Answer the following questions by selecting the correct/most appropriate options.

Read the statement A and B carefully:
A: In 1770, a terrible famine killed ten million people in Bengal.
B: About one-third of the population was wiped out.
Choose the correct option of the following:

Correct option is D

The Bengal Famine of 1770 (which had already begun in 1769 and continued until 1773) is one of the greatest catastrophes in modern times. As many as ten million people, a third of the entire population, died as a consequence. Drought, bad harvests and British economic and administrative policies all contributed to its catastrophic proportions. The crisis had ramifications far beyond India. When accounts of the famine reached Europe, they sparked debate about British rule over the Indian subcontinent.
 The Bengal famine of 1769-70, also known as the "Chhiattor-er Monnontor" or the "Famine of 76" about the year 1176 in the Bengali calendar, was triggered by a series of catastrophic events.
 These included the failure of the rice crop in 1768, subsequent years of inadequate rainfall, widespread peasant migration, and a severe smallpox outbreak, culminating in one of the most devastating famines in Indian history.
 It is estimated that around 10 million people, approximately one-third of Bengal's population at the time, perished as a result.
 The famine occurred against a backdrop of significant political and environmental changes. In 1765, the East India Company took control over the Mughal provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa, territories that would later form the eastern part of Britain's Indian empire by the 1820s.
 The eighteenth century witnessed the erosion of traditional subsistence methods and their ecological foundations within rural Bengal communities, accelerated by colonial exploitation.
 The famine's severity was further exacerbated by the East India Company's harsh fiscal policies, notably a 10 percent increase in land tax.
 This led to higher revenue collection during the famine year of 1770-71 compared to the preceding year, 1769-70, deepening the crisis. The oppressive taxation strategies severely strained the rural economy, contributing to widespread suffering.
 In a broader context, the most catastrophic famine to strike India was the Bengal Famine of 1943, which claimed the lives of approximately three million people in the Bengal province.