Tnt Apr Cover Story 28-29

Mizoram

Cover Story of Laldenga with the specified goal of achieving sovereign independence of Greater Mizoram. Large-scale disturbances broke out on February 28, 1966 government installations at Aizawl, Lunglei, Chawngte, Chhimluang and other places simultaneously.

failure of the state security forces to 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 minister Nripen Chakrabarty. The state had failed to protect the fundamental rights of its own people and shockingly justified their inaction by calling it a spontaneous and an emotional reaction of the people.

MNF Camp bombed

Mautam Famine and insurgency

In 1959, Mizo Hills was devastated by a great famine known in Mizo history as ‘Mautam Famine’ that left hundreds of people feeding on roots and leaves. The cause of the famine was attributed to flowering of bamboos, which consequently resulted in a massive growth in the population of rats. The havoc created by the rats was terrible 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 released 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 meeting in Aizawl this February and would be submitted to the Centre. In fact, the insurgency in Mizoram 28

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has its roots in Mautam famine. During 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 Society was formed in 1955 and Laldenga was its Secretary. In March 1960, the name of the Mizo Cultural Society was changed to ‘Mautam Front’. During the famine of 1959-1960, this society 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 popularity as a large number of Mizo Youth assisted in transporting rice and other essential commodities to interior villages. 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

Tripura

Cover Story

In 1967, the MNF was outlawed and the demand for statehood gained fresh momentum. But the Indian government 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 turning 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.

Dam, development and displacement

Riots of 1980s Northeast is the worst victim of influx 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 effect on the demographic structure of Tripura. It is estimated that the population of Tripura rose by a whopping 165 per cent from 1958 to 1965 and even

more subsequently after the Bangladesh war. Though many went back to their homeland but by then the population of the original inhabitants (tribal, Manipuri’s and Bengalese) were in the minority. This shocking failure of the administration led to armed insurgency 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 society. It is estimated that more than 3000 people lost their lives during the riots and scars remain till today. The

Anti dam movement in Sikkim is not one of its kind in Northeast, neither 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 development 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 displacement that we have ever heard in Northeast and that is because of Dumbur Dam construction. The Dumbur dam of Tripura displaced a total of 35,000-40,000 people. India’s Northeast suffers tremendous from this problem of internal displacement. The development projects undertaken by central and state government have displaced a good number of people, mostly belonging to

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