The 1974 Famine in Bangladesh: How the Government created a famine.

After her independence in 1971, Bangladesh has witnessed only one famine. Unfortunately, it was not just a simple famine but one of the worst recorded in the history of the 20th-century of the world that would cost nearly 1.5 million lives.

It started in March of 1974 when the price of rice, grains and other foods suddenly and rapidly increased and lasted till December of the same year. Government mismanagement, constant flooding, and the smuggling of grain by the ruling party Awami League members were the vital causes of this famine.

The starvation was initiated by regional unemployment caused by floods, which affected food output many months later when the reduced crop was harvested, but the famine occurred earlier than that and was before the affected crop matured.

-Dr Amartya Sen, Development as Freedom

Although, this particular topic hasn't been discussed and was disclosed by the previous fascist regime, almost trying to erase this from history, thanks to the remaining newspapers of that time, we know what really happened and how worse it looked like. Here is a small example from various newspapers that would tell us about the horror that the common people had to witness and the things they had to do to survive.

One of the most common scenarios of the 74's famine was "Vukha Misil" or the Hungry March, as thousands from different places in the rural areas would flood the streets of cities with their famish bodies and plates in hand for food.

Such were the scenarios in Dhaka, Cumilla, Faridpur and many more cities. Being hungry, They would stand hour after hour for food rations. They had to go the whole day with only one "Roti". Sometimes, they would cry, wanting rice as a simple, plain, small roti wasn't enough to kill their hunger. Later, this became an infamous activity of the "One Roti per head program" from the government.

Help centres would be seen flooded with women barely having any attire, famish teenagers and children. As we know, there is no other substitute for milk for children and their nutrition. Yet, hundreds of children would have to lament for milk most of days. Even Newspapers had, at one point, started writing "guarantee for one bowl of milk" for the children as they were suffering from dangerous malnutrition. There was also a shortage of medicines as well and on one occasion, Dhaka Medical ran out of medicine. On pages of every newspaper, there would be pictures of women barely wearing anything, holding their little children in their hands, their bodies would look as though the bodies didn't have anything and were only wearing a humanly exoskeleton suit.

At one point, even the government employees were forced to protest for food. Dead bodies of famished persons would soon be seen on the major highways and main roads of the country. The Inflation was super high in 1974 and would see to reach as much as 40%. Wheat and flour were the only distributed food of that time for the common people. If someone went to give relief, they would see a horde of people, observing them closely for relief with a needy watch. While such a deadly famine struck, even then the members of the Awami League were busy on their duties of being loyal to corruption and smuggling. The leaders of grassroots leaders were busy smuggling food and grains for the famine-struck common people, even going as far as to smuggle relief grains. While they were busy with such activities for the "welfare of the citizens", the government-owned media such as "Bangladesh Shangbad Shangstha (BASOS)" were busy spreading propaganda of how the government was feeding 33 lakh people every day. And if they couldn't then they would play the good old-fashioned "conspiracy against the nation and government" card.

Another great matter of the 74 famine was the government-owned kitchen (Langarkhana) opened across the country where thousands would come in the hope of getting food. Severe malnourished children would be seen in these kitchens. This an evidence for the history which proves the Awami League's denial of the famine was nothing but lies. The opposition personnel at that time would also call for help from the common people in the media and it was a common scenario, happening almost every day. Every ministry for the citizens was a failure and the health ministry was the worst of them. As the famine grew stronger, famished common masses became weak to diseases as their body immunity greatly decreased.

As a result, diseases like Cholera struck as well and spread quickly. But the government refused to call it an epidemic. The health minister was nowhere to be found in the media and the simplest thing, saline for children was also in heavy shortage. This epidemic soon became a symbol of diseases for only the "needy". The home ministry was also a great failure as criminal activities would be seen gaining the upper ground quickly and the country would see an extreme deterioration of law and order. As a result, the nation became a living hell for its citizens. People were forced to sell almost everything, even housewares, furniture, clocks, and rice tins to just eat. Tajuddin Ahmed, the then economy minister would also say to the media that the economic budget for the development of this scenario was heavily low which would indicate the government's failure to tackle such a situation. Mustafa Zaman Abbasi, a popular artist of that time went to the TSC of Dhaka University to attend an event where he would sing a song written on this scenario. Poet Rafiq Azad wrote a poem called "Bhaat de Haramjada, Noile Manchittro Khabo"('Give me food, bastard! Or I will engulf your map)

The poem went like this-

দৃশ্য থেকে দ্রষ্টা অবধি ধারাবাহিকতা খেয়ে ফেলে
অবশেষে যথাক্রমে খাবোঃ গাছপালা, নদী-নালা,
গ্রাম-গঞ্জ, ফুটপাথ, নর্দমার জলের প্রপাত,
চলাচলকারী পথচারী, নিতম্ব-প্রধান নারী,
উড্ডীন পতাকাসহ খাদ্যমন্ত্রী ও মন্ত্রীর গাড়ী-
আমার ক্ষুধার কাছে কিছুই ফেলনা নয় আজ।
ভাত দে হারামজাদা, তা না হলে মানচিত্র খাবো।

Ironically enough, even then Mohammad Ullah, the then president of the country would throw iftar parties in the "Bangabhaban" where the upper-class leaders of Awami League such as the then Information minister would be invited.

Another debated thing about 74 is, that at that particular time, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the then prime minister of Pakistan would visit Bangladesh, and thousands would stand by the road as a line, spanning from the airport to the Bangabhaban. Also, the policy based on jute became a failure and the jute industry's future became dark. Most of the ministers were nowhere to be seen in the media in this time of emergency. Yet, they would be seen organizing magnificent events, throwing parties and attending them. While people went without anything for a day, their tables were full of food on plates. Such failures from the ministries and actions triggered the common mass against the government and the army was furious because of it.

All this information that has been harvested from the media of 1974, not only serves as mere evidence of the failure of the then Mujib-led Awami League government and their failure to tackle such situations which were created because of them but also as the basis for the country's dark future that the people would have to witness if this government managed to stay in the power. Therefore, this proves that the allegations of the 1974 famine weren't just any propaganda but a mere reality that the Awami League denies even today.

Sources:
1)Food Affordability and Double Catastrophe in Early Life: Lessons from the 1974–75 Bangladesh Famine
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1475-4932.12668
2) Development as Freedom- Dr Amartya Sen
3)Simaboddho Jole, Simito Sobuje- Rafiq Azad
4)Crow, Ben. ‘Warning of Famine in Bangladesh’. Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 19, no. 40, 1984, pp. 1754-1758.5
5)Mascarenhas, Anthony. Bangladesh: A Legacy of Blood. Hodder & Stoughton 1986.
6)Gonokontho 26 September,1974 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ZbSXHjKtMqA5L3m0Sewq0gd8Px0h5wfh/view
7) AMARTYA SEN, FAD AND THE 1974 FAMINE
IN BANGLADESH: A CLOSER LOOK https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/278760/files/Khandaker%20Qudrat-%20I%20Elahi%20Sir.pdf