N E readies to tackle bamboo flowering that led to Mizo insurgency

New Delhi, June 18: One of the main reason for the birth of insurgency in Mizoram was the famine that occurred in 1959 following gregarious flowering of bamboo, leading to massive loss of crops. The problem is knocking at the door in the North-East again, according to a note prepared by the Ministry Environment and Forest. The next flowering cycle is 2004-2007.

The relation between flowering and famine and famine and Mizo insurgency was close. The gregarious flowering of bamboos produces large quantities of seeds, which in turn causes sudden rise in the population of rodents. However, the quantity of seeds available for rats soon diminishes as they germinate after rains. The short supply of seeds and the swelling population of rats results in the rodents heading towards farmlands in the adjoining areas and causing widespread loss to crops.

Such a chain of events has the potential to cause famine. The last two gregarious flowering of bamboo of muli variety in the North-East had occurred in 1911-12 and 1950-60. In 1959, the area affected was spread over Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and Barak valley of Assam. This was followed by famine in these areas. Based on this, projections have been made that the next flowering cycle was expected to occur during 2004-2007.

Though experts in the Environment Ministry say there were remote chances of the famine recurring as the means of reaching to the people in remote area and moving food supplies to them had so much advanced, the local population is busy preparing for the impending problem. The 20-year-long history of insurgency in Mizoram led by the Mizo National Front was triggered by the famine of 1959. The Mizos had anticipated that famine and had requested the then Assam Government to sanction to the Mizo District Council a sum of Rs 15 lakh for the whole district for relief measures.

The Assam Government rejected the request on the ground that such anticipation was not based on sceietific reasons and famines could not be predicted. This led to the formation of a voluntary organisation called the 'Mizo National Famine Front(MNFF) to organise and coordinate famine relief measures. Soon after the tragedy, the sense of alienation and marginalisation of Mizos was complete and the idea of separatism and secessionism began to take root.

The MNFF was transformed into a political party called the Mizo National Front (MNF), and March 1, 1966, it declared the independence of the Mizo people from India and thus began a violent chapter of insurgency, which continued for 20 years and ended in 1986 with the signing of an accord witn the Centre. It is estimated that gregarious flowering of melocanna baccifera or in common paralance muli bamboo will occur in an area of about 18000 sq km in Mizoram, Tripura, Manipur and parts of Assam, Nagaland and Meghalaya. This time the government was taking extreme caution and has drawn up an action plan much in advance of the problem.

The salient features of the Action Plan decided by the Ministry of Environment and Forest include a detailed resource survey and mapping of the bamboo resources of the North-East. It envisages finanacial help to states for improvement of roads network to facilitate large scale extraction of bamboo from affected areas, transportation of bamboo by rail at preferential rates for the users in other parts of the country, bio-energy harvesting of bamboo before flowering, supply to paper and pulp industry, lifting of ban on export of muli bamboo til 2008 and composite regeneration.

The Action Plan calls upon states to chalk out detailed plans for procurement, storage and quick distribution of food items in the event of massive crop losses. There should be safe storage godowns and necessary infrastructure for timely and efficient distribution of food supply. If famine does not occur, the plans for utilisation of the extra food stock and saving them from rodent damage should also be kept ready.

A central monitoring committee has been set up to see implementation of the Action Plan. More than 50 per cent of the bamboo species and 60 per cent of growing stock out of the total 82.42 million tonnes occurs in North-East. Most of the bamboo species flower at the end of a long vegetative growth. The flowering occurs at the same time in bamboos spread over vast tracts, so this phenomenon is called 'gregarious''. This flowering occurs at regular intervals and after flowering the bamboo plant dies. Bamboo, also called the poor man's timber is one of the most important forestry species and has major contribution to the economy of the North-East.

There are about 1500 documented applications of bamboo of which major ones include use in building, agricultural implements, furniture, musical instrument, food items, handicrafts, paper, rayon and packaging etc.

UNI