“I have consistently held,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said in September 2009, “that in many ways, left-wing extremism poses perhaps the gravest internal security threat our country faces.” Monday's massacre of more than 30 people in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh was a horrific case in point. It has also demonstrated that India's response to the challenge is deeply flawed. For at least the last two years, Maoist insurgents have been preparing for what they knew to be an inevitable assault on their heartlands by government forces. Key roads were heavily mined; ambushes planned; traps prepared. The 58 battalions of central forces hastily deployed to strengthen under-manned, poorly trained, and outgunned police found themselves reduced to protecting their lines of communications and logistical infrastructure against a well-entrenched adversary. The New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management estimates that, despite the surge of forces, just 294 insurgents were killed in 2009, against 214 in 2008, and that for the loss of 312 security force personnel, up by 50 per cent from the previous year. It is clear that simply pumping in more forces will achieve little. Knee-jerk use of military resources will create more problems than they will solve.
In his September 2009 speech, Dr. Singh opined that the Maoist threat could not be “treated simply as a law and order problem.” In a recent study, the Planning Commission found that just 7.5 per cent of residents of 33 districts hit by Maoist violence had access to safe drinking water; and less than 15 per cent had electricity. Decades of injustice and exploitation created the socio-political conditions in which the insurgents have thrived — and Maoists have ensured that efforts to drain this swamp have been stillborn. In 2008, 25 school buildings were destroyed by insurgents; that number went up to 71 in 2009. More than a hundred rural infrastructure assets like roads and culverts were destroyed last year, three times as many as in 2008. In Chhattisgarh alone, at least 71 State highways have been rendered unusable. Large-scale extortion and violence has scared away the teachers, doctors, and administrators who must spearhead change. Political opponents of the Maoists have been slaughtered, LTTE-style. But the situation is not hopeless. Governments must demonstrate their credibility by getting serious about development in relatively safe areas around those controlled by Maoists. They must work with democratic political groups to ensure that communities get a just share of the revenues from the mining and industrial projects being executed on their lands. They must scrupulously abide by the rule of law. And the Union Home Ministry must seek honest counsel from the many Indian counter-insurgency experts who have been warning of the flaws in its counter-Maoist campaign. Democratic India's long-term success against the armed extremists lies in abandoning unsuccessful strategies — and learning the right lessons from failure.
Keywords: Left-wing extremism, Maoists, Naxalites, Dantewada
The biggest and gravest threat is NOT Maoist terrorism or Islamist terrorsim but is DYSFUNCTIONAL CENTRAL GOVT which does not seem to be in chagre.
The myth is that the current socio-economic system is working against the deprived sections of the society. This is not substantiated with examples but repeated endlessly like a mantra. I can give examples where the system has worked very well indeed (or they have worked the system very well). Take the example of some of the politicians families. Did they not live in the system?
This situation is creating a lot of problem to Indian government, and perhaps it will provide block the chances to be near the chair of power to the greedy. Government should take strict action towards anti social people. They are targeting to common people not rich people; they are behaving like the leader of common people. They seek only chances of power, nothing else. Government should initiate welfare programs for particular affected areas and appoint officer to monitor the situation, increase awareness among the people, so that they can get the reasons for rejecting anti-social elements.
It is very difficult to understand: what is stopping GOI to take the strict actions against the insurgents? Lessons can be learnt from US--how they dealt with Taliban and some others. Every now and then we are losing our security force personnel and civilians but still waiting for what? It's really difficult to understand.
Maoism is no doubt a threat . But it is our own creation. We know that our developmental ventures are not reaching the poor.We also know that the entire socio-economic system is working against the deprived sections of our population. We do not provide protection to the marginalised section of society when they are harrased by the police. We have displaced them for the sake of development which did not improve the quality of life.We have to undo all that not only deprived but alienated them from the rest of the society. Let us heal them. Let us not hurt them; we are powerful and strong. Let us use our power and strength to assuage their wounds and attract their attention to the wounds they have inflicted on us. In nutshll let us redraft our roadmap of progress by making them the stakeholders.
Maybe repealing the Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) will help.
Taking birth in a small village called Naxalbari in West Bengal, Naxalism,has taken in its clutches a major chunk of our nation in the last 40 year. The solution of this problem does not lie in military action.Rather it lies in the very cause of its origin -'unrest amongst the natives of the affected areas due to failed or no developmental policies.It's high time that public as well as private organisations take a step forward and start with the development works. HOLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF THE AFFECTED AREAS IS THE KEY TO THIS PROBLEM.
Do NGOs realy cry for our nation or give secret support to Maoists?
The Naxalite problem can be solved by New Land reform Act only, this is a social problem so politicians should play a positive role to bring a new land reform act to distribute land equal to all. We can't silence people by force. Some States like Rajasthan and Kerala are models for land reform law, and credit goes to our great politicians Mr.Bhairon Singh Sekhawt, Mr.E.M.S.Namboodripad and other leaders.
This is a right time to solve the problem by law to avoid social discrimination among Zamidar and Majdoor,Centre Govt. should take a right decision or Honorable Judiciary may interfere in this burning issue of poor society.
But some of the central ministers say it is law and order problem, so it is the state Govts' headache, some of them say don't use force. The insurgents don't like any development taking place there fearing loss of their following and sources of income.Chidambaram says he does not have a full mandate to tackle the violence.Insurgents understand only the language of violence and hate, as they survive on hating the Govt.It has become such a complicated situation that only a clear direction from the very top of the establishment is required but the top consists of not one but many, at least two voices so no one knows what is the way out.
I believe that if anything is worth doing, it would have been done already. Delayed action is no action. The GOI has been spearheading in discovering all the longer routes for all the issues demanding immediate solutions. I urge the Government from this platform to rise up to the demand of the situation and open their eyes before it is too late and the efforts are lampooned rather than praised.
How many more lives will they take before the goverment finally decides to ramp up its counter operations using air force. Naxals, Terrorists should all fall in the same category, we can't have two opinions on this?
When developmental activities take place on a war-footing in relatively safe areas as mentioned in the editorial, automatically Maoists will get isolated from the citizens amidst whom they live.
Maoist groups should solve problems in a democratic way, otherwise government should act so that no insurgent groups are found again.
Educating the rural people and recognising their own skills and providing better marketing facilities will help them. Government and private companies should help them. Instead of pouring money on economic models of multinational companies, government should help promoting their own skills.
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