: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World* (2001)
-- Victor Friedlander