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The Documentary: Three Million: 2. The cigarette tin

Factual: Life Stories

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09/03/2024 GMT

Three Million: 2. The cigarette tin

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Three Million: 2. The cigarette tin

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.

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
Series Producer: Ant Adeane
Editor: Emma Rippon
Sound Design and Mix: Eloise Whitmore
Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele
Original Music: Felix Taylor

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

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Three Million: 2. The cigarette tin

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