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RAS question

The Bengal famine of 1943 killed approximately:

Correct answer: (D) 3 million (30 lakh).

The Bengal famine of 1943 killed approximately 30 lakh people.

  1. (A)

    5 lakh

  2. (B)

    50 lakh

  3. (C)

    1 lakh

  4. (D)

    3 million (30 lakh)

Explanation

The answer is 30 lakh: the Press Information Bureau release, carrying the President of India’s speech, describes India’s food-security journey as a move away from the Bengal Famine of 1943, “in which over 3 million people died”, to the Right to Food framework. That official figure supports the MCQ’s approximation of 3 million, or 30 lakh. The famine is treated as a major modern Indian history marker because it was not just a natural shortage, but was largely man-made, linked to wartime policies, rice exports, destruction of boats, hoarding, inadequate British relief, and the policies associated with Winston Churchill.

Why the other options are wrong

  • (A) 5 lakh is far below the official figure of over 3 million deaths, so it understates the scale of the famine.
  • (B) 50 lakh overshoots the approximation; the question’s grounded estimate is around 30 lakh, not 50 lakh.
  • (C) 1 lakh is much too low because the PIB figure places deaths around 30 lakh.

Concept

This tests modern Indian history through the economic and human cost of late-colonial wartime governance. It recurs in RAS because famine, food security, colonial policy, and welfare-state responses connect factual history with policy analysis.

Source

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