Army deployed to tackle Indian rat plague
The Indian Army has been mobilised in the north-east of the country to help contain a plague of rats.
It has been caused by the flowering of the bamboo plant, which happens about once every 50 years; rats thrive on the flowers and seeds.
The last time the bamboo bloomed it wreaked havoc.
There were rats everywhere feeding on the young bamboo shoots and invading homes, towns and villages.
They multiplied rapidly, causing widespread destruction to crops across the region.
Thousands of people starved to death as the authorities failed to react.
The famine and the failure of the administration to tackle it so angered youths in the region that it sparked one of India's most ferocious and long-running separatist incidences.
Fifty years on, the memories of that famine still haunt many in Mizoram and Manipur.