The document summarizes Amartya Sen's book "Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation". It introduces Sen's entitlement approach, which argues that famines occur due to a lack of entitlement to food rather than lack of food availability. The summary provides an overview of the book's chapters and case studies on famines in Bengal, Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Africa. It also notes some limitations of the entitlement approach but concludes it can be a useful tool for policymakers compared to traditional famine analysis focusing only on food supply.