Naxal Issue: UN refers it as armed conflict, India objects.But Corporate War against Aboriginal India Makes it a Perfect Conflict Zone!
Troubled Galaxy Destroyed Dreams- Chapter 503
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
Raising strong objection to a United Nations report terming the Naxal issue "armed conflict," India declared Friday that the Maoist guerilla groups operating in the country did not fall into that category according to international law.But the fact is that Corporate War against Aboriginal India Makes it a Perfect Conflict Zone!Encouraged by some successes, the states — mainly Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh — being assisted by Central paramilitary forces will further intensify their operations against Maoists to "gain as much ground as possible" in the Red zone before the Monsoon fully sweeps the region.
Citing decisions taken in recent review meeting — chaired by Union home minister P Chidambaram — of the entire issue in Jharkhand, sources in the home ministry said more central paramilitary forces would join the states in the next few days.
Just Remember!Hours after Naxals blew up a bus in Chhattisgarh killing over 30 people, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said he had a "limited" mandate and has asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for more, hinting at the demand by some states for use of air-support to tackle Maoists.
Replying to questions on the need for air-support to tackle the Naxal menace and the Cabinet Committee on Security's refusal to endorse the use of the same, Chidambaram said, "I can implement the mandate that is given to me. Now I believe that the collective wisdom is better than an individual statement."
He said the chief ministers of Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Orissa all ask for air-support.
India's envoy to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, while objecting to the recent UN report on "Children and Armed Conflicts", made it clear that New Delhi's protest related only to the term "armed conflict".
Officials in New York confirmed to The Telegraph that India was not keen to make it a big issue and had no objection to the rest of the report. Rather, they said, India welcomes the reference in the report to children being used by the Maoists because it suits New Delhi's position.
"I should make it clear that the violence being perpetrated by these groups, though completely abhorrent and condemnable, certainly does not make this a zone of armed conflict as defined by international law," Puri told the UN Security Council.
"We, therefore, cannot accept reporting on these incidents as falling within the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict," he said, referring to top UN official Radhika Coomaraswamy.
The report, drawn up by the office of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and submitted to the Security Council, highlighted the recruitment and use of children by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
Coomaraswamy did not respond to questions on India's specific objection but spoke generally to reporters about the difficulty of defining an armed conflict.
"What is an armed conflict is contested," she said, adding that many countries cited in the report claimed that they were not in situations of armed conflict.
"What we determine is that there has to be a political dimension to it for an armed conflict," she said, adding that the report made a disclaimer that this was not a "legal determination" of the situation.
Meanwhile,Photographs of dead Maoists killed by Indian security forces being carried "animal-like" hanging from bamboo sticks have prompted an official reproach from the home ministry, reports said Friday.
The pictures, published Thursday after an attack by security forces on a Maoist camp in the east of the country, showed women with hands and feet bound to poles as they were carried from nearby forested areas.
"The way those bodies were being carried was simply inhuman," a senior official in the ministry of home affairs told The Express newspaper.
The unnamed official said carrying bodies with bamboo poles might be necessary in jungle areas where Maoist camps are found "but once they come out of the forest area, they should use stretchers to carry bodies".
Local paramilitary forces and the police have been told to treat the dead with more dignity, the official said.
Indian security forces killed 12 Maoists, including three women, in a gunfight late Wednesday in the latest of a series of raids against rebel strongholds in the east of country.
The government launched a major offensive last year to tackle the worsening left-wing insurgency, which critics say is leading to human rights violations and civilian deaths.
Since the start of the offensive, the Maoists have hit back with their own bloody strikes including the massacre of 76 policemen in April and the derailment of a train that killed 146.
The images of the women attached to the poles were explicit even by Indian standards, where photographs of the bloody aftermath of accidents or militant attacks are routinely published by newspapers and magazines.
"The aim is also to prevent the ultras from regaining the lost territory. For this, the states will need more central forces which can be stationed there for sometime. Since the operation will be difficult once the area is full of rain-water during July-September, it is now planned to at least keep the heat on till the Monsoon completely sweeps the region", said a senior official.
Last week, the state police along with CRPF personnel had busted one of the biggest Maoists' camps in the areas of Tegir, Gerei and Mamel in the bordering districts of West Singhbhum and Khunti in Jharkhand. It was found that the ultras had not only set up an armed training camp on a hill top of thick forest area but also established lathe machines for manufacturing weapons and spare parts.
"It was a big success. The camp was well settled with solar panels and fortified with bunkers. Though the ultras fled away, they left behind the well-equipped camp which had been the mainstay of their operations against security personnel in Jharkhand and West Bengal", said the official.
Jharkhand, where the anti-Maoist operation saw a dip during the JMM leader Shibu Soren's chief minister-ship due his sympathetic attitude towards the naxals, will now be the flag-bearer of all anti-Maoist operations in coming months as the Center has, by virtue of Governor's rule, been calling the shots in the state.
Apprehending that the ultras would try to flee to neighbouring West Bengal and Orissa, the Center meanwhile roped in both these states for joint operations in bordering areas. "The special operation which witnessed killing of eight Maoists including three women Naxalites in Duli forest area in West Midnapur district in West Bengal on Tuesday night was the extension of what is being done in Jharkhand", said the official.
The intelligence, which security forces got in Jharkhand, provided security forces vital input of ultras' movements in West Bengal and Orissa.
Naxal Issue: UN refers it as armed conflict, India objects
19 Jun 2010, 0324 hrs IST,ET BureauNEW DELHI: India has taken exception to the inclusion of the Naxal issue under the category of an ``armed conflict'' in an UN report.
Taking up the matter in the UN, India's envoy to UN Hardeep Singh Puri told the Security Council that Maoist violence does not fall within the definition of armed conflict under international law.
"At the outset I should make clear that the violence being perpetrated by these groups though completely abhorrent and condemnable, certainly does not make this a zone of armed conflict as defined by international law," he was quoted as saying.
"We, therefore, cannot accept reporting on these incidents as falling within the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict," he said. He also told the UN Security Council that India was taking steps to address the issue. "We strongly condemn these despicable acts of Naxal violence and are fully committed to controlling such diabolical activities," he said.
The reference to the Naxal issue was made in a UN report on 'Children and Armed Conflicts' which was submitted to the UNSC. The report, which is produced by the office of secretary general Ban Ki-moon, highlighted the recruitment and use of children by Maoist in Chhattisgarh. The report said Naxals have admitted that children were used as messengers and informers and also given training to use non-lethal and lethal weapons, including landmines. It further pointed out the Maoists carried out attacks on schools in an effort to destroy government structures and instill fear within the local community.
UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy was quoted as saying that the definition of an armed is contested. "What is an armed conflict is contested," she said. She added that many countries named in the report claimed they are not in situations of armed conflict.
"What we determine is that there has to be a political dimension to it for an armed conflict," she said. The countries in the report, according to her, were chosen on the basis that it is a "political conflict with humanitarian consequences for children."
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/Naxal-Issue-UN-refers-it-as-armed-conflict-India-objects/articleshow/6065783.cms
Since the country's security is of prime importance, the Ministry is ready to jam the communications, Raja told reporters here, adding, his ministry would follow the instructions of the Union Home ministry in this regard.
He was replying to whether his ministry would adopt the strategy of interrupting the communication services in the border areas, like in Jammu and Kashmir, since extremists are increasingly using mobile phones for communication.
Forces to step up anti-Naxal operations to beat rains
Times of India - Vishwa Mohan - 1 day ago
... by Union home minister P Chidambaram — of the entire issue in Jharkhand, ... chief minister-ship due his sympathetic attitude towards the naxals, ...No consensus on role of armed forces in Naxal ops
Times of India - 10 Jun 2010The paracommandos, in turn, cannot be rushed into Naxal-hit areas all of a sudden without specific plans and ground-level intelligence. Even as Chidambaram ...Anti-Naxal operations to be discussed at CCS meet tomorrow - Times of India
Govt divided over using Army to curb Naxals - IBNLive.com
Indira Gandhi used Army to break Naxals: Retired General - NDTV.com
Hindustan Times - Press Trust of India
all 67 news articles »
NDTV.comCentre plans to smash Naxal hideouts in Jharkhand
Sify - Tapan Chakravorti - 2 days ago
Union home minister P Chidambaram, in his recent visit to the state capital ... According to the report, nearly 310 Naxal attacks had been reported in 2007, ...No laxity in anti-Naxal operations: Jharkhand governor
Times of India - 3 Jun 2010"There will be no laxity in (anti-) Naxal operations.... they will continue," he told reporters after meeting Union home minister P Chidambaram here. ...Anti-Naxal ops to continue: Farook - Indian Express
Anti-naxal ops will continue in Jhar: Governor - Press Trust of India
all 63 news articles »With Soren out, Naxals see red in Jharkhand
Hindustan Times - 4 days agoCommercial pilots are being used for air support in anti-Naxal ... Home Minister P. Chidambaram had also visited Ranchi last week to take stock of security ...Soren gone, forces fight Maoists - Calcutta Telegraph
Anti-Maoist offensive intensified, 10 rebels killed in Jharkhand - Sify
Jharkhand Anti-Maoist Offensive Beefed-Up - india-server.com
all 130 news articles »
OneindiaFight against Naxals: PC takes stock in Jharkhand
Indian Express - 11 Jun 2010Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday held a closed-door meeting with ... on twin issues of development in the Naxal strongholds and to build an offensive ...Chidambaram takes stock of anti-Maoists operations in Jharkhand - Sify
Chidambaram to review anti-Naxalite ops - samay live
PC declares war on graft - Calcutta Telegraph
All India Radio - 24WorldNews
all 26 news articles »
Calcutta TelegraphGovt to revise strategy to counter Naxals
Times of India - 31 May 2010"I am told a meeting of CCS is scheduled shortly," home minister P Chidambaram said when asked whether the government was planning to revisit the anti-Naxal ...Army reluctant to enter Naxal ops - Financial Express
MHA to seek more choppers, funds for anti-Naxal ops - Economic Times
CCS likely to review anti-Naxal operational strategy - Press Trust of India
Indian Express - Deccan Chronicle
all 17 news articles »Ajai Shukla: Naxalism - Arranging the facts
Business Standard - 4 days agoOnly Chidambaram can answer why those CMs — who are squarely blamed for the Naxal problem via home ministry leaks — are now being asked for suggestions. ...
Business StandardCentre lacks stomach for an all-out war against Naxals?
Times of India - Rajeev Deshpande - 28 May 2010
Home minister P Chidambaram's confession that he has a restricted mandate in ... Barely had the Centre injected some steel into its anti-Naxal campaign, ...Differing voices in UPA mar fight against Naxals - Economic Times
Govt plans to set up phone towers in CRPF camps in Naxal areas - Times of India
India's Greatest Threat? - The Diplomat
all 11 news articles »
The DiplomatChidambaram asks states to recruit double the number of cops
Times of India - 2 Jun 2010... home minister P Chidambaram asked states to enhance their police training ... when MPs of 34 worst Naxal-affected districts assemble here for a meeting. ...Double police recruitment, Govt to Naxal-hit states - Press Trust of India
Many police stations in shabby state: PC - Sify
all 152 news articles »
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Countering The Maoist Threat
by Arun Kumar Singh/ Asian AgeIndia is haemorrhaging badly and may soon be in a coma, given the recent spate of headlines about scams — 2G spectrum scam, the Indian Premier League scam, Madhu Koda — and terror. The June 7 verdict on the Bhopal gas tragedy should reinforce the argument that Parliament urgently needs to pass a suitable liability bill to protect Indian interests. The tragedy of India is that common sense proposals are often overlooked due to ignorance, arrogance and zero accountability.
No great crystal ball gazing is required to predict that the next big threat to India will arise if Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence manages to "coordinate and manipulate" the activities of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), Indian Maoists, and local insurgents of the Northeast, in the same manner as it is doing in Kashmir. Media reports already mention "links" between the Maoists, Northeast insurgents and the LeT.
After the two Maoist attacks near Dantewada on April 6 and May 17, 2010, followed by a series of incidents of blowing up rail tracks and derailing trains (including the horrendous May 28, 2010, twin train derailing incident), the time has finally come to use the military while allowing the paramilitary and police time to build up the required capability in terms of personnel, training and equipment.
On May 17, 2010, news channels broadcast an interview with a home ministry bureaucrat who made the following valid observations:
l There are 350,000 vacancies in the police force that need to be filled up.
l To have sufficient capability to enforce law and order in the country, about 800,000 additional police personnel would be necessary.
Given the importance of the police force to act as the last line of defence against Maoists and foreign terrorists, it is evident that the country will need another decade to recruit, train and equip a police force that is able to combat terror and the Maoists.
Some urgent interim measures have to be found to combat terror. The reluctance of the overstretched Army and Air Force to get involved is well known. However, the fact remains that the Indian Navy, despite being overstretched on anti-piracy patrols in the Gulf of Aden and exclusive economic zone patrols off Maldives, Mauritius and the Seychelles, was additionally tasked with the duties of peacetime coastal security after 26/11. Extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures. A few available interim options to combat Maoist terror are as follows:
l Use of "benign" air power: The Indian Air Force's unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could be used for surveillance; helicopters could be used for surveillance, casualty evacuation, ferrying supplies and quick movement of paramilitary forces to tactically advantageous positions, while bypassing the improvised explosive device threat on land.
l Permit selective use of armed helicopters against terrorists and Maoists, especially in open areas, where probability of collateral damage is low.
l Permitting seamless movement of security forces involved in hot pursuit across state boundaries.
l The Army could be given adequate land in the most Naxal-infested areas to set up training centres, cantonments etc. The Army's presence would boost the confidence of the local people, paramilitary and police.
l All police and paramilitary officers should serve for one year with Army infantry units at the beginning of their careers. This will ensure higher standards of common training, leadership and synergy.
The financial implications of urgently raising, equipping and training an additional force of about one million for the police, paramilitary and intelligence would be high, especially given the fact that India expects to spend about $9 billion in the next three years on equipment for its existing police and paramilitary, and would also be buying weapons worth over $100 billion for its armed forces in the next decade. Nonetheless, additional money will need to be found quickly.
While ensuring that the writ of the state government prevails and the estimated 35,000-armed Maoists and their co-conspirators (the mining mafia) are neutralised, winning the "hearts and minds" of the totally neglected tribals is equally essential. Given the fact that the tribals have been exploited since 1947, special development programmes (which protect their land, mineral wealth and forests) must be implemented urgently. The right to food, potable water and employment is as important as the right to information and education. About 75 per cent of the subsidised food does not reach the poor, while 10 per cent of our total food production is lost due to poor storage. As per a TV channel, the present potable water shortage in India is about 400 million litres per day. The country is sitting on a ticking bomb that needs to be defused.
Aesop once said, "We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to high office". The scams of independent India have seen the loot of about $1 trillion, which is what "Imperial Great Britain" is estimated to have siphoned off in 200 years of colonial rule (according to an article by Mohan Murti, former director, CII). Also about $1.4 trillion is reportedly stashed away in Swiss banks. If this combined $2.4 trillion loot is miraculously recovered then India's present $1 trillion economy will triple overnight, and war against poverty-cum-domestic terror can be won. Not by additional money alone, but also by good administration and a speedy and fair judicial system.
Tackling corruption is critical to eliminating Maoist terror in the long-term. In the short term, the reluctant military will once again be needed to establish the rule of law, since all other state institutions have failed. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has his work cutout as this crisis cannot be resolved by inaction or appeasement.
Vice-Admiral Arun Kumar Singh retired as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval
Command, Visakhapatnam
PCAPA promises 'justice', names 9 CPM leaders as culprits
Kolkata: In a counter to the CBI, the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) on Friday released the names of nine top CPM leaders of West Midnapore, including a Cabinet minister, Sushanta Ghosh, as the men responsible for the Jnaneswari train derailment. The PCAPA, like the CBI, announced Rs 1 lakh reward for anyone who could capture these nine leaders dead or alive and bring them before the committee.
The PCAPA announced the names and reward following the CBI's move on Thursday to book its convenor Asit Mahato in the train crash case. The PCAPA also announced that it would boycott the CBI investigation into the Jnaneswari Express tragedy.
Manoj Mahato, a PCAPA leader, said, "We ourselves demanded a CBI probe thinking theirs would be a neutral investigation. But it seems that some of the officers recruited by the CPM are probing the matter. And that's why they have framed our chief Asit Mahato."
"We will bring the real culprits in front of the people and they will be punished in a Kangaroo Court. We know who has done this. There were nine people who committed the crime. They are Sushanta Ghosh, Lakshman Ghosh, Dahareswar Sen, Hiraralal Mahato, Annuj Pandey, Prasanto Das, Arjun Mahato, Dhruba Sannigrahi and Manik Mahato," said Manoj Mahato.
The outfit promised a reward of Rs 1 lakh for anybody who could capture these nine men and bring them to PCAPA leaders. "If the CBI can announce reward on our leaders, we can also announce money for anybody who can give any information about these people. We will collect the total amount of Rs 9 lakh by begging," Mahato said.
The PCAPA will observe 'black day' on June 23, 24 against the CBI move to 'frame' Asit Mahato, added Mahato.
Source: Indian Express
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Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Naxalite. (Discuss) |
| Naxalite-Maoist insurgency | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Map showing the districts where the Naxalite movement is active (2007) | ||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
| Belligerents | ||||||||||||||||||
 India [1] |  Naxalites | |||||||||||||||||
| Commanders | ||||||||||||||||||
 Gen. V K Singh, Chief of Army Staff ACM P V Naik, Chief of the Air Staff Vikram Srivastava, Dir. Gen. CRPF |  Muppala Lakshmana Rao Kishenji | |||||||||||||||||
| Strength | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1,414,000 1,800,000 in reserve [2] | ~10,000 - 20,000 (2009)[3] | |||||||||||||||||
| Casualties and losses | ||||||||||||||||||
| Since 2005: 1,155 killed | Since 2005: 1,420 killed | |||||||||||||||||
| 6,000+[4] (death toll given since the year 2000[5]) Since 2005: 1,499 civilians killed | ||||||||||||||||||
| |||||
| |||||
The Naxalite-Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict[6] between Maoist groups, known as Naxalites or Naxals, and the Indian government.[7]
The insurgency started as a peasant rebellion in the eastern Indian village of Naxalbari in 1967 and has currently spread to a large swath in the central and eastern parts of the country referred to as the "Red Corridor"[8]. In 2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the Naxalites "The single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country."[7] In 2009, he said the country was "losing the battle against Maoist rebels".[9]
Naxalites claim to be supported by the poorest rural populations, especially Dalits and Adivasis.[10] They have frequently targeted tribals, police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor[11] and follow a strategy of rural rebellion similar to that of the protracted People's War against the government.[12]
The Indian government's Home Secretary G K Pillai has said that he recognises that there are legitimate grievances regarding local people's access to forest land and produce and the distribution of benefits from mining and hydro power developments[13], but claims that the Naxalites' long-term goal is to establish an Indian Marxist state. The Home Secretary stated that the government had decided to tackle the Naxalites head-on, and take back much of the lost areas.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Naxalite
Naxalites are a group of far-left radical communists, supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced to the splitting in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In recent years, it has spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist).[14] As of 2009, Naxalites are active across approximately 220 districts in twenty states of India[15] accounting for about 40 percent of India's geographical area,[16] They are especially concentrated in an area known as the "Red Corridor", where they control 92,000 square kilometers.[16]
[edit] Region affected
The Naxalites claim to operate in 182 districts in India, mainly in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal.[9] The area affected by Naxalism stretches from the border with Nepal to Karnataka in the South (2006).[6] In West Bengal areas west of Howrah are affected by the insurgency.[17] Chhattisgarh is the epicentre of the conflict (2007).[18]
Areas governed by the elected Communist Party of India (Marxist) in India such as West Bengal, specifically those of Jangalmahal and Lalgarh, are some of the worst affected by anti-state violence by Maoist groups who cite the accumulation of unaccounted for wealth in the hands of CPI-M leaders and specific failure to counter problems they were elected to address such as caste discrimination and poverty.[19]
There is a correlation between areas with extensive coal resources and impact of the insurgency.[20] Naxalites conduct detailed socio-economic surveys before starting operations in a target area.[6]
In Chhattisgarh, the militia group Salwa Judum (which the BBC alleges is supported by the state government[21], an allegation rejected by the state[22][23])
was constituted in response to Naxalite activities, and has come under fire from pro-Maoist activist groups[24] for "atrocities and abuse against women"[25], employing child soldiers[26][27], and looting and destruction of property.[25]These allegations were rejected by a fact finding commission of the National Human Rights Commission of India (NHRC), appointed by the Supreme Court of India, who determined that the Salwa Judum was a spontaneous reaction by tribals against Maoist atrocities perpetrated against them[28][29].
In Bihar, the Ranvir Sena, a caste-supremacist paramilitary of the upper-caste landlords and proscribed terrorist organisation by the Indian government, has been known to kill Dalit civilians in retaliation for Naxalite activity.[30]
Similar paramilitary groups have emerged in Andhra Pradesh during the last decade. Some of these groups are Fear Vikas, Green Tigers, Nalladandu, Red Tigers, Tirumala Tigers, Palnadu Tigers, Kakatiya Cobras, Narsa Cobras, Nallamalla Nallatrachu (Cobras) and Kranthi Sena. Civil liberties activists were murdered by the Nayeem gang in 1998 and 2000.[31]. On 24 August 2005, members of the Narsi Cobras killed an individual rights activist and schoolteacher in Mahbubnagar district.[32][33]
[edit] History
The Naxalite movement started when a militant section of CPI(M) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal attacked the police on 25 May 1967 in Naxalbari village in North Bengal after a farmer was killed over a land dispute. The same year the Naxalites organised the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M).[34] In the 2000s there were peace talks with the state government of Andhra Pradesh.[7]
[edit] 2002
The People's War Group (PWG) intensified its attacks against politicians, police officers, and land and business owners in response to a July ban imposed on the group by the Andhra Pradesh government. The government responded by tightening security, allegedly ordering attacks on suspected PWG members by state police and the "Green Tigers". Police forces continued to enjoy virtual impunity for the torture and killing of PWG rebels during police encounters. The Maoist Communist Center rebels intensified their armed campaign against Indian security forces following the killing of their leader by police in December.
[edit] 2003
The conflict in Andhra Pradesh intensified as Naxalite rebel groups, in particular the PWG, continued guerrilla attacks on police and government targets while the security forces stepped up counter-insurgency efforts. An October assassination attempt on Chief Minister Naidu was consistent with the PWG's practice of targeting government officials to draw attention to their cause.
[edit] 2004
Sporadic, low-intensity fighting between the PWG and government forces continued for most of the year. Attacks on police and TDP party officials, believed to be carried out by the PWG, accounted for most major incidents and deaths. A three-month cease-fire, announced in late June, led to failed negotiations between the government and the PWG. A few days into the cease-fire, an attack attributed to the PWG placed the cease-fire in jeopardy.
[edit] 2005
Violent clashes between Maoist rebels and state security forces and paramilitary groups increased following the breakdown of peace talks between the PWG and the state government of Andhra Pradesh. Rebels continued to employ a wide-range of low-intensity guerrilla tactics against government institutions, officials, security forces and paramilitary groups. For the first time in recent years, Maoist rebels launched two large scale attacks against urban government targets. Fighting was reported in 12 states covering most of south, central and north India with the exception of India's northeast and northwest.
[edit] 2006
Maoist attacks continued, primarily on government and police targets. Civilians were also affected in landmine attacks affecting railway cars and truck convoys. Clashes between state police and rebels also resulted in deaths of members of both parties, and civilians that were caught in the crossfire. Fighting differs from state to state, depending on security and police force responses. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, security forces have been somewhat successful in maintaining control and combating Maoist rebels. The other state that is most affected, Chhattisgarh, has seen an increase in violence between Maoist rebels and villagers who are supported by the government.
[edit] 2007
Fighting continued between Naxalite Maoists and government security forces throughout the year. The majority of hostilities took place in Chhattisgarh, which turned especially deadly when over 400 Naxalites attacked a Chhattisgarh police station, seizing arms and killing dozens. Civilians are now wedged between joining the Maoist insurgence or supporting the Salwa Judum and face coercion from both sides.
In November 2007 reports emerged that anti-SEZ (Special Economic Zone) movements such as the Bhoomi Uchched Pratirodh Committee in Nandigram in West Bengal, which arose after the land appropriation and human displacement following the SEZ Act of 2005, have joined forces with the Naxalites since February to keep the police out.[35] Recently, police found weapons belonging to Maoists near Nandigram.
[edit] 2008
Civilians were most affected in the ongoing fighting between Maoist rebels and government security forces. Of the 16 states touched by this conflict, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were the most affected. One positive note for Chhattisgarh was that fatalities, although still high, were significantly down from 2007. Similarly, Andhra Pradesh, the state with the most Maoist activity a few years ago, has improved security with a corresponding drop in fatality rates. Unfortunately, as conditions have improved in Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh, the Maoist forces seem to have shifted their operations to the state of Orissa where conditions have worsened.
[edit] 2009
In September 2009 India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admitted that the Maoists had growing appeal among a large section of Indian society, including tribal communities, the rural poor as well as sections of the intelligentsia and the youth. He added that "Dealing with left-wing extremism requires a nuanced strategy - a holistic approach. It cannot be treated simply as a law and order problem." In the first half of 2009, 56 Maoist attacks have been reported.[9]
[edit] 2010
In February 2010 24 paramilitary personnel of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were killed in the Silda camp attack, an operation the guerillas stated was the beginning of "Operation Peace Hunt", the Maoist answer to the government "Operation Green Hunt" that was recently launched against them.[36]
On 6 April 2010, Naxalite rebels killed 76 Indian soldiers and wounded 50 in a series of attacks on security convoys in Dantewada district in the central Indian state of Chattisgarh.[37] The attack resulted in the biggest loss of life security forces have suffered since launching a large-scale offensive against the rebels.[37]
On 17 May 2010, a Naxalite landmine destroyed a bus in Dantewada district, killing up to 44 people including several Special Police Officers (SPOs) and civilians.[38]
On 28 May 2010 the derailment of a Kolkata–Mumbai night train killed at least 150 persons. Officials claim that Maoists are responsible for the sabotage which caused the disaster.[39]
[edit] Human toll
The first combat deaths of the insurgency were in 1980.[7] The highest number of incidents of violence has taken place in four worst-affected states—Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa—where 2,212 people lost their lives from January 2006 to August 2009.[34] Around 1,100 people are known to have died during 2009. The number includes 600 civilians, 300 security personnel and 200 rebels.[40]
There were more than 40,000 displaced people in 2006.[41]
According to the Institute of Peace and Conflict studies, Naxal groups have recruited children in different capacities and exposed them to injury and death. However the same accusation has been levelled at the state-sponsored Salwa Judum anti-Maoist group, and Special Police officers (SPOs) assisting the government security forces.[42]
[edit]
From the Ministry of Home Affairs it has been stated that:
- 1996: 156 deaths [43]
- 1997: 428 deaths[43]
- 1998: 270 deaths[43]
- 1999: 363 deaths[43]
- 2000: 50 deaths[43]
- 2001: 100+ deaths[43]
- 2002: 140 deaths[43]
- 2003: 451 deaths[43]
- 2004: 500+ deaths[43]
- 2005: 700+ deaths[43]
- 2006: 750 deaths[43]
- 2007: 650 deaths[43]
- 2008: 794 deaths[43]
- 2009: 1,134 deaths[44]
According to the BBC, more than 6,000 people have died during the rebels' 20-year fight.[45]
[edit] See also
- Naxalite
- Salwa Judum
- Red corridor
- Chhatradhar Mahato
- Operation Green Hunt
- List of Naxalite and Maoist groups in India
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/MCC.htm
- ^ http://www.csis.org/files/media/csis/pubs/060626_asia_balance_powers.pdf
- ^ http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/09/20099191105479635.html
- ^ "South Asia | India police die in Maoist clash". BBC News. 2009-02-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7864296.stm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "Women 'rebels' killed in India". BBC News. 2000-11-01. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/1002305.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ^ a b c "India's Naxalites: A spectre haunting India". The Economist. 2006-04-12. http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7799247. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ a b c d "Armed Conflicts Report - India-Andhra Pradesh". Ploughshares.ca. http://www.ploughshares.ca/libraries/ACRText/ACR-IndiaAP.html. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ By FRANCE 24 (with wires) (text). "Indian Maoists briefly hijack train during national elections". France 24. http://www.france24.com/en/20090422-india-elections-train-hijacking-hostages-maoist-rebels-Jharkhand. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ a b c "India is 'losing Maoist battle'". BBC News. 2009-09-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8256692.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ^ "Primer: Who are the Naxalites?: Rediff.com news". Us.rediff.com. http://us.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/02spec.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "CENTRAL/S. ASIA - 'Maoist attacks' kill Indian police". Al Jazeera English. 2007-03-15. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/07/200971214640798718.html. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "Communists Fight in India « Notes & Commentaries". Mccaine.org. http://mccaine.org/2009/06/24/communists-fight-in-india/. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoists-looking-at-armed-overthrow-of-state-by-2050/articleshow/5648742.cms
- ^ Ramakrishnan, Venkitesh (2005-09-21). "The Naxalite Challenge". Frontline Magazine (The Hindu). http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021006700400.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ Handoo, Ashook. "Naxal Problem needs a holistic approach". Press Information Bureau. http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=50833. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ a b "Rising Maoists Insurgency in India". Global Politician. 2007-01-15. http://globalpolitician.com/22790-india. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ "West Bengal: Districts Affected by Naxalite Activity". Satp.org. http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/images/westbengal_naxal.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "Asian Centre for Human Rights". Achrweb.org. http://www.achrweb.org/ncm/ncm.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/naxals-make-life-tough-for-cpm-cadres-in-jangalmahal/101412-37.html?from=search
- ^ 9 August 2006 (2006-08-09). "Asia Times Online :: South Asia news - Hidden civil war drains India's energy". Atimes.com. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HH09Df01.html. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "Indian state 'backing vigilantes'". BBC News (BBC). 2008-07-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7505252.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ Hearing plea against Salwa Judum, SC says State cannot arm civilians to kill Indian Express, Apr 01, 2008.
- ^ SC raps Chattisgarh on Salwa Judum Rediff.com, March 31, 2008.
- ^ dnaIndia
- ^ a b "Report recommends withdrawal of Salwa Judum". The Hindu (The Hindu Group). 2007-01-19. http://www.hindu.com/2007/01/19/stories/2007011905501300.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ "The Adivasis of Chhattisgarh: Victims of the Naxalite Movement and Salwa Judum Campaign." (PDF). Asian Centre for Human Rights (New Delhi: Asian Centre for Human Rights): 42. 2006. http://www.achrweb.org/reports/india/Chattis0106.pdf. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ "Caught between Rebels and Vigilantes". Reuters Alertnet (Reuters). 2008-08-27. http://www.alertnet.org/printable.htm?URL=/db/crisisprofiles/IN_MAO.htm. Retrieved 2010-01-30.
- ^ 'Existence of Salwa Judum necessary' The Economic Times, Oct 6, 2008.
- ^ DNAIndia
- ^ "Carnage in Narayanpur". Hinduonnet.com. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1605/16050280.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "The Vigilante groups: Of the tigers and cobras". Asian Centre for Human Rights. http://www.achrweb.org/ncm/vigilante.htm. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021008201200.htm
- ^ http://www.achrweb.org/ncm/vigilante.htm
- ^ a b http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Naxal-violence-claims-2600-lives-in-three-years/articleshow/5111716.cms
- ^ "Reports see Maoist Hand in Nandigram", Monideepa Bannerjie, New Delhi Television, 8 November 2007.
- ^ "India Maoists attack troops' camp". BBC News. 2010-02-16. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8517371.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ^ a b "Scores of Indian soldiers killed in Maoist ambushes". BBC World. 6 April 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8604256.stm.
- ^ http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/naxals-blow-up-bus-near-dantewada-33-killed-26123.php
- ^ "Sixty five dead after 'sabotage' derails Indian train". British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 May 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/south_asia/10178967.stm.
- ^ "India's Maoists offer ceasefire". BBC News. 2010-02-22. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8529124.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ^ "Reuters AlertNet - Indian Maoist violence". Alertnet.org. http://www.alertnet.org/db/crisisprofiles/IN_MAO.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ "Articles #2738 , Child Soldiers of the Naxal Movement". Ipcs.org. 2008-11-24. http://www.ipcs.org/article_details.php?articleNo=2738. Retrieved 2009-07-13.
- ^ 600 civilians, 317 members of security forces and 217 rebels died in Maoist-related violence. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8507525.stm
- ^ "India's Maoists 'ready for talks'". BBC News. 2010-02-10. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8507525.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
[edit] External links
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INDIA'S FORGOTTEN WAR- blogging naxalism.
Preparing for the Offensive- Lessons from the LTTE
According to the Indo-Asian News Service, the CPI (Maoist) has circulated an internal document entitled, "Post-Election Situation, Our Tasks'. The document seeks to apply the lessons learned from the recent defeat of the LTTE in Sri Lanka:
The document makes several references to the LTTE, which the Sri Lankan military crushed in May, ending one of the world's longest running insurgencies.
It says that 'the setback suffered by the LTTE has a negative effect on the revolutionary movement in India as well as South Asia and the world at large'.
'The experience of LTTE's setback in Sri Lanka is very important to study and take lessons. The mistake of the LTTE lay in its lack of study of the changes in enemy tactics and capabilities and an underestimation of the enemy along with an overestimation of its own forces and capabilities.'
Perhaps, more interestingly, the circular sets out a general strategic plan to counter the government's expected anti-Naxal offensive:
Under the sub-heading 'Immediate Tasks', it says the entire party and its armed wings need to carry out 'tactical counter-offensives and various forms of armed resistance and inflict severe losses to the enemy forces'.
'Attacks should be organised with meticulous planning against the state's khaki and olive-clad terrorist forces, SPOs (Special Police Officers), police informants, and other counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the people.
'These attacks should be carried out in close coordination with, and in support of, the armed resistance of the masses; these should be linked to the seizure of political power and establishment of base areas; it is the combined attacks by all the three wings … and the people at large that can ensure the defeat of the enemy offensive.
'In order to defeat the new offensive by the enemy and to protect the gains of People's War, it is very essential to rouse the masses throughout the country (to) stand up in support of the struggles in Dandakaranya, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka and other places'.
I think that there can be two broad interpretations of the document: 1) The Maoists are taking prudent steps to blunt the effects of the upcoming post-Monsoon government offensive, or 2) the Maoists are nervous that their Bastar national base (if it even exists) is at risk of being destroyed (with the concomitant risk of the government killing or capturing key leaders of the Party).
The doccument is either a sign of strategic and tactical skill or Naxalite nervousness. Maybe both.
September/Post-Monsoon Offensive Watch
It seems increasingly likely that the Singh government will launch a major anti-Naxalite offensive sometime after 1 September. I was contacted recently by someone working closely with the state police in Chhattisgarh who has said as much (trying to find out more). There have also been a number of stories in the Indian media lending credibility to this claim, including the recent re-deployment of 5,000 Border Security Personnel into India's eastern states.
Additionally, the Maoists, in anticipation of a major counter-insurgency campaign by the Centre, are allegedly preparing themselves by intensifying their operations. The CPI (Maoist) Politburo has, according to Rediff, issued a circular:
The politburo circular also has enough indications that the Maoist strategy to counter the proposed government offensive is to step up violence in their strongholds through what the Maoists call a Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign.
"We have to further aggravate the situation and create more difficulties to the enemy forces by expanding our guerrilla war to new areas on the one hand and intensifying the mass resistance in the existing areas so as to disperse the enemy forces over a sufficiently wider area;
"Hence the foremost task in every state is to intensify the war in their respective states while in areas of intense enemy repression there is need to expand the area of struggle by proper planning by the concerned committees; tactical counter-offensives should be stepped up and also taken up in new areas so as to divert a section of the enemy forces from attacking our guerrilla bases and organs of political power," the politburo said.
Now would be a logical time for Delhi to try and push the Maoists out of their jungle strongholds. The Singh government has just waged a successful re-election campaign and is politically safe in case something goes terribly wrong. Additionally, India's Forgotten War is no longer so forgotten. It has reached a tipping point. The Maoists are a growing threat to the state which can and is no longer being ignored. The Singh government knows that it must tackle them before the Maoists are in a position to seriously resist a concerted government counter-insurgency campaign. Now is the time for any rational government to move to prevent risking intolerable political and security costs.
The question is, how effective will a government strike on the heart of Naxal country be? More to come.
State Within a State Part 1
This story is significant. The Naxalite's brief detention and search of a government official travelling on southern Chhattisgarh's main highway is a relatively minor incident which highlights how the Indian government has lost control over large parts of the country:
The last three months have seen the Maoists tightening their grip on Chhattisgarh and the amount of control that they exercise over National Highway 43 is disturbing, intelligence officials told rediff.com. "The situation has worsened ever since the elections. They [Maoists] have gone from strength to strength. While the massacre of more than 30 people including a superintendent of police made headlines, the truth is that they have become even stronger in the Bastar region," said a senior state intelligence officer.
Other intelligence sources agreed that the impunity with which the rebels have started raiding and imposing themselves on NH 43 is a disturbing sign of their increasing clout in the region.
I travelled on NH 43 back in late 2007 and was told by a local CRPF commander that while security forces controlled the road during the day, the Naxalite writ ran during the night. Since that time, it seems that the government has lost further ground as the Maoists have strengthened their grip over southern Chhattisgarh. They administer justice, collect taxes and control access in an out of the region. They have virtually established a state within a state.
Sudeep Chakravarti on Maoism in India
Here's a great clip from Sudeep Chakravati, journalist and author of Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country, speaking at the Crossword Book Awards 2008 (sorry… the video's hosted at Rediff and I can't seem to embed it).
Chakravati is one of the most astute (and accessible) observers of Naxalism in India. He has an admirable ability to humanise the story without obscuring the larger issues. If there were more people of his calibre tracking the insurgency, perhaps the debate would be less polarised between those who see the Naxalites as mere terrorists and those who see them as virtuous revolutionaries. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.
India's Forgotten War Intensifies
First, my apologies for being relatively erratic with updates. I'm in the process of re-locating to Ottawa and just haven't had time to do much with India's Forgotten War. All of this is unfortunate timing on my part, because recent developments in the Maoist insurgency suggest that we may be witnessing not only the intensification of the war, but an evolution in its nature. The Naxalites have never presented as much of a threat to the stability of the state as they do now.
In the past month, the Naxalites have flexed their muscles and declared a 'Liberated Zone' in West Bengal. While government forces have re-established nominal control over Lalgarh, they have failed to inflict significant casualties on the Maoists who, having made their point, have simply melted back into the jungle.
This was followed last week by a major attack which killed at least 30 CRPF personnel (a number are still missing and unaccounted for). The attack was significant because not only was it a well co-ordinated, twin ambush, but the it occured near to Chattisgarh's capital, Ranchi Raipur (thanks to Rahul for catching my mistake).
Additionally, last week, PTI reported that:
An inter-state Maoist arms racket has been busted with the arrest of a businessman in the national capital and his counterpart in Jharkhand with recovery of a huge cache of bulletproof jackets and sophisticated gadgets.
While the existence of nascent urban Maoist cells is not news to anyone who has followed the growing tentacles of Naxalism in India, the arrests have made explicit the complex logistics and ideological networks which exist across the entire country. Revolutionary Maoism is not only a rural phenomenon that affects the poorest and most backward districts of the country. It is a national movement dedicated to the overthrow of India's current system of government.
Finally, demonstrating the new confidence of the Naxalites and perhaps signalling a shift in tactics, a spokesperson for the CPI (Maoist) has threatened to:
[R]esort to LTTE-style attacks against Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh... A threat has also been issued against Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, the release said and asked all Congress legislators, both from Parliament and assembly, to quit within a week or face "death warrants".
What has the government response been? As mentioned in a previous post, Delhi has now formally proscribed the CPI (Maoist) and a number of affiliated groups as 'terrorists'. Beyond that, there are unconfirmed reports that the government is planning a major, co-ordinated counter-insurgency campaign in the most badly affected districts this September. I hope to have more on this soon.
In the meantime, not much seems to have changed. The Naxalites are branching out tactically and territorially. They seem to have calculated that they are now in a position to intensify their insurgency. And, so far, the government has not seemed fit to meet this threat.
(Image: Manpreet Romana/AFP)
Military Response in Chhattisgarh
This seems significant. The Indian army has unveiled plans to establish a local command structure in Chhattisgarh tasked with gathering intelligence on the Maoists and training the state police. The army claims that this does not constitute the beginning of active involvement by its forces in counter-insurgency operations:
This is the army's first move to create a structured body to deal specifically with Naxalite activity. But army headquarters and the defence ministry do not equate this with a deployment of armed forces against the Maoist insurgency.
This is not the army's first foray into the Maoist insurgency (they have responsibility for running Chhattisgarh's counter-terrorism and jungle warfare centre), it is, however, the most direct. The army will now be permanently stationed in the war zone with an explicit anti-Naxalite mandate. It may be the beginning of increased army involvement in the fight or, more likely, be indicative of a smarter, more unified and flexible counter-insurgency approach being formed in Delhi.
In either case, I'm not at all sure that a militarisation of the conflict would be all bad. State police forces and many of the national para-police agencies have proven to be unprepared, ill-equipped and, at times, ill-disciplined. The Indian army is a widely respected and well-trained force. And, simply because the army is not fighting the insurgency, doesn't mean that the conflict isn't a virtual civil war.
I'd be curious what my reader's views might be.
Helping the Insurgency- One Human Rights Violation at a Time
The Asian Centre for Human Rights has released its 2009 report on India. It can be found here.
The report heavily criticises the conduct of the state in their war against the Naxalites. In particular, the government and security force's conduct in Chhattisgarh, the epicentre of the conflict, comes in for a drubbing:
The security forces and the state sponsored civilian militia Salwa Judum cadres were responsible for gross human rights violations in the name of counter insurgency operations.
Of course, the standard line amongst apologists for a flawed counter-insurgency policy is to question the neutrality of organisations such as the Asian Centre for Human Rights. This may be a reasonable strategy when defending the indefensible, but it's hardly convincing.
Much of India's disjointed anti-Naxalite counter-insurgency strategy is counter-productive. Setting aside for a moment the morality of a scorched earth campaign (which is, in effect, the approach that has been taken in Chhattisgarh), such an approach doesn't work in a country such as India.
Terrorising a population into submission and ensuring that the cost for individuals and communities who support insurgents is intolerably high can work, if it works at all, only in a more monolithic and authoritarian state. In a state like India, the terror can and always will be limited in scope and scale. The result is simply creating more resentment and fear, further boosting the credibility and the ranks of the Maoists.
Salwa Judum is a failure. The creation of SPOs is a failure. The forced re-settlement of Adivasi is also a failure. The government needs to be smarter and more flexible than the Naxalites. Of course, there are the two priorities of a unified response as well as smart development measures targeting areas at risk from Naxalism. Equally important is the deployment of flexible, highly mobile and disciplined troops who can respond to information gleaned both from real-time monitoring and the cultivation of so-called human intelligence. This will not be possible if the state alienates the population by sanctioning brutality against the innocent.
Economics of War
A confession. I'm allergic to simplistic, mono-causal analyses of complex, multi-dimensional 'problems' like the Naxal insurgency. This sometimes leads me to commit the opposite sin of trying to find complexity where it may not exist. It's good to take a step back and say, "Keep it simple stupid!"
If there's one key, operative variable for the intensification and sustainability of the Naxalite insurgency in India's eastern states, it is the presence of a wealth of exploitable natural resources. I have no intention of making a silly, reductionist claim (No blood for oil!), rather I believe that its both defensible and compelling to state that the presence of natural resources is the main reason that Naxalism has torn apart places like Chhattisgargh and Jharkhand rather than West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.
I am fortunate to have had a chance to take a course at the LSE under David Keen. Keen's work on the political economy of conflict is compelling and also deceptively simple. In short, Keen argues that areas with significant tradeable resources are more likely to experience war and once a war does occur, it is likely to be prolonged as a conflict economy develops which acts as a deterrent for peacemaking among the participants. I'm not doing his nuanced argument justice (and am making it sound a bit teleological), but it's good enough for a blog post.
The war in Chhattisgargh and Jharkhand was not caused by the presence of a large amounts of natural resources. The two state's developmental, social and political failures created a space for the promulgation of a revolutionary and violent ideology. However, once the guerrillas did establish themselves, the presence of raw materials enabled the emergence of numerous, illicit networks through which the Maoists are able to gain money, power and arms.
Both the government forces and the Naxalites collaborate with businessman, politicians and, in some cases, each other.The war has created a new political economy in which the winners are everyone except for the ordinary people who live there.
(Image: CSE India)
Taleban-Style Insurgency Tactics
I don't have the metrics, but it is clear that in the past couple of weeks the intensity and frequency of attacks by the Naxalites has increased in Chhattisgargh. At least 18 people were killed in two separate incidents on Saturday and late Sunday night. This comes less than a week after 11 people were killed in the state in a co-ordinated ambush and an intensification of the Naxalites campaign during India's marathon election.
What's interesting about the attacks is not so much their frequency (Chhattisgargh has, for the past few years, become the epicentre of the insurgency), but rather their sophistication and their effectiveness. These have not been defencive actions by a guerrilla group in retreat. They have been well-planned and co-ordinated offensive actions against a variety of heavily armed paramilitary police forces. Using Taleban-style, IED/surround and fire tactics, the Naxalites have shown that they are capable of inflicting serious causalities on some of India's most well-trained, non-military, forces. And with each succesful attack, the Maoists increase their arsenal of weaponry. This month also saw the first use of shoulder-launched missiles by the rebels.
Delhi should be worried.
India's Maoist Fighters
Good Al-Jazeera English video on the Naxalites.
Naxalite
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive and inappropriate external links or by converting links into footnote references. (January 2010) |
| It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Naxalite-Maoist insurgency. (Discuss) |
The Naxalites, Naxals or Naksalvadis are a Maoist communist group in India, leaders of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency.
The Naxal name comes from the village of Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal where the movement originated. The Naxals are considered far-left radical communists, supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced to the split in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In later years, it spread into less developed areas of rural central and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the Communist Party of India (Maoist).[1]
As of 2009, Naxalites were active across approximately 220 districts in twenty states of India[2] accounting for about 40 percent of India's geographical area,[3] They are especially concentrated in an area known as the "Red Corridor", where they control 92,000 square kilometers.[3] According to India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, 20,000 armed cadre Naxalites were operating in addition to 50,000 regular cadres[4] and their growing influence prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare them to be the most serious internal threat to India's national security.[5]
The Naxalites are opposed by virtually all other Indian political groups.[6]. In February 2009, the Indian Central government announced its plans for broad, co-ordinated operations in all affected states (Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal), to plug all possible escape routes of Naxalites.[7]
Contents[hide] |
[edit] History
The term Naxalites comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal initiated a violent uprising in 1967. On May 18, 1967, the Siliguri Kishan Sabha, of which Jangal was the president, declared their readiness to adopt armed struggle to redistribute land to the landless.[8] The following week, a sharecropper near Naxalbari village was attacked by the landlord's men over a land dispute. On May 24, when a police team arrived to arrest the peasant leaders, they were ambushed by a group of tribals led by Jangal Santhal, and a police inspector was killed in a hail of arrows. This event encouraged many Santhal tribals and other poor people to join the movement and to start attacking local landlords.[6]
Charu Majumdar, inspired by the doctrines of Mao Zedong, provided ideological leadership for the Naxalbari movement, advocating that Indian peasants and lower class tribals overthrow the government and upper classes by force. A large number of urban elites were also attracted to the ideology, which spread through Majumdar's writings, particularly the 'Historic Eight Documents' which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology.[9] In 1967 Naxalites organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPM. Violent uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 the AICCCR gave birth to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI(ML)).
Practically all Naxalite groups trace their origin to the CPI(ML). A separate offshoot from the beginning was the Maoist Communist Centre, which evolved out of the Dakshin Desh-group. The MCC later fused with the People's War Group to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). A third offshoot was that of the Andhra revolutionary communists, mainly represented by the UCCRI(ML), following the mass line legacy of T. Nagi Reddy, which broke with the AICCCR at an early stage.
During the 1970s the movement was fragmented into disputing factions. By 1980 it was estimated that around 30 Naxalite groups were active, with a combined membership of 30,000.[10] A 2004 Indian home ministry estimate puts numbers at that time as "9,300 hardcore underground cadre… [holding] around 6,500 regular weapons beside a large number of unlicensed country-made arms".[11] According to Judith Vidal-Hall (2006), "More recent figures put the strength of the movement at 15,000, and claim the guerrillas control an estimated one fifth of India's forests, as well as being active in 160 of the country's 604 administrative districts."[12] India's Research and Analysis Wing, believed in 2006 that 20,000 Naxals were involved in the growing insurgency.[4]
Today some Naxalite groups have become legal organisations participating in parliamentary elections, such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. Others, such as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti, are engaged in armed guerrilla struggles.
On 6 April, 2010 Naxalites launched the biggest assault in the history of the Naxalite movement by killing 76 security personnel. The attack was launched by up to[13][14] 1000 Naxalites in a well-planned attack, killing an estimated 76 CRPF policemen in two separate ambushes and wounding 50 others, in the jungles of Chattisgarh's Dantewada district.
[edit] Violence in Bengal
The Naxalites gained a strong presence amongst the radical sections of the student movement in Calcutta.[15] Students left school to join the Naxalites. Majumdar, to entice more students into his organisation, declared that revolutionary warfare was to take place not only in the rural areas as before, but everywhere and spontaneously. Thus Majumdar declared an "annihilation line", a dictum that Naxalites should assassinate individual "class enemies" such as landlords, university teachers, police officers, politicians and others.[citation needed]
Throughout Calcutta, schools were shut down. Naxalites took over Jadavpur University and used the machine shop facilities to make pipe guns to attack the police. Their headquarters became Presidency College, Kolkata[citation needed]. The Naxalites found supporters among some of the educated elite, and Delhi's prestigious St. Stephen's College, alma mater of many contemporary Indian leaders and thinkers, became a hotbed of Naxalite activities.
The Chief Minister, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, instituted counter-measures against the Naxalites. The West Bengal police fought back to stop the Naxalites. After suffering losses and facing the public rejection of Majumdar's "annihilation line", the Naxalites alleged human rights violations by the West Bengal police, who responded that the state was effectively fighting a civil war and that democratic pleasantries had no place in a war, especially when the opponent did not fight within the norms of democracy and civility.[6]
Large sections of the Naxal movement began to question Majumdar's leadership. In 1971 the CPI(ML) was split, as the Satyanarayan Singh revolted against Majumdar's leadership. In 1972 Majumdar was arrested by the police and died in Alipore Jail. His death accelerated the fragmentation of the movement.
[edit] Reasons for failure of naxalite movement
In a methodical study Dr. Sailen Debnath has surmised the consequences and reasons of failures of the Naxalite Movement organised by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal. He writes "The Naxalite movement, though continued intensively from 1967 to the middle of 1970s and resurfaced after some years, could not go a long way achieving anything commendable because of the following reasons:-
1. The Naxalites wanted to surround the towns and cities by the villages, i.e. they wanted to encircle the urban centres with organized peasant forces of the villages. If the peasant militia could have occupied the cities, according to Majumdar, the so-called bourgeois government would fall making the passage to the coming of a socialist government; but the Naxalites could not and did not come up to a stage capable of organizing the peasants and thereby encircling the towns. 2. Majumdar gave sole importance to secret organization and armed training of its members for the purpose of eliminating the class enemies. As the Naxalites did not have mass level organization, they lacked mass support. Only with select few armed elements not properly educated in political line no big thing could be done. 3. "Khatam" or the action of eliminating the so-called class enemies in villages was a wrong principle of political mobilization by individual murder of select few people whose political class- character was never adjudged by their socio-economic conditions, and the properties they possessed, but very often only by their political affiliation or by the name and colour of the party or parties they directly or indirectly belonged to for a long or a short period of time. As for example in Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar they killed some petty jotdars who otherwise could have been comrades in action against the capitalists or could be friends in a revolution for radical change. 4. Recruitment in the Naxalite party was never done on proper judgment and scrutiny of the political characters and behaviours of the recruits. It so happened that many people only to feast on their animosities with their personal enemies got recruited in the Naxalite party only to utilize the help of the Naxalites to have their personal enemies in the neighbourhood killed on the basis of pseudo-identification of them as class enemies. 5. In many cases dreaded criminals too enrolled themselves in the Naxalite party with the objective of getting fire arms and to train themselves in the manufacture and use of fire arms. Thus very soon the party turned to be an organization of professional criminal outfits who soon deserted the party after their training period had been over or the cherished objective of owning armaments had been met or realized. Many of these criminals with fire arms soon turned to be dacoits and in many cases they informed the police all about the hidden training centres of the Naxalites and their main purpose in doing so was to have the original Naxalites arrested or else they themselves might fall victims of the Naxalites' targets as approvers in favour of the government.. 6. The ruling Congress party inserted their supporters inside the unguarded and porous Naxalite organization for the purpose of knowing and finishing its secret bases and arresting its supporters, and in the same way, the personnels of the government intelligence branch and police too in disguise of Naxalite sympathizers got into the party's inner organization and rounded most of its leaders including Charu Majumdar into the jail. Thus police had information all about the movements of Majumdar after he had gone underground in 1970, and he was nabbed in Calcutta in July, 1972. The end of his life came in the jail in some days after his arrest; and how he had to pass through the gate of death, most probably in the night of 27th or 28th July, 1972, nobody except the police and the government could know properly, of course, it was told from the side of the government that he died of heart attack. 7. Ordinary people in villages were terrified at the brutal and gruesome ways they killed the fellow villagers vilifying them as class enemies. As for example, at Bholardabri in Alipurduar they killed Rajen Pandit who was a refugee from East Pakistan and arduously was running a family of 12 dependents. By any means he was no class enemy at all. In another case they killed a person, chopped his head off the torso and hanged the head and the torso down the brunches of trees with ropes in two separate places, the horrible sights of which cast a gloom on the faces of bemoaning villagers. Certainly after that they could count no support from the villagers at all. 8. Unbridled repressive measures of the government proved to be more than capable in exterminating the Naxalites in the Districts of Northern Bengal as well as in the whole of West Bengal. Hundreds were slaughtered by the police and paramilitary forces in fake encounters, in jails and in police custody. Many perished because of third degree punishment. The suppression of the Naxalites did not mean to be a heavy task for a government whose objective was to run things smoothly with the help of the British penal code of colonial era under the command of the bureaucrats, police and military who inherited the attitude of their predecessors under the British imperial Government".(Ref. Sailen Debnath, West Bengal in Doldrums, ISBN 9788186860342).[edit] Lalgarh violence
In late May, 2009 in Lalgarh, West Bengal the Naxalites threw out the local police and staged attacks against the ruling communist government. The region came under assault by Maoist guerrillas. The state government initiated a major operation, with central paramilitary forces and state armed police, to retake Lalgarh in early June. Maoist leader Kishenji claimed in an interview that the mass Naxalite movement in Lalgarh in 2009 was aimed at creating a "liberated zone" against "oppression of the establishment Left and its police". He stated this had given the Naxalites a major base in West Bengal for the first time since the Naxalite uprising in the mid-1970s and that "We will have an armed movement going in Calcutta by 2011".[16]
[edit] Cultural references
| Organizations listed as terrorist groups by India |
|---|
| Northeastern India |
| National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) Naga National Council-Federal (NNCF) National Council of Nagaland-Khaplang United Liberation Front of Asom People's Liberation Army (Manipur) Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) Zomi Revolutionary Front |
| Kashmir |
| Al-Badr Al-Badr Mujahideen Al Barq (ABQ) Al Fateh Force (AFF) Al Jihad Force (AJF)/Al Jihad Al Mujahid Force (AMF) Al Umar Mujahideen (AUR/Al Umar) Awami Action Committee (AAC) Dukhtaran-e-Millat (DEM) Harakat-ul-Ansar Harakat-ul-Jihad-I-Islami Harakat-ul-Mujahideen Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HUM) Ikhwan-ul-Musalmeen (IUM) Jaish-e-Mohammed (JEM) Lashkar-e-Mohammadi Jammat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM) Jammat-ul-Mujahideen Almi (JUMA) Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party (JKDFP) Jammu and Kashmir Islamic Front (JKIF) Jammu and Kashmir Jamaat-e-Islami (JKJEI) Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) Jaish-e-Mohammed Kul Jammat Hurriyat Conference (KJHC) Mahaz-e-Azadi (MEA) Muslim Janbaaz Force (MJF/Jaanbaz Force) Muslim Mujahideen (MM) Hizbul Mujahideen Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Farzandan-e-Milat United Jihad Council Al-Qaeda Students Islamic Movement of India Tehreek-e-Jihad (TEJ) Pasban-e-Islami (PEI/Hizbul Momineen HMM) Shora-e-Jihad (SEJ) Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen (TUM) |
| North India |
| Babbar Khalsa Bhindranwala Tigers Force of Khalistan Communist Party of India (Maoist) Dashmesh Regiment International Sikh Youth Federation (ISYF) Kamagata Maru Dal of Khalistan Khalistan Armed Force Khalistan Liberation Force Khalistan Commando Force Khalistan Liberation Army Khalistan Liberation Front Khalistan Liberation Organisation Khalistan National Army Khalistan Guerilla Force Khalistan Security Force Khalistan Zindabad Force Shaheed Khalsa Force |
| Central India |
| People's war group Balbir militias Naxals Ranvir Sena |
The British musical group Asian Dub Foundation have a song called "Naxalite", which is featured on the soundtrack to the 1999 film Brokedown Palace. A 2005 movie called Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi, directed by Sudhir Mishra, was set against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement. In August 2008, Kabeer Kaushik's Chamku, starring Bobby Deol and Priyanka Chopra, explored the story of a boy who is brainwashed to take arms against the state.
In the novel The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, there is a reference to a character joining the Naxalites.
In the novel The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga, the Naxals (sic) are mentioned often by the poor and the rich alike.
The 1998 film Haazar chaurasi ki Maa (based on the novel, Hazar Churashir Maa[17] by Mahasweta Devi) starring Jaya Bachchan gives a very sympathetic portrayal of a Naxalbari militant killed by the state. The 2009 Malayalam movie Thalappavu portrays the story of Naxal Varghese, who was shot dead by the police during the 70s.
The Kannada movie Veerappa Nayaka directed by S. Narayan portrays Vishnuvardhan, a Gandhian whose son becomes a Naxalite. The 2007 Kannada movie Maathaad Maathaadu Mallige, directed by Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar, again portrays Vishnuvardhan as a Gandhian, who confronts a Naxalite Sudeep and shows him that the ways adopted by Naxals will only lead to violence and will not achieve their objective.
Eka Nakshalwadya Cha Janma, (Marathi: The birth of a Naxal), a novel written by Vilas Balkrishna Manohar, a volunteer with the Lok Biradari Prakalp, is a fictional account of a Madia Gond Juru's unwilling journey of life his metamorphosis from an exploited nameless tribal to a Naxal.[18]
[edit] See also
- Chhatradhar Mahato
- Naxal Varghese
- Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist)
- Compact Revolutionary Zone
- Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
- Salwa Judum
- Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
[edit] References
- ^ Ramakrishnan, Venkitesh (2005-09-21). "The Naxalite Challenge". Frontline Magazine (The Hindu). http://www.flonnet.com/fl2221/stories/20051021006700400.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ Handoo, Ashook. "Naxal Problem needs a holistic approach". Press Information Bureau. http://www.pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=50833. Retrieved 2009-08-08.
- ^ a b "Rising Maoists Insurgency in India". Global Politician. 2007-01-15. http://globalpolitician.com/22790-india. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ a b Philip Bowring Published: TUESDAY, APRIL 18, 2006 (2006-04-18). "Maoists who menace India". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/17/opinion/edbowring.php. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ "South Asia | Senior Maoist 'arrested' in India". BBC News. 2007-12-19. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7151552.stm. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ a b c Diwanji, A. K. (2003-10-02). "Primer: Who are the Naxalites?". Rediff.com. http://us.rediff.com/news/2003/oct/02spec.htm. Retrieved 2007-03-15.
- ^ Co-ordinated operations to flush out Naxalites soon The Economic Times, February 6, 2009.
- ^ {Sunil Kumar Sen} ({1982}). {Peasant movements in India: mid-nineteenth and twentieth centuries}. {K.P. Bagchi}.
- ^ Hindustan Times: History of Naxalism
- ^ Singh, Prakash. The Naxalite Movement in India. New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 1999. p. 101.
- ^ Quoted in Judith Vidal-Hall, "Naxalites", p. 73–75 in Index on Censorship, Volume 35, Number 4 (2006). Quoted on p. 74.
- ^ Judith Vidal-Hall, "Naxalites", p. 73–75 in Index on Censorship, Volume 35, Number 4 (2006). p. 74.
- ^ "Indian police killed by Maoists". Al Jazeera. April 6, 2010. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/04/2010466515592429.html.
- ^ "74 security men killed by Naxals in Chhattisgarh". Ndtv.com. 2010-04-06. http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/20-security-men-killed-by-naxals-in-chhattisgarh-19293.php. Retrieved 2010-04-12.
- ^ Judith Vidal-Hall, "Naxalites", p. 73–75 in Index on Censorship, Volume 35, Number 4 (2006). p. 73.
- ^ "Rising ambitions of India's Maoists". BBC News. 2009-07-02. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8127869.stm. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ^ "Mother of 1084" - the number assigned to her son.
- ^ Who's who of Indian Writers, 1999 By K. C. Dutt, Sahitya Akademi. Books.google.com. http://books.google.com/books?id=QA1V7sICaIwC&pg=PA723&lpg=PA723&dq=vilas+manohar+writer&source=web&ots=iZo851RPGh&sig=uEHP-KtmRvUV1iO8KLsoKHx9ccU&hl=en&ei=e-ucSeCrOo_akAWtjPiiBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
[edit] Further reading
- Naxalite Politics in India, by J. C. Johari, Institute of Constitutional and Parliamentary Studies, New Delhi, . Published by Research Publications, 1972.
- The Naxalite Movement, by Biplab Dasgupta. Published by , 1974.
- The Naxalite Movement: A Maoist Experiment, by Sankar Ghosh. Published by Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1975. ISBN 0883865688.
- The Naxalite Movement in India: Origin and Failure of the Maoist Revolutionary Strategy in West Bengal, 1967-1971, by Sohail Jawaid. Published by Associated Pub. House, 1979.
- In the Wake of Naxalbari: A History of the Naxalite Movement in India, by Sumanta Banerjee. Published by Subarnarekha, 1980.
- India's Simmering Revolution: The Naxalite Uprising, by Sumanta Banerjee. Published by Zed Books, 1984. ISBN 0862320372.
- Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement, by Edward Duyker. Published by Oxford University Press, 1987.
- The Naxalite Movement in India, by Prakash Singh. Published by Rupa, 1995. ISBN 8171672949.
- Sailen Debnath, West Bengal in Doldrums, ISBN 9788186860342
- Sailen Debnath, The Dooars in Historical Transition, ISBN 9788186860441
- Sailen Debnath ed. Social and Political Tensions in North Bengal Since 1947,ISBN 81-86860-23-1
[edit] External links
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Naxalite |
- "Walking With The Comrades" An extensive 32 page essay by Arundhati Roy on her interactions with naxalites
- Articles and Research Reports on Naxalite Violence in India and Pakistan
- Edward Duyker, Tribal Guerrillas: The Santals of West Bengal and the Naxalite Movement
- 'History of Naxalism', Hindustan Times
- Maoist Resistance (pro-Naxal Blog - The former blog at Resistance India has been hacked )
- Naxal Terror Watch (anti-Naxalite, alleges that Naxalites are supported by both Pakistan and China)
- India's Naxalite Rage (neutral blog that provides analysis of the tactics and strategy of the Naxals by Shlok Vaidya)
- India's Forgotten War (neutral blog analysing Naxalite insurgency)
- Status Paper on the Naxalite problem - South Asia Terrorism Portal
- West Bengal, districts affected by Naxalite violence - South Asia Terrorism Portal
- Economist magazine article
- Guardian article
- Vice article
- Naxal Issues page of Peoples Website of Chhattisgarh
- Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country (Hardcover)
- Stop the Battle, Start the War by Samar Halarnkar, Hindustan Times, April 19, 2009
| |||||
Business in conflict zones: India Inc and government have to pay
16 May 2010, 0700 hrs IST,Shantanu Nandan Sharma,ET Bureau
The writer of Inside Al Qaeda, and one of the handful of men on this planet who got access into the territory of Osama bin Laden, may not have researched costs of conflicts, but his guesstimate is close to reality.
Conflicts, whether triggered by sovereign nations or by non-state actors like Al Qaeda, come with a big price tag, forcing many rich countries to set aside sizeable resources on prevention of such menaces than reacting to terror incidents.
Ajay Sahni, executive director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management, says: "A steep increase in India's home ministry's budget is an indication that conflicts have a huge cost attached to them." The last Union Budget made a provision of Rs 30,000 crore for the country's police force alone.
Around Rs 1,975 crore of that was earmarked as assistance to states for modernisation of the force, thanks to growing incidences of Naxal or Maoists violence in natural resources rich areas of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhatisgarh and even West Bengal, where businessmen want to explore the available resources and set up factories.
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Then there are places such as Jammu & Kashmir. Nearly half a million troops are deployed to man the J&K border with Pakistan and to maintain internal peace. Some estimates suggest it costs the country in excess of Rs 20,000 crore a year. Huge money is also going into managing conflicts in the north-eastern states, where the issue is more ethnic in nature.
All this is a matter of consternation for India Inc too. In the recent past, Indonesia's Salim group put on the backburner a 10,000-acre special economic zone project in West Bengal's Nandigram after violent protests by Maoists-backed locals.
South Korea's Posco is facing the heat in the Naxal-infested belt of neighbouring Orissa and in Chhattisgarh, mining companies are having a torrid time. Oil companies and tea estates in the north-eastern states have historically been the target of insurgents and violent ethnic groups.
In fact, most conflict zones in the world are replete with natural resources—largely oil and gas—and hence are politically quite potent. If Indian companies have to grow, they have to tap these resources, but they will also need to deal with these turbulent issues.
"It's a viscious circle. Industry has to reach out to these areas with development programmes. If you don't, people will remain poor and deprived; if you want to go there but aren't allowed, they will still remain deprived," says K Subrahmanyam, strategic affairs expert and former defence production secretary.
Industry body Ficci in a task force report on 'National Security & Terrorism' has warned that future attacks could take place in economic nerve centres. It recommended separate tailor-made plans be prepared for Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur and Ahmedabad, in addition to the national plan for strengthening counter-insurgency.
Significantly, the report prepared by a group of heads of corporate houses such as Rajeev Chandrasekhar of Jupiter Capital, Harsh Pati Singhania of JK Paper and Yogendra K Modi of Great Eastern Energy Corporation, among others, recommended a collaborative approach on a public-pirvate partnership model that will extensively tap into private sector capabilities for managing risks.
In fact, the private sector is now willing to engage not just in protecting vulnerable targets as pure short-term measures, but paying attention to investing in security strategies as a long-term goal. What it wants from the government is a clear framework, and incentives such as tax breaks among others.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/5935699.cms
Naxal leader ran NGO in Delhi
Naxal Issue: UN refers it as armed conflict, India objects
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Forest: Ultimate Conflict Zones of India
Avilash Roul
Article No:126, August 2, 2007
India's forest land which is rich in natural resources, like forest derivatives and minerals is undoubtedly the cauldron of various degrees of conflicts. From civil wars in Chhattisgarh to armed conflict in North East, it has created internal security more volatile than ever before in India. The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has a special wing to neutralise this 'internal security' with strong policing. The growing number of incidents of conflicts in the forest area have threatened the forest resources as well the livelihood of inhabitants. At least 'a million mutinies' in and around the forest area is ticking to explode. However, who triggers these conflicts or social unrest has been a serious concern which needs to be addressed at the earliest. Recently, in its affidavit to country's apex court, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) requested to wrap up Green Bench appointed by Supreme Court which contributed in the flaring of the civil unrest and a burst in Maoist activities in major states by risking forest resources. While forgetting its own forest laws, rules and guidelines, the government squarely put the blame on Supreme Court on the excess of anti-state activities. Do we need either Green Bench or Forest Laws? Both Forest laws and Green Bench under Supreme Court have delayed justice to tribal people and failed to manage forest resources. Since the filing of writ petition in 1995 in the Supreme Court, the MOEF feels that the process has resulted in 'judiciary usurping the executive's powers' and 'eroding of separation of powers'. The major apprehension of MOEF is that scientific forestry has not been administered due to the Supreme Court's hearings for the last 12 years. It is believed that since 1995 the Supreme Court has been managing the forest resources in India! Therefore, government wants to use its scientific forestry in the forest areas without intervention of none. It should be noted that the Maoists activities did not start in 1996 when the Supreme Court first pronounced its forest related hearings. The Indian forest laws like Indian Forest Act (IFA) 1927 is much older than Maoist movement of late 1960s. There have been places still in India where campaigns against the IFA are going on for the last 75 years or so. Similarly, the 1980 Forest Conservation Acts (FCA), at best, has alienated tribal people, which provides new support base for Maoist movement. Not only these policies have failed in its primary objective to conserve and manage the forest, they have created social unrest, people's movements and so on. The objectives of transforming 33 percent of India's geographical land to forest area do not arrest spreading of conflicts side by side. The conflict arises not only between Mogli (human) and Sher Khan (animal) as in the famous Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, but within people as in the case in Salwa Judum, people and forest laws (IFA, Indian Wildlife Protection Act, FCA, Joint Forest Management, Forest Development Projects and so on) and people and private companies (Jindal, Tata, Vendanta, Utkal Alumina). The Country's most predominantly tribal districts with natural forest like in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh are prone to conflicts due to poverty, dispossession of people over forest resources, ecological degradation and above all the government's forest policies and developmental plans like dams and mining activities. The exercise of control and legitimacy has been the signature of India's forest area. As always the losers in this battle are the tribal. An estimated 40 million people (of whom nearly 40 per cent are tribal) have lost their land since 1950 on account of displacement due to large development projects. The biggest landlord in the country is facing the obvious threat i.e., its relevance! The official logo of the Forest Department (FD) in India is diagonally divided half red and green. But interestingly, the FD has now more red (read conflict) than green (forest). The intensity of conflict between the tribal and the forest officials are increasing manifold for wrong reasons. Not a single forest administered unit in the country is free from conflict. Most forest inhabitants feel that the FD which is rewarded as the single largest land lord in the country possessing nearly 23 percent of the geographical land has become the instrument of oppression. While the resource conflicts evolve as the competition over extraction and exploitation of lootable or commercial viable resources between two parties, in India, the only competitor is the state government and its agencies and private companies. The reign of terror using by state government couple with defunct basic administration and flaws in forest laws has given birth to 'red corridor' in India. The evil axis of government-business-legislatures-brokers has created more avenues for potential provider to conflict situations. After the 2002 Indo-Pak stand-off at the LOC, the maximum number of national security meeting was commenced on the issue of Maoist violence in forest areas than securing India's international boarder. As usual India's ministries involved in this conflict zones are Prime Minister Office, Ministry of Environment and Forest, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Water resources, Ministry of Mines, and of course, Ministry of Tribal Affairs and joining of Ministry of Defense won't be a surprise by seeing the increased violence. When India's powerful cabinet portfolios are engaged in conflict resolution it bounds to create cacophony. After discussion with tribal and more than 100 forest officials of Central and East India, I believe that the resolution of this increasing potential conflict is not feasible at least in coming decades. As long as people are being kept out of resource management or forest development, the explosion of million ticking mutinies is not a distant hypothesis. | |||
| [ Avilash Roul is a New Delhi based environment and development analyst ] | |||
THE ECUMENICAL MARXIST - A gentle, cultured and utterly civilized human being | |
| - Ramachandra Guha | |
The great German sociologist, Max Weber, once made an important distinction between universities on the one side and religious seminaries and political parties on the other. Seminaries and parties upheld a particular ideology, and made it mandatory for their members to believe in it. However, universities were emphatically not centres of indoctrination. Their professors could not, or at least should not, propagate their own political or religious beliefs. Rather, they should teach the student "facts, their conditions, laws and interrelations", serving in this manner to "sharpen the student's capacity to understand the actual conditions of his own exertions…." Weber added that "what ideals the [student] should serve" — "what gods he must bow before"— these "they [the teachers] require him to deal with on his own responsibility, and ultimately in accordance with his own conscience". The Indian teacher of my acquaintance who most nobly upheld this intellectual credo was Anjan Ghosh, who died earlier this month in Calcutta. Anjan took a first degree in English Literature, before doing an MA and M.Phil in sociology at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. He then commenced a PhD, taking as his topic of research the life and labours of mineworkers in Dhanbad. He taught briefly at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, before moving to a position at the Indian Institute of Management in Calcutta. In 1980, I joined IIM Calcutta to do a doctorate in sociology. Anjan Ghosh was one of my teachers. He was, like many thoughtful Indians those days, a Marxist. As a college student, he had attended the famous founding rally of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) on the Calcutta Maidan. He believed the Naxalites were more engaged with the peasantry, as well as more sympathetic to questions of culture, than the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist). However, he was a fellow traveller rather than a fully paid-up member of the new party. He cherished his intellectual independence too much for that. Anjan was formidably well-read in the Marxist scriptures. That, and a goatee he wore, led to his being named 'Lenin' by his JNU friends. However, as my own experience showed, Anjan kept his political beliefs completely out of the classroom. He knew that there were great social theorists other than Karl Marx. With him I read both Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Emile Durkheim's The Division of Labour in Society. While never a narrow patriot, Anjan believed that the contributions of Indian scholars had been ignored by a West-obsessed academy. He admired M.N. Srinivas and André Béteille in particular, both for the elegance of their prose and for the subtlety of their arguments. Through him, I came to admire them for those very reasons. Among the gifts Anjan bestowed on me was an introduction to the charmed circle of intellectuals that hung around the journal, Frontier, then edited by the lapsed poet and lapsed Marxist, Samar Sen. From the IIM campus in Joka, I made a weekly journey to the Frontier office in central Calcutta, where Samarbabu and his devoted assistant, Timir Basu, discussed the contents of the forthcoming issue and allocated tasks to each of us. Intellectuals are a selfish, solitary species; this, on the other hand, was an exercise in collective, collaborative, work that enriched all those who participated in it. Many left-wing intellectuals take great pride in their social commitments, but their words generally speak louder than their actions. Not Anjan Ghosh. Aside from his involvement with Frontier, Anjan was also active in the film society movement, and in the human rights movement. He had a close association with the People's Union for Democratic Rights, based in Delhi, and with the Association for the Protection of Democratic Rights, based in Calcutta. His work outside academics was undertaken with a characteristic lack of fuss, and with no self-advertisement whatsoever. As a Marxist, Anjan Ghosh was also unorthodox in his appreciation of caste as an organizing factor in Indian society. In 1979, he wrote a precocious essay in the Delhi journal, Seminar, with the innocuous title, "The Seventh Indian". This dealt with the social predicament of the Dalits, who, despite being one-seventh of India's population, had been largely ignored by sociologists and Marxists, and largely condescended to by political parties. A little later, he wrote a longer essay in a Bengali journal on how, and why, caste was not simply an 'epiphenomena' of class. These ideas are now widely accepted by Marxists, but, in articulating them in the late 1970s, my teacher was roughly 20 years ahead of the curve. In 1984, Anjan Ghosh joined the faculty of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta. By then, his disenchantment with left-wing orthodoxy had led him to abandon his research on the working class, which is considered by the Marxist catechism to be the advanced guard of the revolution. Some years later, he took leave from the CSSC and went to the University of Michigan to do a PhD, in its famous history and anthropology programme. He wrote an elegant thesis (sadly, never published in book form) on the social role of rumour in intensifying communal violence in 20th-century Bengal. A bibliography from 2007, available on the web, lists some 40 scholarly essays published by Anjan Ghosh — on topics ranging from caste and religious violence to ethno-nationalism and the environmental impact of coal mining. But Anjan also had a profound influence on the writings of other scholars. He was a born teacher, who, for family reasons (an aged mother to whom he was an only son), had to be based in Calcutta, a place deeply inhospitable to sociological enquiry. One reason for this is the long stranglehold on the city's universities of a somewhat mechanical variety of Marxism. Since Karl Marx spoke of 'political economy' and 'historical materialism', his followers have allowed a honourable space in the academy for the scholarly disciplines of economics, politics and history, They have not been so well disposed to sociology, which their twin Fatherlands, the Soviet Union and Communist China, both dismissed as a 'bourgeois' science. Had Anjan Ghosh been permitted to teach in Delhi or Mumbai, he would perhaps have more fully come into his own. Even so, he influenced very many young sociologists and anthropologists, whom he met at conferences or at the annual 'Cultural Studies' workshop he helped organize. I myself owe more to Anjan Ghosh than to any other scholar. He taught me in the lecture theatre, but also in the tea shop. Every morning, I would meet him as he got off the staff bus that conveyed the IIM's faculty to the Joka campus. Every evening, I would walk with him to the bus stop to catch some last remarks before he went home. Through those addas, he encouraged me to be less parochial, by reading scholars not prescribed in my syllabus and by venturing into disciplines that I was not formally trained in. And he never, ever, imposed his ideas or beliefs on me. The conclusions I eventually arrived at were my own responsibility, a product of my own conscience. Marxism and Marxists can be crude and strident. Anjan Ghosh, on the other hand, was a gentle, cultured, and utterly civilized human being. He humanized everything he touched, and made every student he taught more curious as well as less egotistic. By the end, Anjan may have stopped calling himself a 'Marxist'. But even in the days he wore the label proudly, he was, in the classroom, remarkably undogmatic. In not seeking to impose his beliefs on his students, he was so very unlike most social science professors in Calcutta, and beyond. | |
Steel investor sues Bengal over coal | |
| SAMBIT SAHA | |
Calcutta, June 18: A steel investor has taken the Bengal government to court over the allocation of coal mines to two big companies, alleging "total lack of transparency" and raising questions on how long firms can sit on natural resources when a project gets delayed. Shyam Sel & Power has filed a writ petition in Calcutta High Court calling into question the handover of mines to Sajjan Jindal's JSW Bengal and the Calcutta-based Jai Balaji Group. The case is unusual as few investors have sued the government on a policy issue such as resource allocation. The legal outcome will be keenly watched by investors as several players like Jindal, Bhushan, Kalyani and Videocon had shown interest in metal and power in Bengal, throwing up proposals valued at nearly Rs 1 lakh crore. The petition, which has been admitted by the court, has sought a directive to cancel the distribution of five coal blocks to JSW and Jai Balaji and redistribute them afresh. The two groups have seven blocks but two have been allocated by the Centre. Shyam Sel, a mid-sized player with an annual turnover of Rs 3,500 crore, has proposed a steel-cum-power project in Burdwan. The company said it had started construction at the Burdwan site but it had not been allocated coal blocks, essential for running the plants. The company's case hinges on the contention that Jindal and Balaji have been allocated coal blocks but they have not yet used the fuel reserves. In its reply, the government said the mine allocation was done in line with its coal policy, mainly on the ground that Balaji and Jindal approached the state ahead of Shyam Sel. Shyam Sel had signed an agreement with the Bengal government in February 2008, while Balaji had done so in October 2007 and Jindal in January 2007. But a Shyam Sel official said: "We have made actual investment and are readying to commence production but we have no coal. Balaji and Jindal have done nothing on the ground but have got mines." Bengal industries minister Nirupam Sen — Shyam Sel's project falls in his pocketborough Burdwan — said the company's demand could not be met. "They want us to take away the mines from Jindal and Balaji and give these mines to them. If the state does that, the other two will also go to court. The government cannot go back on the agreements with Jindal and Balaji even though I feel for Shyam Sel," Sen told The Telegraph. The minister said Jindal had delayed its projects by a year because of the global slowdown. "I had to be lenient with them. One must also look at the profile of the investors. Jindal is one of India's largest. Moreover, they plan to build India's largest plant in our state," he said. The minister said Jai Balaji got around 1,100 acres only recently and its project was on track. The minister said timelines did exist on how long a company can hold reserves but did not elaborate. The Bengal government has promised Shyam Sel coal from a block whenever the Centre agrees to give it to the state agency, the West Bengal Mineral Development & Trading Corp. The government conceded that a promise had been made but pointed out that there was no firm commitment. The Bengal government has not received any coal block after December 2007, though the state has been expecting nine such blocks for some time now. Debanjan Mandal, partner of Fox & Mandal, the solicitor for Shyam Sel, said: "My client is aggrieved by the government action but I cannot comment further since the matter is sub judice." | |
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Eye in sky alerts cops about moving 'cluster' in forest | |
| PRONAB MONDAL | |
Calcutta, June 18: West Midnapore police had come to know about the possibility of a Maoist camp on the edge of the Ranja forest when satellite pictures provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation showed a "cluster" next to Duli village in Salboni. Armed with the sky spy inputs, the police activated their "source network" and got the "pinpointed" tip-off about a guerrilla camp there. The police said they came to know about Maoist "movement" in and around Ranja forest after the rebels recently attacked a CPM office in nearby Pirakata. After that strike, the rebels had taken off in the direction of Ranja forest and that is where they were possibly holed up. "We then contacted the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) for satellite images of the forest. They had helped us in the past as well," an officer said. "The Isro images showed a concentration or cluster off Duli village. The images showed that the cluster was not static. In one image, it was at a particular place, in another it had shifted a bit. This suggested that a group was moving. We knew they must be a group of Maoists." Armed with this information, the police activated their "contacts". The feedback that they got was positive. On Tuesday night, the police got the "pinpointed" tip-off that the Maoists had indeed set up a camp on the fringes of Duli. The police proceeded with the raid that night itself. Eight Maoist squad members were gunned down. This was the security forces' biggest success against the Maoists since Operation Lalgarh was launched on June 18 last year. However, a section of police officers said the operation was only "partially" successful as most of the guerrillas had managed to flee. "According to our information, there were about 60 armed guerrillas camping there. They were divided into two groups in their camp. We carried out the assault on one of the groups successfully while the members of the other group managed to escape," the officer said. The police said the Maoists had set up the base to stage an attack on the Indian Reserve Battalion camp at Changshol early today. Officers believe two Maoist "commanders" were in charge of the group that had planned to attack the IRB camp. "While one of the commanders, Arjun, has been killed in our operation, we believe the other, most probably Bikash, escaped," an officer said. "It would have been a huge victory for us had we managed to kill both commanders. So, I would say the police operation was only a partial success." The police said they would seek Isro's help whenever they needed any information on Maoist movement. The state government filed a report in Calcutta High Court today saying the Maoists had been cornered and Delhi had agreed to send more forces to intensify the offensive. "The Maoists in West Bengal have already been cornered. Moreover, the central government has agreed to send more forces so that we can in- tensify raids against the Maoists," advocate-general Balai Ray said in his report. The report followed a PIL demanding a CBI probe into the February 15 Shilda massacre by the Maoists. Trains stuck Over a dozen trains, including the Howrah-bound Samarsatta Express from Mumbai and the Delhi-Puri Purshottam Express were stalled for two to five hours today because of a demonstration on the tracks by a tribal outfit. It was demanding constitutional recognition for their religion, Sarna. |
Maoists face marriage antidote |
| TAPAS CHAKRABORTY |
| Lucknow, June 18: What do you do when guns don't work against the Maoists? Simple: Play marriage broker. Uttar Pradesh police are doing just that. Two days ago, they married off 101 girls in rebel-hit Sonebhadra and even arranged for the reception and dinner for the wedding guests. The objective was to wean villagers away from the Maoists and prevent the district from turning into another Lalgarh, the rebel bastion in Bengal where forces are locked in a fraught battle with the guerrillas. On Thursday, police and paramilitary commandos killed eight rebels not far from Lalgarh. All were between 19 and 27. "We are telling the young men and women of the area to get married and take the responsibility of bringing up a family rather than take up violence," said Charandeep Yadav, a police officer in the district. Of course, there's the possibility that the cops can be branded copycats. So long, local residents have told police officer, such "kanyadaan" — the ritual of giving a woman away in marriage — used to be conducted by Maoist leaders who made the newly weds swear that they would dedicate themselves to the cause of revolution. "I know it's not an easy job bringing the young back, but we try," said Sonebhadra police chief Pritinder Singh. Singh personally supervised such a marriage in Ramgarh, a small town in the district, on June 15 when he got Savita Pathari married off to Ram Pal Singh, a 32-year-old farmer. Five years ago, the 19-year-old tribal girl had seen her elder sister Bullu walk away with Maoists, an AK-47 slung across her shoulders. Bullu, who recently surrendered and became a social worker, was also there at her younger sibling's wedding. Uttar Pradesh additional police chief Brij Lal said a key component of the state's anti-Maoist strategy in Sonebhadra and two other districts, Mirzapur and Chandauli, was integrating people through social interaction, underlining chief minister Mayavati's recent assertion that guns were not the only way to contain the rebels. "When we got 101 couples married on June 15, each of them was presented items of daily use, clothes and ornaments. Applications have been filed to the chief minister for helping them get an assistance of Rs 10,000 to get settled," Lal added. Lal said the police had also recently arranged for coaching facilities in Sonebhadra for 124 candidates who wanted to join the force. "Twenty-nine of them got selected," he added. Sources said the Mayavati government had taken up several pro-poor schemes and recently set aside Rs 50 crore for road reconstruction in the three districts. Under a new project, estimated to cost the state Rs 230 crore, the BSP government has also decided to open Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) centres in Maoist-infested areas. So far, 138 new centres have come up in affected areas in Sonebhadra and Chandauli, officials said. |
Energy needs in a high altitude conflict zone of India
| Boiling Point | |
 Issue 46 (2001) Household energy and the vulnerable | |
| Article | Energy needs in a high altitude conflict zone of India |
| Author | Dr Sudhirendar Sharma |
| Besoins énergétiques dans une zone en conflit de l'Inde située en haute altitude. Les conflits armés et les problèmes de réfugiés présentent plusieurs difficultés: d'abord pour les réfugiés eux-mêmes ensuite pour les populations environnantes. La nourriture est un besoin de base, cependant dans les régions froides et isolées, le bois pour le chauffage peut être la principale priorité. Cet article montre comment les organisations d'aide et ultérieurement les organisations de développement doivent tenir compte des ressources et contraintes locales, il esquisse également les réponses à apporter en se fondant sur les modes traditionnels de vie afin de parvenir a un maximum d'auto-suffisance. |
Kargil, a district perched atop the Himalayan plateau, at an altitude of over three thousand metres above sea level, has turned out to be a stage for cross-border aggression. It has not only faced two major wars, in 1965 and in 1971, but has been witness to low-intensity cross-border aggression between India and Pakistan for a decade now. However, it was during the armed aggression of May 1999 that the region shot into prominence. But for the conflict, the region would not have been known to the rest of the country.
| Where is Kargil? Spread over the inaccessible mountainous terrain of the western Ladakh region in the Indian Himalayas, Kargil town lies to the north-west of the Kashmir valley at a distance of 204 kilometres from Srinagar and 234 km from Leh, the capital of Ladakh. It can be reached by road from both Srinagar and Leh, which are linked by air. Stretching like a lunar landscape high in the remote regions of the Karakoram, Kargil town is situated on the banks of the River Suru, at a height of 2830m. Till 1979, Kargil was part of the erstwhile largest district in the country, Ladakh. Covering 14 036 square kilometres, the district is characterized by sparse vegetation on mountains that range in height from 2500m to 5500m. The district remains snowbound and inaccessible for half the year, from October to April. Its population of over 95 000 people is distributed in 131 villages. Drass, a small town in the west of Kargil, is reputed to be the second coldest inhabited place, with the temperature dipping down to -75°C. Over 90 per cent of the population in the district is Muslim; Buddhists and Hindus constitute small minorities. |
In January 1999, during a protest rally in favour of their rights in Delhi, India's capital, the activist Raza Abbasi from Kargil recalls that he and his colleagues had to explain to the police the existence of Kargil. Said Raza, 'The war helped the country know that we do exist as part of this nation'. Raza echoed the concern of most Kargilians who were piqued by the lack of concern by the majority for the small community living in this high-altitude region.
Unfortunately, the war was timed (from May to September) to coincide with the most productive summer months for the local population, the time during which not only are farming operations accomplished but enough food is stored for the coming winter. Consequently, the impact of war had wider human dimensions too. Though only 30 000 people were directly displaced, the impact of cross-border aggression was felt by the remainder too, as they had given shelter and support to the displaced during this period.
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