Of course food shortage was a factor; > Rice yield per acre had been stagnant since the beginning of the twentieth century;[25] coupled with a rising populatio

Of course food shortage was a factor; > Rice yield per acre had been stagnant since the beginning of the twentieth century;[25] coupled with a rising population, this created pressures that were a leading factor in the famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bengal_famine_of_1943 Add to that transport impact (floods, war), the drop in imports from Burma and other factors.