I recently read about the bengal famine of 1943, and I would like to learn more about the level of involvement that the British had in causing that and other famines during their imperial rule.
Irish writer and historian, Tim Pat Coogan has written a great book about Britains role in the Irish famine, The Famine Plot. Although some points are disputed by other Irish historians, most of the book is well cited and sourced. I don't have it at hand but it goes into great detail about how Britain contributed to the Irish famine even going as far as to argue that Britains policies in Ireland constituted genocide under the 1948 UN Convention on Genocide. Although Coogan writes from a strongly Irish nationalist perspective, this book is factual and is a great read. https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Famine_Plot.html?id=_cIhmQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
Somebody has already cited Mike Davis, I am going to enlarge on a couple of points made there.
When there were droughts/large scale crop failures, the British had two primary policies in India which dictated the fate of the affected population: Policy on trade in food material and Famine relief policy.
Regarding government intervention in trade and framing of famine policy Ambirajan's Classical Political Economy and British Policy in India (Cambridge University Press) argues that a steady influz of Smithian (Adam SMith) views directly affected famine policy and dramatically increased famine mortality. To summarise his argument, Ambirajan showed how sparse government intervention in the Orissa famine of 1866 saw high mortality. This caused a change in policy with people like John Stuart Mill arguing for a different policy. In the next famine in 1873-74 Lord Temple, Governor of Bengal curbed export of food grain and imported massive quantities of rice from Burma at government cost. This famine saw little to no mortality. However immediately after this the new Viceroy Lytton severely curbed government assistance and intervention in famines. The distressed people had to walk long distances and pass stringent requirements to be eligible for relied. They literally died by the roadside. The Famine of 1877-78 was horrific, and is covered in graphic detail in Mike Davis' book.
There are a bunch of other things I could talk about, but its very late here.
Thanks for this reply.