If you’re interested in a counter argument, see https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/winston-churchill-isnt-t...
Merchants in that region were primarily from the Marwari, Agarwal, Jains, Punjabi (Jatt+Khatri Sikh+Hindu), Telegu, and Bania communities (depending on the region).
Please don't talk about social structures if you don't have the knowledge - especially about regions which in living memory have had severe caste violence.
Jatts are merchants? Come on. Jatts are predominantly farmers. No Jatts or Khatris were in Kolkata.
So are most Marwaris (Jodhpur region), but a subset of Biradaris migrated east to work in commerce.
Some Jatts
> No Jatts or Khatris were in Kolkata.
Bullshit.
Aroras have always had a decent sized commercial community across the region that was formerly the Bengal Presidency. I know a couple Aroras who's families have been in Kolkata for over a century at this point (rice trading).
And some of the southern Jatts in Rajasthan were called "Marwaris" by the locals in the east (Marwari being a linguistic/regional denonym, not a caste based one). Shouldn't have listed Punjabi Jatts - just waking up.
Also, the Bengal Presidency wasn't only Kolkata - it included a number of other towns and cities that had commercial needs (hence why the communities above entered that segment).
It seems quite interesting that this class becomes the focal point of any attack based on ignorance.
Also, your other replies about jatts is definitely not true. There are various sources that class them in the merchant class responsible for agriculture and trading.
1. Germany was knocking at Britain's door when this famine happened. I personally wouldn't spend a lot of effort helping another country after seeing what happened in Germany.
2. The tone of this article sounds like damage control.
War turns even good men cruel, lets leave it at that
While I haven't read the primary sources that claim Churchill's efforts in restoring food balance in India, I am not convinced he could not have prevented this from happening in the first place --- after all, Bengal or India was being ruled by them.
Feels like damage control and a beg at cutting some slack.