Three Million

Episode

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

20240706

20240707 (WS)

A special episode recorded with an audience at the India International Centre in New Delhi. The BBC's Yogita Limaye speaks to Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, to explore how the series was made, and how she went about tracking down eye-witnesses to the Bengal Famine of 1943. They are joined by author and historian Srimanjari and ‘memory collector' Sailen Sarkar, who recorded testimonies of the very last survivors of the famine. Together they explore the legacy of the Bengal famine, and why its memory is still so fraught today.

Bonus Episode

20240829

How the legacy of the Bengal famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today.

The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II.

[LISTEN NOW]

War

20240225

20240302
20240402 (R4)
20240303 (WS)

During the Second World War, at least three million Indian people, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal Famine. It was one of the largest losses of civilian life on the Allied side. But there is no memorial to them anywhere in the world - not even a plaque. Can three million people disappear from public memory?

From the creator and presenter of the award-winning series Three Pounds in my Pocket and Partition Voices, this is the story of the Bengal Famine of 1943. For the first time it is told by those who were there - farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, colonial British and everyday citizens. Nearly all of the testimony in the series has never been broadcast before.

Eighty years on, those who lived through it are a vanishing generation. Time is running out to record their memories.

1/5 We begin in 1942. As the Japanese sweep through South East Asia, Calcutta (now Kolkata) is inundated with hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers from all over the world. Fear of a Japanese invasion of British India provokes a consequential decision.

Presenter: Kavita Puri

Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta.

Interviews with American soldiers courtesy of The National World War II Museum, New Orleans https://www.nationalww2museum.org/

Interviews with G S Khosla and Debotosh Das Gupta courtesy of the University of Cambridge

Major General Dharitri Kumar Palit interviewed by Gillian Wright, 1987, British Library reference C63/195/09. Audio © British Library Board and the interviewee. The British Library has been unable to locate the family of the interviewee. Please contact oralhistory@bl.uk with any relevant information.

The story of the 1943 Bengal Famine which led to the death of at least 3 million people

The extraordinary story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India, where at least three million people died, told by the eyewitnesses to it.

From the award-winning creator and presenter of Partition Voices and Three Pounds in My Pocket, this is the story of the Bengal Famine of 1943. For the first time it is told by those who were there - farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, colonial British and everyday citizens. Nearly all of the testimony in the series has never been broadcast before.

The devastating story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India, where at least three million people died, told for the first time, by the eyewitnesses to it

The story of the Bengal Famine of 1943, where at least three million people died.

The Cigarette Tin

20240303

20240309
20240409 (R4)
20240310 (WS)

A boy decides how much rice he can give from a cigarette tin to hungry people. A Christian missionary sets up a makeshift relief hospital. A small child watches through the gates of his house in Calcutta as emaciated women clutching children ask for food.

As the food crisis deepens, shocking testimonies from the countryside show the extent of starvation. Hungry people begin moving from the countryside towards the cities. Everyday Bengalis - including children - are forced into life-or-death decisions.

Presenter: Kavita Puri

Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta.

Interviews with Damodar Ramchandra Gole and Alan McLeod courtesy of the University of Cambridge

The escalating food crisis forces people to make life and death decisions.

The escalating food crisis forces people to make dramatic life and death decisions.

As the food crisis deepens, shocking testimonies from the countryside show the extent of starvation. Many thousands of hungry people begin moving from the rural areas towards the cities.

Indians - including children - are forced into life-or-death decisions

The story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 where at least three million people died.

The F-word

20240310

20240316
20240416 (R4)
20240317 (WS)

Colonial authorities wanted to censor the famine. They were worried that Britain's wartime enemies - the Germans and the Japanese - would use it as propaganda against them.

But as more and more starving people arrive in cities across Bengal, it becomes harder to suppress. Indian writers, photographers and artists document the humanitarian catastrophe, but it was risky as the censor forbade mention of the famine. A British journalist and editor of the English language Statesman newspaper, in Calcutta, decides to challenge the censor and begins publishing photographs and scathing editorials about what was really going on in Bengal. It shocks the world. In London, the BBC reports on “famine conditions ? and, as we uncover, the British government tries to pressurize the broadcaster to tone down its coverage.

Presenter: Kavita Puri

Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta.

Interviews with Damodar Ramchandra Gole and Alan McLeod courtesy of the University of Cambridge

Famine grips Bengal but publicly no-one is calling it a famine.

Famine grips Bengal but publicly no-one is calling it a famine. A British journalist decides to take on the censor, what he publishes shocks the world.

But as more and more starving people arrive in cities across Bengal, it becomes harder to suppress. Indian writers, photographers and artists document the humanitarian catastrophe, but it was risky as the censor forbade mention of the word famine. A British journalist and editor of the English language Statesman newspaper, in Calcutta, decides to challenge the censor and begins publishing photographs and then scathing editorials about what is really going on in Bengal. It shocks the world. In London, the BBC reports on “famine conditions ? and, as we uncover, the British government tries to pressurize the broadcaster to tone down its coverage.

The story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 where at least three million people died.

The Tapes

20240317

20240323
20240423 (R4)
20240324 (WS)

Kavita discovers a set of cassette tapes containing rare interviews with Indian civil servants who were on the ground across Bengal during the famine, shedding new light on colonial responsibility.

And as the need for relief in Bengal becomes ever greater, more pressure is put on the British government from India's new Viceroy. He asks for more food imports. Could the War Cabinet and Prime Minister Winston Churchill have done more to help alleviate the famine in the middle of the war?

Presenter Kavita Puri

Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee and Professor Joya Chatterji

Interviews conducted by Lance Brennan courtesy of University of Cambridge

Interviews with GS Khosla courtesy of University of Cambridge

The discovery of cassette tapes that throw new light on colonial responsibility.

The discovery of tiny cassette tapes recorded 40 years ago throw new light on colonial responsibility.

The discovery of cassette tapes throw new light on colonial responsibility.

Ghosts

20240324

20240330
20240430 (R4)
20240331 (WS)

The Bengal Famine, particularly the experiences of people in the rural areas who suffered the most, is not well remembered today. There is no memorial, museum, or plaque to the victims or survivors anywhere in the world.

One man has made it his life's work to record their testimonies with paper and pen. Kavita hears from him - and tries to understand more about why the three million people who perished aren't better remembered or memorialised in India, Bangladesh and Britain.

Presenter Kavita Puri

Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee and Professor Joya Chatterji

Interviews conducted by Lance Brennan courtesy of University of Cambridge

Interviews with GS Khosla courtesy of University of Cambridge

Three million people died - but why are they not better remembered?

Three million people died - but why are they not better remembered in Britain, India and Bangladesh?

With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta.

Silk Scarves

20240612

20240613
20240711 (R4)
20240616 (WS)

80 years ago at least 3 million Indians, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal Famine. But today different generations in Britain are coming to terms with this difficult past.

Kavita meets the granddaughter of a senior colonial figure, who is only just learning about her grandfather's role in the famine. Initially she feels shame, but discoveries in her family archive change her perspective. What will she do with this new understanding of her family's history? A 97 year-old British man makes a surprising revelation about his role in the Bengal famine. And three generations on, British Bengalis mark the famine in Britain, in an unexpected way.

How the legacy of the Bengal Famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today.

The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II.

80 years ago at least 3 million Indians, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal famine. But today different generations in Britain are coming to terms with this difficult past.

How the legacy of the Bengal famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today.

The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II.

Road To The Past

20240829

20240917 (R4)
20240922 (R4)

[LISTEN NOW]

Kavita Puri goes to India to meet some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine. She looks for traces of how war and famine impacted Kolkata and then travels from the city along the road to where the story of famine begins.

Kavita goes deep into the countryside and the jungle in West Bengal to find people who lived through that devastating time more than 80 years ago. These are voices that are almost never recorded and have never been broadcast before. How does the memory of the famine endure today in the places it most affected?

Presenter : Kavita Puri

Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown

With thanks to Manoshi Barua for her translation work and to her, Bhasker Patel, Moazzem Hossain and Jesmin Ahmed for voicing up the Bengali-language interviews.

Kavita meets some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine.

The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II.

Kavita goes deep into the countryside and the jungle in West Bengal to find people who lived through that devastating time more than 80 years ago. These are voices that are almost never recorded and have never been broadcast before. For the past year and a half Kavita has been asking why there is no memorial to the three million people who died. But then in the Bengal jungle she finally finds it – it's not what she expected.

[LISTEN NOW]

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
		20240706	20240707 (WS)	A special episode recorded with an audience at the India International Centre in New Delhi. The BBC's Yogita Limaye speaks to Kavita Puri, the creator and presenter of Three Million, to explore how the series was made, and how she went about tracking down eye-witnesses to the Bengal Famine of 1943. They are joined by author and historian Srimanjari and ‘memory collector' Sailen Sarkar, who recorded testimonies of the very last survivors of the famine. Together they explore the legacy of the Bengal famine, and why its memory is still so fraught today.
	Bonus Episode	20240829		How the legacy of the Bengal famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today. The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II. [LISTEN NOW]
01	War	20240225	20240302 20240402 (R4) 20240303 (WS)	During the Second World War, at least three million Indian people, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal Famine. It was one of the largest losses of civilian life on the Allied side. But there is no memorial to them anywhere in the world - not even a plaque. Can three million people disappear from public memory? From the creator and presenter of the award-winning series Three Pounds in my Pocket and Partition Voices, this is the story of the Bengal Famine of 1943. For the first time it is told by those who were there - farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, colonial British and everyday citizens. Nearly all of the testimony in the series has never been broadcast before. Eighty years on, those who lived through it are a vanishing generation. Time is running out to record their memories. 1/5 We begin in 1942. As the Japanese sweep through South East Asia, Calcutta (now Kolkata) is inundated with hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers from all over the world. Fear of a Japanese invasion of British India provokes a consequential decision. Presenter: Kavita Puri Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta. Interviews with American soldiers courtesy of The National World War II Museum, New Orleans https://www.nationalww2museum.org/ Interviews with G S Khosla and Debotosh Das Gupta courtesy of the University of Cambridge Major General Dharitri Kumar Palit interviewed by Gillian Wright, 1987, British Library reference C63/195/09. Audio © British Library Board and the interviewee. The British Library has been unable to locate the family of the interviewee. Please contact oralhistory@bl.uk with any relevant information. The story of the 1943 Bengal Famine which led to the death of at least 3 million people The extraordinary story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India, where at least three million people died, told by the eyewitnesses to it. From the award-winning creator and presenter of Partition Voices and Three Pounds in My Pocket, this is the story of the Bengal Famine of 1943. For the first time it is told by those who were there - farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, colonial British and everyday citizens. Nearly all of the testimony in the series has never been broadcast before. The devastating story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India, where at least three million people died, told for the first time, by the eyewitnesses to it The story of the Bengal Famine of 1943, where at least three million people died.
02	The Cigarette Tin	20240303	20240309 20240409 (R4) 20240310 (WS)	A boy decides how much rice he can give from a cigarette tin to hungry people. A Christian missionary sets up a makeshift relief hospital. A small child watches through the gates of his house in Calcutta as emaciated women clutching children ask for food. As the food crisis deepens, shocking testimonies from the countryside show the extent of starvation. Hungry people begin moving from the countryside towards the cities. Everyday Bengalis - including children - are forced into life-or-death decisions. Presenter: Kavita Puri Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta. Interviews with Damodar Ramchandra Gole and Alan McLeod courtesy of the University of Cambridge The escalating food crisis forces people to make life and death decisions. The escalating food crisis forces people to make dramatic life and death decisions. As the food crisis deepens, shocking testimonies from the countryside show the extent of starvation. Many thousands of hungry people begin moving from the rural areas towards the cities. Indians - including children - are forced into life-or-death decisions The story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 where at least three million people died.
03	The F-word	20240310	20240316 20240416 (R4) 20240317 (WS)	Colonial authorities wanted to censor the famine. They were worried that Britain's wartime enemies - the Germans and the Japanese - would use it as propaganda against them. But as more and more starving people arrive in cities across Bengal, it becomes harder to suppress. Indian writers, photographers and artists document the humanitarian catastrophe, but it was risky as the censor forbade mention of the famine. A British journalist and editor of the English language Statesman newspaper, in Calcutta, decides to challenge the censor and begins publishing photographs and scathing editorials about what was really going on in Bengal. It shocks the world. In London, the BBC reports on “famine conditions ? and, as we uncover, the British government tries to pressurize the broadcaster to tone down its coverage. Presenter: Kavita Puri Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta. Interviews with Damodar Ramchandra Gole and Alan McLeod courtesy of the University of Cambridge Famine grips Bengal but publicly no-one is calling it a famine. Famine grips Bengal but publicly no-one is calling it a famine. A British journalist decides to take on the censor, what he publishes shocks the world. But as more and more starving people arrive in cities across Bengal, it becomes harder to suppress. Indian writers, photographers and artists document the humanitarian catastrophe, but it was risky as the censor forbade mention of the word famine. A British journalist and editor of the English language Statesman newspaper, in Calcutta, decides to challenge the censor and begins publishing photographs and then scathing editorials about what is really going on in Bengal. It shocks the world. In London, the BBC reports on “famine conditions ? and, as we uncover, the British government tries to pressurize the broadcaster to tone down its coverage. The story of the Bengal Famine of 1943 where at least three million people died.
04	The Tapes	20240317	20240323 20240423 (R4) 20240324 (WS)	Kavita discovers a set of cassette tapes containing rare interviews with Indian civil servants who were on the ground across Bengal during the famine, shedding new light on colonial responsibility. And as the need for relief in Bengal becomes ever greater, more pressure is put on the British government from India's new Viceroy. He asks for more food imports. Could the War Cabinet and Prime Minister Winston Churchill have done more to help alleviate the famine in the middle of the war? Presenter Kavita Puri Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee and Professor Joya Chatterji Interviews conducted by Lance Brennan courtesy of University of Cambridge Interviews with GS Khosla courtesy of University of Cambridge The discovery of cassette tapes that throw new light on colonial responsibility. The discovery of tiny cassette tapes recorded 40 years ago throw new light on colonial responsibility. The discovery of cassette tapes throw new light on colonial responsibility.
05	Ghosts	20240324	20240330 20240430 (R4) 20240331 (WS)	The Bengal Famine, particularly the experiences of people in the rural areas who suffered the most, is not well remembered today. There is no memorial, museum, or plaque to the victims or survivors anywhere in the world. One man has made it his life's work to record their testimonies with paper and pen. Kavita hears from him - and tries to understand more about why the three million people who perished aren't better remembered or memorialised in India, Bangladesh and Britain. Presenter Kavita Puri Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee and Professor Joya Chatterji Interviews conducted by Lance Brennan courtesy of University of Cambridge Interviews with GS Khosla courtesy of University of Cambridge Three million people died - but why are they not better remembered? Three million people died - but why are they not better remembered in Britain, India and Bangladesh? With thanks to Dr Janam Mukherjee, Professor Joya Chatterji and Dr Diya Gupta.
06	Silk Scarves	20240612	20240613 20240711 (R4) 20240616 (WS)	80 years ago at least 3 million Indians, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal Famine. But today different generations in Britain are coming to terms with this difficult past. Kavita meets the granddaughter of a senior colonial figure, who is only just learning about her grandfather's role in the famine. Initially she feels shame, but discoveries in her family archive change her perspective. What will she do with this new understanding of her family's history? A 97 year-old British man makes a surprising revelation about his role in the Bengal famine. And three generations on, British Bengalis mark the famine in Britain, in an unexpected way. How the legacy of the Bengal Famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today. The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II. 80 years ago at least 3 million Indians, who were British subjects, died in the Bengal famine. But today different generations in Britain are coming to terms with this difficult past. Kavita meets the granddaughter of a senior colonial figure, who is only just learning about her grandfather's role in the famine. Initially she feels shame, but discoveries in her family archive change her perspective. What will she do with this new understanding of her family's history? A 97 year-old British man makes a surprising revelation about his role in the Bengal famine. And three generations on, British Bengalis mark the famine in Britain, in an unexpected way. How the legacy of the Bengal famine of 1943 lives on in Britain today. The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II.
07	Road To The Past	20240829	20240917 (R4) 20240922 (R4)	[LISTEN NOW] Kavita Puri goes to India to meet some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine. She looks for traces of how war and famine impacted Kolkata and then travels from the city along the road to where the story of famine begins. Kavita goes deep into the countryside and the jungle in West Bengal to find people who lived through that devastating time more than 80 years ago. These are voices that are almost never recorded and have never been broadcast before. How does the memory of the famine endure today in the places it most affected? Presenter : Kavita Puri Production Coordinator: Brenda Brown With thanks to Manoshi Barua for her translation work and to her, Bhasker Patel, Moazzem Hossain and Jesmin Ahmed for voicing up the Bengali-language interviews. Kavita meets some of the last survivors of the 1943 Bengal famine. The Bengal Famine of 1943 in British India: the forgotten story of World War II. Kavita goes deep into the countryside and the jungle in West Bengal to find people who lived through that devastating time more than 80 years ago. These are voices that are almost never recorded and have never been broadcast before. For the past year and a half Kavita has been asking why there is no memorial to the three million people who died. But then in the Bengal jungle she finally finds it – it's not what she expected. [LISTEN NOW]