(A single rat, it is said, can produce a litter of ten babies at a time. In a year, two rats and their offsprings can produce 14000 rats!) When bamboo flowered last time in 1958-59, Mizo Hills, then a district of Assam, not only faced a famine but also saw the birth of the Mizo National Famine Front which later became the Mizo National Front and spearheaded the creation of a separate state of Mizoram. Zoramthanga, who heads the State's present MNF Government, knows the havoc Mautam can create, having experienced it also in 1910-11.

He has, accordingly, alerted both his administration and the Centre. Mizoram is already confronting a famine following failure of harvest for the last two years. Many people are facing starvation and the entire State has been declared disaster-affected. According to the Agriculture Department, as on February, 11 'Mautam' had affected 1,30,621 families in 769 villages. Rodents and insects had damaged 16,132 hectares of wet rice cultivation and 1,25,345 hectares of 'jhum' paddy cultivation.

Against the expected yield of 12,93,476 quintals of 'jhum' paddy, the harvest was only 2,66,469 quintals. Wet rice paddy yield was expected to be 3,22,570 quintals. But the actual yield was only 67,084 quintals. The department has estimated losses at Rs.411.38 crore. While paddy has been hit to the extent of 89.76 per cent, the loss in other crops, such as maize and vegetables is about 60 per cent. The Centre's Food Corporation of India has been strongly urged to ensure that at least 15,000 tonnes of rice reaches the State well ahead of Monsoon. Otherwise, the situation is certain to become very critical.

Bird flu in Tripura

Even as West Bengal continues to grapple with the after affects of bird flu, the avian virus has hit Tripura. Over the past week, about 3,000 birds have died due to the H5N1 avian virus in the State's Dhalai district. The State government has got into action and plans to cull around 20,000 birds, within a five-km radius of the affected area over the next three days. This fresh virus outbreak makes Tripura the fifth State to be infected since 2006, the first being Maharashtra, followed by Gujarat, Manipur and West Bengal. Tripura has Bangladesh on one side and was vulnerable to becoming a victim. It is suspected that the bird flu could have been transmitted through smuggling of poultry birds from neighbouring Bangladesh, because of the pourous border. Given the fact that West Bengal is till date finding it difficult to free itself from the virus, Tripura can ill afford to be lax. More importantly, the Centre needs to ensure that all precautions are taken so that the other north-eastern States don't get infected.