at least 100 people, besides heavy loss to human property and crops. Some elderly villagers in the undeveloped, more traditional region, recalling this event, have claimed that their warnings based on folk traditions were dismissed as superstition by the government of Assam, which then ruled what is now the present state of Mizoram. An estimated two million rats were killed and collected by the locals, after a bounty of 40 paisa was placed on each. However, even after the increase in the rat population was noted, preparations by the government to avoid a famine were limited. This negligence by Assam and Indian government led to the foundation of the Mizo National Famine Front (MNFF), set up to provide relief to the far-flung areas. This body later became the Mizo National Front (MNF), which staged a major uprising in 1966. Under its leader Laldenga (who later became the chief minister of Mizoram), MNF fought a bitter separatist struggle for 20 years against the Indian Army until an accord that guaranteed Mizoram's autonomy as a separate state was signed in 1986. Chief Minister Zoramthanga, a former guerrilla leader, made preparations for the predicted 2006 mautâm for two years. In June 2006, the Indian Army was pressed into service as an emergency measure to assist the state administration in reaching remote areas. The state administration arranged for alternate food crops to be grown locally, and also arranged for the army to provide instructions on pest control. Villagers were encouraged to grow turmeric and ginger, partially as an insurance against variations in purchasing power, and also because the aromatic spices ward off rodent raids. Regular rodent outbreaks associated with bamboo flowering (and subsequent fruiting and seeding) also occur in the nearby Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland, as well as in Laos, Japan, Madagascar, and South America. Thingtâm, a similar famine, occurs with the flowering of another species of bamboo, Bambusa tulda. Mautam and thingtam have been observed to strictly alternate, with a gap of 18 years from mautam to thingtam and a gap of 30 years from thingtam to mautam. Recorded instances of mautam include 1864, 1910–1912, 1958–1959, and 2007–2008 and those of thingtam include 1880–1884, 1928–1929, and 1976–1977. The next predicted events if this pattern continues are thingtam in 2025–2026 and mautam in 2055–2056. See also Bamboo blossom Population cycle References External links . . . . . .