Amartya Sen vs B.R Sen

Why do predominantly agricultural countries have famines? One type of reason has to do with an exogenous shock- a drought, a flood, an crop blight, etc- and another reason might have to do with incentives to grow and distribute food. To a great extent this is affected by the provision of public and club goods- e.g. transport infrastructure, Law & Order, Defense etc. 

Turning to the Bengal famine of 1943, it is obvious that the primary cause was the Japanese invasion of Burma.  A complicating factor was Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose- hugely popular in Bengal- having joined hands with the Japanese.

The Government of India Act of 1935 had transferred all powers over food polity to elected Governments in the Provinces. Furthermore, War-time legislation gave the Provinces powers to take over commerce in food at the end of 1941. Each Province- sometimes each District- became an autarkic 'Food Republic'. Obviously, a well administered District could take all sorts of measures to boost food availability using local resources. But not all Districts were well administered.  

The Bengal famine of '43-44 was caused by both endogenous and exogenous factors. The Japanese invasion of Burma had cut off rice imports while from early 1942 restrictions on private trade and inter-province commerce in food had reduced incentives to grow surplus food or distribute it legally. There were further political factors which were influenced by the military position.

When I was young, I often heard of ICS officer Binoy Ranjan Sen who was a long serving head of the F.A.O. His first hand experience of the Bengal famine was considered a big factor in motivating him to help the World win the battle against mass Hunger.

B.R Sen was from Midnapore where, in 1942, starvation was seen by the administration as a way to bring the fractious, Congress supporting, Hindus to heel. Famine had a political aspect in Bengal, just as it had had a political aspect in Stalin's Ukraine and elsewhere. 

Lance Brennan writes

Could B.R Sen have prevented the terrible famine fatalities in '43- '44? Some older people saw the calamity as a product of a turf war between the Department of Civil Supplies and the Revenue Department. Had P.N Bannerjee been given control of both Departments, then Sen would have had the resources to solve the problem. Unfortunately, the Fazl ul Haq Government collapsed and so that opportunity was lost. Suhrawardy, as Civil Supplies Minister, was much more powerful than T.N Mukherjee- the new Revenue Minister. Sen had been warning of famine from February onward. It was imperative that a single agency take charge. Sen was promoted to Delhi in August '43. His successor was told that since Relief under the Famine Code was not an issue- only Supply was- he should mind his own business. 

Bowbrick- the first to blow the whistle on Amartya Sen's farcical account of the Bengal famine and the most thorough in his exposure of Sen's bad faith- quotes B.R Sen's endorsement of the quite fiercely critical Famine Inquiry Commission Report which spares neither the elected politicians nor the bureaucrats nor the Central or Home Government. It is no wonder that the Report was suppressed. 

. Binay Sen said that ‘Sir John Woodhead, [the Chairman of the Famine Inquiry Commission] a former Governor of Bengal and a man of great integrity and competence, brings out the facts in their stark reality.’ (1982, p. 48) ‘Though I personally was an important administrative figure in the provincial government, I have to admit that, by and large, the observations and judgment of the Famine Commission were objective and correct. As I recall those tragic days I often wonder what more I could have done and did not do. Since I was responsible for emergency relief why did I allow things to get so far out of hand with no protest? Why did I not cry out louder when the aman crop failed and ask for planned supplies from other provinces?’ (1982, pp. 48-49). ‘The Bengal Famine Report came out in 1945 and what the Report brought out about the inadequacies and inefficiencies of the Central and Provincial administrations was already clear enough to us.’ (1982, p. 53) 

What was B.R Sen's mistake? It was not to fight the Department of Civil Supplies harder. They were saying this was a Supply problem. Clearly, it was a Revenue problem in that poor people had to be given food directly paid for by the Government. The problem was that Supply permitted corruption which meant politicians and petty officials made loads of money- provided they had the backing of the Muslim League. Sen was Hindu. His people would soon be ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homeland.  

Lance Brennan writes

Amartya Sen claims that 'Bengal produced its largest rice crop in history in 1943'. The truth is, the 42-43 harvest was terrible. The 43-44 harvest was good but by then it was too late. The odd thing was that Amartya was a relative of B.R Sen. He had an animus against the older man because he did nothing to get an Uncle of his released from Jail. The problem there was that a Civil Servant had no authority over Judges. Only the Courts could have secured Amartya's Uncle's release.

Technically speaking, it is possible that rice is produced but not sold because people lack money to buy. But the evidence is that the Revenue dept. spent 20 million dollars on relief to little effect because no food was available. 

Responsible civil servants and the relevant minister, the Nawab of Dhaka, spoke of cyclone and fungus having affected production by between 20 and 50 percent. Surely this was based on first hand evidence?

Braund in his '44 report says that the cyclone and a particular outbreak of fungus had led to a 2million ton shortage- i.e half the marketable surplus. In contrast, the '43-44  harvest was abundant. However malnourished people continued to die because of lower resistance to disease or loss of support structures, displacement, or unemployability.

Sen writes-

So, famine is not caused by food availability deficit but it can only be broken by a large availability of food. Similarly suffocation is not caused by a lack of breathable air but it can only be alleviated by a large provision of breathable air.

What causes famine? Exchange entitlement deficit which occurs when food is not available to be exchanged for some entitlement. Similarly suffocation is caused by Oxygen entitlement deficit which occurs when oxygen is not available to be exchanged for some entitlement.

Shifting exchange entitlements led millions of Bengalis to face a real shortage in their calorific intake which was less that what was required to keep them alive. This was because food was not available for them to exchange with their entitlements. The Government did not say 'exchange entitlements have shifted' because at that time Amartya Sen was still a little boy and hadn't yet invented the term. So, instead they spoke of a 'real shortage' which existed because a cyclone and a fungal disease had wiped out at a large portion of the 42-43 harvest at a time when food denial policies and war-time chaos added to the misery. Shyamprasad Mookherjee had sent B.R Sen to report on one of the worst affected districts. He warned of Famine in February/March of '43. B.R Sen himself later said he did not comprehend the magnitude of the disaster but other officials had noted the terrible food availability deficit caused by the deadly combination of fungal disease and adverse weather conditions. However, the truth is plenty of officials and journalists had noticed that all the tell tale signs of Famine mentioned in the Code were fully present in places in '42 and more generally in '43. Why was nothing done? Obviously, the war situation- which was reflected in the political situation- had completely demoralized the administration in '42. Burma was lost. Far from providing rice, it had sent half a million refugees. Moreover, Burmese Nationalists were instigating Buddhist vs Muslim clashes. This could easily spread to Chittagong. Congress had launched 'Quit India'. Netaji Bose arrived in Singapore to take charge of the Indian National Army in June '43. His brother, jailed in 1941, had been due to join Fazl ul Haq's cabinet. But, because Fazl ul Haq had double crossed the Muslim League- he had to go. The only ally the Brits and Americans had against the Japs and Buddhists and Indian Nationalists was the Muslims- not that the Bengali Muslim could do much militarily but then the Punjabi Muslim might relish taking vengeance on rice eating Buddhists for anything their co-religionists suffered. From the all-India point of view, if the League's minions enriched themselves by letting millions starve- it was a small price to pay to secure at least the appearance of Muslim loyalty in a badly mismanaged theater of war. Only after the failure of the '44 Japanese offensive did Hindus regain salience. However, B.R Sen was aware that the Bengali Hindu gentry would still lose one way or another. He was ready to own up to administrative bungling- he was D.G Food from '43 to '46-  because it was obvious that this was a politically created humanitarian disaster for which Congress could not be blamed because they were in jail.

 It is notable that Independent India did not retain Sen in the Food or other similar ministry . He was turned into a diplomat and pushed out. However, gaining the Directorship of the F.A.O, he was able to redeem himself. The true spirit of the Indian approach to Famine was then able to show itself. This was a perfectly sensible matter of increasing food supply and availability and raising agricultural productivity and improving public food distribution. As British officials had been instructed to do, F.A.O representatives looked for signs of forthcoming shortage so as to be pro-active. 

But, for Amartya Sen is concerned there was no shortage. Just a black cat in a dark room which wasn't there.

But, not just cats, Sen has other resources for his sarcasm- a phoenix which chirrups

What is this 'carry over' Sen refers to? The answer is it is the stockpile of unhusked grain. Because of food denial and raids on 'hoarders', we know the carry-over was very small. Obviously the cyclone and associated flooding would have meant the loss of previous stockpiles as well as less yield of dry, storable, grain.

The Bengal famine was actually caused by weather conditions plus a fungal infestation . Under ordinary conditions the Famine Code could have been applied and food brought in from elsewhere. Because of the chaotic war-time conditions and apathy and corruption on the part of the Muslim League Government, the Famine Code was never properly implemented and millions of Bengalis starved to death. There were some good officers- Lance Brennan mentions F.A Karim who commandeered food and set up rationing- here and there but the transition to Democratic Government meant that such high handed methods were no longer sanctioned. Thus, in the end, Democracy caused the famine. Why? Because elected politicians can be stupid and corrupt while Bureaucracies can always find ways to appear to comply with existing laws and regulations without actually doing so.

Economic models may be 'nomothetic' or mathematical. But economics itself is ideographic and empirical. B.R Sen understood the nature of Famine and went on to help the world tackle the problem in the proper way- viz. producing, storing and transporting more and more food so as to break 'food availability deficit'. Amartya Sen, however wanted to gain fame by showing something 'counter-intuitive' viz. that more food can mean more starvation. Sen also believed that Mrs. Thatcher might precipitate a famine in the UK. The Swedes, with Viking wit, gave him a Nobel Prize. They may no longer pillage and waste and lay waste to Christendom- but they retain an atavistic interest in promoting the views of those whose economic theories would have an equally devastating effect.