Grouping of villages was a method employed by the Union Government in 1967 to contain and crush the Laldenga-led insurgency in Mizoram (then Mizo hills district under Assam province). ''During those days, transport and communications were very poor, so we need to understand the difficult situation which the army had to deal with,'' Mizoram Governor Lt Gen (rtd) M M Lakhera said, after inaugurating an international seminar on 'Grouping of Villages here today.
''With better transport and communications these days, it the Indian Army which has now opposed to such method (grouping of villages) to fight insurgency in areas such as affected by Maoists,'' the Governor added.
Pointing out that of the total 707 villages in present Mizoram, there are about 142 villages whose population was less than 200, the Governor said it might be a good idea to relocate these small villages into a larger units for better development.
''The impact of grouping of villages in Mizoram needs to be evaluated ''he added.
Organised by Zoram Research Foundation, the four-day seminar has experts from across the country and abroad presenting papers.
Giving a keynote address, Lalkhama, a retired IAS officer, highlighted different unwanted incidents during the Mizoram insurgency. ''What is more important now is to learn from the past experiences,'' he said.
Prof C Nunthara, former head of sociology department, NEHU and S K Agnihotri, IAS(rtd), former special officer of grouping of villages, presented papers in the morning session.
In his paper, Prof C Nunthara, wrote that the Indian Army launched Operation Accomplishment (1967-1970) where villages were re-grouped to isolate civilians from insurgents under the provision of Defence of India Rules introduced by the British during the World War-II.
''The proclaimed purpose was to safeguard the villagers from the undergrounds and to accelerate development work,'' Nunthara said.
On the contrary, the paper claimed, regrouping of villages largely increased the people's support for the insurgents. The method failed to achieve not only military but also economic targets as it resulted in a large-scale migration to urban areas due to the destruction of traditional jhum cultivation and failure to provide alternative means of livelihood.
According to Nunthara, of the total 764 villages in Mizoram at that time, 516 villages were evacuated and regrouped into 110 grouping centres.
However, S K Agnihotri, IAS, (retd) and former special officer of grouping of villages in Mizoram, claimed that the scheme was generally successful. ''It succeeded considerably in meeting the first criteria of a counter-insurgency operation, viz, defence or providing security to common citizens,'' he said.
''The incidents of violence involving common citizens came down which consequently made the life of the insurgents difficult and, thus creating conditions for diplomacy and dialogue,'' Agnihotri said.
Col Ali Ahmed, research fellow (Institute of Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi); Dr Lalngurliana Sailo, associate professor (department of History & Ethnography, Mizoram University); Prof Sajal Nag (Head of History Dept), Assam University and Shanaz Kimi Leblhuber, research fellow, University of Vienna, Austria, presented papers in the afternoon session.
Other resource persons included Prof Nandini Sundar, department of sociology, Delhi University; Dr Joy L K Pachuau, Associate Professor, Centre for Historical Studies, JNU, New Delhi; B K Roy Burman, former chairman of Commission for Review of Environmental & Social Sector Policies, Plans & Programmes for Human Development.
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