Problem of Maoist Insurgency
Naxals:evrywhere,and nowhere
17th January,2008:Samireddy Ganesh,a 35-yr old tribal in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh is axed to death by the Maoists on the charge of being a ‘police informer’..(1)
20th March,2008: Three tribal villagers in Bijapur district of Chhatisgarh are killed by maoistsfor being activists of ‘Salwa Judum’..(2)
These are just two incidents of the ‘dangerously’ large number of criminal and ambush undertaken by the left-wing ‘radicals’(in their own prerpgative) in the last few years.Maybe when this article is read,an innocent tribal or a compelled jawan is ‘unreportedly’ being killed on the fringes of national mainstream by a so-called ‘maoist’. “Naxalism:single biggest internal security threat” screamed The Economic Times on 14th April,2006.And the threat has just got bigger.Our Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram drew lots of flak for ‘Operation Green Hunt’.Recently,our President Pratibha Patilhas urged the naxalites to shun violence and resort to talks.But one Question that comes to mind is “what prompted the Maoist uprising?”(even Derek O’Brien was confronted wid the question when he visited the IIM-C recently). The basis of the answer may lie with the ‘Green Revolution’.It brought fruits to farmers,but only in some pockets of India.The rest of India has witnessed some violent uprisings against the state.But the naxalite problem has deeper roots.Poverty,land alienation,lack of access to basic forest resources,largescale unemployment and exclusion from national mainstream are the common grievances among the rural population in east and central India.Despite being the most mineral-rich states in India,Chhatisgarh,Jharkhand,Orissa and West Bengal count among the poorest. Area | India | Chhatisgarh | Jharkhand | Orissa | West Bengal | Per-Capita Income | `24,295 | `16,740 | `15,303 | `16,149 | `23,229 |
Table showing per-capita income of Chhatisgarh,Jharkhand,Orissa and West
17th January,2008:Samireddy Ganesh,a 35-yr old tribal in Visakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh is axed to death by the Maoists on the charge of being a ‘police informer’..(1)
20th March,2008: Three tribal villagers in Bijapur district of Chhatisgarh are killed by maoistsfor being activists of ‘Salwa Judum’..(2)
These are just two incidents of the ‘dangerously’ large number of criminal and ambush undertaken by the left-wing ‘radicals’(in their own prerpgative) in the last few years.Maybe when this article is read,an innocent tribal or a compelled jawan is ‘unreportedly’ being killed on the fringes of national mainstream by a so-called ‘maoist’. “Naxalism:single biggest internal security threat” screamed The Economic Times on 14th April,2006.And the threat has just got bigger.Our Union Home Minister P.Chidambaram drew lots of flak for ‘Operation Green Hunt’.Recently,our President Pratibha Patilhas urged the naxalites to shun violence and resort to talks.But one Question that comes to mind is “what prompted the Maoist uprising?”(even Derek O’Brien was confronted wid the question when he visited the IIM-C recently). The basis of the answer may lie with the ‘Green Revolution’.It brought fruits to farmers,but only in some pockets of India.The rest of India has witnessed some violent uprisings against the state.But the naxalite problem has deeper roots.Poverty,land alienation,lack of access to basic forest resources,largescale unemployment and exclusion from national mainstream are the common grievances among the rural population in east and central India.Despite being the most mineral-rich states in India,Chhatisgarh,Jharkhand,Orissa and West Bengal count among the poorest. Area | India | Chhatisgarh | Jharkhand | Orissa | West Bengal | Per-Capita Income | `24,295 | `16,740 | `15,303 | `16,149 | `23,229 |
Table showing per-capita income of Chhatisgarh,Jharkhand,Orissa and West
References: - (1) “35-yr old tribal killed by Maoists”, The Deccan Chronicle, 19th January 2008. (2) “Maoists slay three tribals in Chhatisgarh”, Thaindian News, 21st March,2008. Sources:- (1) “India Research Group.” (2) “Down To Earth.” (3) “Institute of South Asian Studies,Roundtable Session(ISAS)”,14th March,2007. (4) “International Relations and Security Network(ISN)”,ETH Zurich.