Mizoram
of Laldenga with the specified goal of
Mautam Famine and
insurgency
In 1959, Mizo Hills was devastated
by a great famine known in Mizo his-
tory as ‘Mautam Famine’ that left hun-
dreds of people feeding on roots and
leaves. The cause of the famine was
attributed to flowering of bamboos,
which consequently resulted in a mas-
sive growth in the population of rats.
The havoc created by the rats was ter-
rible and very little of the grain could
be harvested. For sustenance, many
Mizos had to collect roots and leaves
from the jungles. Others moved out to
far away places while a considerable
number died of starvation.
Accoring to an official report re-
leased recently, more than one lakh
families are affected by Mautam
famine, which has ravaged more than
two-thirds of paddy fields in the State.
The report was given at the Mizoram
Famine Emergency Committee meet-
ing in Aizawl this February and would
be submitted to the Centre.
In fact, the insurgency in Mizoram
28 April 08
Cover Story
has its roots in Mautam famine. Dur-
ing those hours of crisis, many welfare
organization tried their best to help
starving villagers to facilitate supplies
to the remove villages, no organised
porters, animal transport to carry the
air-drop food supplies.
Earlier in 1955, Mizo Cultural So-
ciety was formed in 1955 and Lalden-
ga was its Secretary. In March 1960,
the name of the Mizo Cultural Society
was changed to ‘Mautam Front’. Dur-
ing the famine of 1959-1960, this soci-
ety took lead in demanding relief and
managed to attract the attention of all
sections of the people. In September
1960, the Society adopted the name of
Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF).
The MNFF gained considerable popu-
larity as a large number of Mizo Youth
assisted in transporting rice and other
essential commodities to interior vil-
lages.
The Mizo National Famine Front
later dropped the word ‘Famine’ and a
new political oraganisation, the Mizo
National Front (MNF) was born on
October 22, 1961 under the leadership
achieving sovereign independence of
Greater Mizoram. Large-scale distur-
bances broke out on February 28, 1966
government installations at Aizawl,
Lunglei, Chawngte, Chhimluang and
other places simultaneously.
MNF Camp bombed
In 1967, the MNF was outlawed
and the demand for statehood gained
fresh momentum. But the Indian gov-
ernment thought of bigger war strategy
to control MNF and surprise the entire
nation when Indira Gandhi ordered
bombing of Aizawl with ‘Toofani’ and
‘Hunter’ Jet fighters. This was the first
time that India used its air force to quell
a movement of any kind by its citizens.
It was the afternoon of March 4, 1966
that a flock of jet fighters hovered over
Aizawl and dropped bombs leaving a
number of houses in flames. The next
day, a more excessive bombing took
place for several hours which left most
houses in Dawrpui and Chhingaveng
area in ashes. However, later a Mizo
District Council delegation, which met
Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi in
May 1971, demanded a full fledge state
for the Mizos. The union government
in its own offered the proposal of turn-
ing Mizo Hills into a Union Territory
in July 1971. The Mizo leaders were
ready to accept the offer on condition
into a Union Territory in July 1971.
The Mizo leaders were ready to accept
the offer on condition that the status
of U.T would be upgraded to statehood
sooner rather than later. The Union
Territory of Mizoram came into being
on January 21, 1972. Mizoram got two
seats in Parliament, one each in the
Lok Sabha and in the Rajya Sabha.
failure of the state security forces to
Riots of 1980s
Northeast is the worst victim of in-
flux and infiltration, which is going on
unabated since India’s Independence.
All credit goes to porous borders that
India shares with its neighbouring
country Bangladesh. The first report
on the existence of such porous borders
came to light in the then tiny union
territory of Tripura. The atrocities and
genocide by the West Pakistan rulers
on their East Pakistan (Bangladesh)
counterparts led to a mass exodus of
the people, which had a crippling ef-
fect on the demographic structure of
Tripura. It is estimated that the popula-
tion of Tripura rose by a whopping 165
per cent from 1958 to 1965 and even
Cover Story
more subsequently after the Bangla-
desh war. Though many went back to
their homeland but by then the popula-
tion of the original inhabitants (tribal,
Manipuri’s and Bengalese) were in the
minority. This shocking failure of the
administration led to armed insurgen-
cy in the state and even fuelled a level
of insecurity in the minds of the other
northeastern states.
The shocking case of ethnic riots
in 1980 was largely because of the
feeling of alienation and leaders and
politicians fanned these sentiments
to garner votes and polarize the so-
ciety. It is estimated that more than
3000 people lost their lives during the
riots and scars remain till today. The
Tripura
protect the lives and property of the
citizens was alarming and was one of
the biggest blemishes of the CPIM led
government under the then Chief min-
ister Nripen Chakrabarty. The state
had failed to protect the fundamental
rights of its own people and shocking-
ly justified their inaction by calling it
a spontaneous and an emotional reac-
tion of the people.
Dam, development and
displacement
Anti dam movement in Sikkim is
not one of its kind in Northeast, nei-
ther the one on Narmada in India.
Though the movements like these
have got publicity within the specific
areas, there was no holistic approach
to counter this menace. Dam and de-
velopment are going hand in hand as
far as Northeast is concerned. But such
developments also induced internal
displacement of people that skipped
our attention. The worst kind of dis-
placement that we have ever heard in
Northeast and that is because of Dum-
bur Dam construction. The Dumbur
dam of Tripura displaced a total of
35,000-40,000 people.
India’s Northeast suffers tremen-
dous from this problem of internal
displacement. The development proj-
ects undertaken by central and state
government have displaced a good
number of people, mostly belonging to
April 08 29