A new five-part documentary series for BBC Radio 4 and the BBC World Service, Three Million, will examine the devastating impact of the Bengal famine which saw at least three million lives lost in British India during the Second World War.
Kavita Puri, the award-winning creator and presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Partition Voices and Three Pounds in My Pocket, has gathered extraordinary first-hand accounts, and searched through archives around the world for eyewitness testimonies, to understand the human cost of the Bengal famine, which was one of the largest losses of civilian lives on the Allied side.
In the summer of 1943, Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) was a tale of two cities. Hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers filled its streets on their way to and from the Asian front where they were fighting the Japanese. At the same time, many thousands of people who had come from Bengal’s countryside in search of food, were dying on the city’s pavements, in plain sight.
Eighty years on, Kavita pieces together what happened from those who were there – farmers and fishermen, artists and writers, Indian civil servants and soldiers, colonial British and everyday citizens, as well as the survivors. Nearly all of the first-hand testimony in the series has never been broadcast before. During her research, she makes new discoveries and also explores why remembrance is so fraught today.
Kavita Puri says; “After eighty years, the generation who lived through the war is diminishing, and these remarkable testimonies will soon no longer be able to be recorded. There is a real urgency in capturing them now. There is no memorial, museum, or even a plaque – anywhere in the world – to the millions who perished during the Bengal famine. This series recovers some of these overlooked human stories and is an aspect of our war story that is not well known.”
Dan Clarke, Commissioning Editor, Radio 4 says: “Kavita Puri has immersed herself in the stories of those from all walks of life impacted by the Bengal famine. Whilst Three Million guides the listener to understand the history, the series rightly focuses on those lost to this catastrophe.”
Jon Zilkha, Controller, World Service English, says: “Three Million is an important series for the BBC World Service that brings the voices and stories of those impacted by the Bengal famine to the airwaves for the first time in many cases. It’s a very moving series that leaves a lasting impact on listeners.”
Three Million is available on BBC Sounds from Friday 23 Feb, BBC Radio 4 on 25 Feb and BBC World Service English on 2 March and available on most podcast providers.
The series is made by BBC News Long Form Audio. It is produced by Ant Adeane, edited by Emma Rippon, with sound design and mixing by Eloise Whitmore and original music from Felix Taylor.