The Famine Inquiry Commission was appointed in 1944 to investigate and report to the Central Government upon the causes of the food shortage and subsequent epidemics in India and in particular in Bengal, in the year 1943, and to make recommendations as to the prevention of their recurrence.

After meeting for several weeks in 1944 in New Delhi where the Com­mission interviewed many official witnesses, it went to Calcutta and met several officials and non-officials. A wealth of information about the causes of famine and other questions included in the terms of reference was obtained in Bengal.

But in order to view the past and present situation in Bengal in its proper perspective it was felt necessary to make inquiries in other parts of India also. And so the Commission decided to tour Bombay, Walchandnagar, Bijapur, Madras, Calicut, Cochin, Travancore, Tanjore, Bezwada and Nagpur. A large number of officials and non-officials were interviewed.

This report is concerned largely with the past, with the story of the Bengal famine and its causes. The Commission made suitable recom­mendations so as to make recurrence of famine impossible by develop­ment of agriculture and raising the standard of nutrition.