Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

I'm Kavita Puri, and in this special episode of 3 million,

we discuss in front of a live audience in New Delhi,

the legacy of the Bengal famine, a forgotten story of World War II, where millions of Indians

who were British subjects died.

And a reminder that you can find the full series by scrolling back to the 23rd of February or by searching

for 3 million wherever you get your BBC podcasts. Hello. Hello and welcome to a special edition of 3 million the BBC

podcast that explores the story of a

region that spans present-day India and Bangladesh

at the height of World War II back in 1943.

Most of those who live through it are no longer alive and so this story of human suffering

has been pie together bit by bit through rare and in some cases never heard before testimony of survivors, witnesses, through memoirs and photographs

and whatever other records are available.

I'm the BBC South Asia correspondent, Yogitalumaalamay and today we are going to continue the

exploration of the Bengal famine with the help of a panel of experts and an invited

audience here at the India International Center in Delhi. To begin for those of you who are new

to the podcast a small snapshot of 3 million.

I spent the last year scouring archives and trucking down eyewitnesses for glimpses into

that time.

They were walking round, Wailing, please, Mother, give us some rice water because they're so desperate.

There was no place you could go where you didn't see dead bodies and bulches.

As the bulches used to come down and eat these dead bodies.

...