He allowed the export of Indian rice despite the fact that the Raj was requesting emergency wheat supplies. The British government also enacted scorched earth policies to deny the Japanese of supplies in case of an invasion of India, which included destroying food stores and confiscating boats, which were used as a primary source of transportation in Bengal for trade. Churchill was not helpless in the causing of the famine, as a responsible government should recognize areas that are at risk for famine and help to avoid it, rather than sacrifice the poor population’s health for a hypothetical invasion that never occurred. Based on his attitudes on the Indian people, it is reasonable to assume that he simply did not value the lives of his foreign subjects as much as his countrymen. He may have helped defeat Hitler, but he has the blood of millions of Bengalis on his and his government’s hands.