Impact of Insurgency on Agricultural Activities in Mizoram

Insurgency in any country or State, adversely affects all aspects of human life including their social, economic and political life. Insurgency broke out in Mizoram on 1^st March 1966. Mizoram, is an agricultural State where the primitive method of shifting cultivation known as ‘jhuming’ is still practised. The Mizo's agricultural activity, in most cases, implies jhum activity. The successive jhum activity consists of cutting and felling of trees, bamboos etc., burning, dribbling of paddy seeds, weedings, harvesting, threshing and transportation to the villages. insurgency had practically affected all aspects of the Mizo life in general and their agricultural activities in particular. As the agriculturalists could not effectively devote themselves to their agricultural activities in the face of MNF insurgency and the various anti-insurgency measures taken by the government and the security forces, it greatly affected their agricultural economy. As the Mizo economy at that time was practically an agricultural economy, their inability to engage themselves in agricultural activities as they did before the insurgency, had a great impact on their economic life.