Kavita Puri and Sathnam Sanghera on War, Empire and the Untold Story of the Bengal Famine (Part One)
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Hello intelligence squad members. I'm producer Mia Sorrenti. Today's members episode is the full recording of our recent event with Kavita Puri and Satnam Sanghara discussing war, empire, and the untold stories of the Bengal famine. Kavita Puri is an award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and author of the critically acclaimed Partition Voices, based on her BBC Radio 4 series by the same name. She's also the creator, writer and presenter of Three Million on BBC Sounds, which was named a Podcast of the Year in The Times, Guardian and This Week. The series won many awards, including Gold for Best New Podcast at the British Podcast Awards in 2024. And in the same year, Pori was a finalist for the Allwell Prize for Journalism.
She was joined in conversation by Satnam Samgera. The award-winning author of Empireland and Empire World. The Bengal famine is the forgotten story of the second world war. Between 1943 and 1944, at least three million Indians, all of whom were British subjects, died from starvation or diseases linked to malnutrition. It is one of the darkest chapters in colonial history.
Yet the memory of those millions who perished is broadly not known in Britain, India or Bangladesh. There is no memorial museum. or archive dedicated to them anywhere in the world. Not even a plaque. Drawing on the themes of her hit podcast Three Million, Cavita spoke to Satnam about uncovering this tragic chapter of British and Indian history, tying together a complex story of British colonialism, Indian nationalism, global war, and the end of empire.
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