Friday, January 10, 2014

Critical Analyzing of India’s Past & Present



                          It is a matter of fact that, India is an envious country from prehistoric period in the world. Cultural, linguistic and religious diversity differ the country from others even now. It has history of pompous culture and civilization when world slept in deep slumber, it has legacy of industrialization when world lived depend upon tribal economy. So that it was matter of wonder ever since history jotted down in the world.

                             India has kept relationship with foreign countries since ancient period through trade. Arabs and Europeans had always kept alive relations with India. When unprecedented colonization started in the world for wealth accumulation, then so many countries were subjected to oppression. Then most fabulous India also became under the colonial invasion.

                            So many were rular India. However, British were became masters of soil in the last game. Owing to several factors led to easy domination of India. British came to India in the year 1600. But they became masters of soil after of battle of Plassey in 1757 in India. Then India has highly sophisticated  two powers,  Mughals and Marathas. Eventually, their weakness to preserve India as alive led to smooth running of colonials in India. Mere political bickering and trivial chauvinism led utter failure of a highly prospered country into puppet in the hands of outsiders.

                       When colonials handed over the power of soil into Indians, so many were predicted that India will dismantle in to pieces within years. Winston Churchill called the idea of transformation as ‘not only fantastic in itself  but criminally mischievous in its effects’. However, India overcame all hiccups very courageously and became fully fledged democracy in the world after the immediate birth.

                           Meanwhile, something was maligned India’s name and fame every now and then. That was real causes of India’s developing barriers as well as yawning gap among all minds of people. When colonials were ruled they used divide and rule tactics because they knew how these people can rule? The political structure of India has so many features. That influenced in particular factors. Let us discuss each one of them.

  •  Caste system, is the main problem in India, it has a history of exploitation from later Vedic period through several span of history. Caste is a Portuguese word that conflates two Indian words:JATI, the endogamous group one is born into, and VARNA, the place that group occupies in the system of social stratification  mandated by Hindu scripture. In the Indian context cast have upper privilege in all things, because people were stratified in the name of caste system. No one can eradicate caste system completely even now.Majority were even caste vote on account of caste credentials. In other words, only dynasty is criteria rather honesty in the election in India.
  • Language is also a barrier in India, because after the independence there have so many protests and agitations in the name of language. When a country fails to unite under the multi-faced language without thinking it is only a tool to transaction where the country has no power to say as linguistic diversity. However, things were worsened when political parties took the patronage of language for the weight of ballot box. The rational dealings with language can solve more problems in India.
  • Religion, India is a cradle and citadel of all the religions in the world. However the country suffered disastrous blow in the name of religion during the time of independence. Secularism is India’s core agenda, so preserving the secularism alive is the only solution to keep India’s stability. The country experiencing communal riots and religious bickering, so keeping the religious environment will help harmony in the communal edifice in India.        
  • Class, is nothing but social disparities, in Marxian words haves and have-nots. India the country has highly edited constitution, where fundamental rights and directive principles maintains egalitarian concepts. But the disparities among the society will boost external and internal conflicts. The everlasting problem of India is Maoism and naxalism, but the real cause of these endemic diseases is social disparities. So bridge the gap between haves and have-nots may boost India’s stability more and more.
  • Gender inequality is other menace in India. Despite right to women to caste vote and education in India they were suffering terrible experiences in all walks of life. Poverty and malnutrition are high among women in India. In spite of so many constitutional right and power, how they can uplift without change of patriarchal concept of society. Even in urban area women have no security, rural women were living as they lived in later Vedic period unabated. When things exists without any dignity to women, can we call the democracy is an answer to all anomalies in India?

These are acute problem facing in India. Without change stereotype concept of these social evils India may face cultural poverty and will remain as they lived under the colonial power. Where politicians have to play big brother role to eradicate all anomalies and maintain real soul of India alive. Politics is note vote oriented game. When they fails to preserve India’s dignity people of India will call India is country of lack of unity in diversity instead unity in diversity.

                       India has a long history of scientific discoveries, it gave birth to well known Aryabatta, Nagarjuna, Bhaskaracharya, Kanadhan and other famous scholars and pundits. But now the people only relied on glorifying old legacy of revolution without awakening. India’s GDP now determines on the capital of FDI, why? The well flourished agriculture now on the verge of death. Thus it is pertinent to say that, when self sufficient country depends upon others they are digging their grave.

                             In spite of many shortcomings the democracy is the only solution to political unrest in the world. In other words, it justified when India takes debris from the hand of British it gave a big answer to the world. But now India face corruption, poverty, malnutrition and other so called bad things due to political weakness. When politicians realize politics as horoscope of India’s development things would be peaceful. Thus people were rulers, so to do things rationally without prejudice only in the hands of people. Government should be regulated exemplary punishments against malpractices of politicians. Because, it is not matter of present, when historical mutiny broke out in 1857, Indians were helped British to get domination on Indians. Besides the history all failure of India realized corruption as menace to all development. In spite of bulk of schemes and projects, social evils remain unabated. Thus lack of proper implementation is main problem. So government should initiate programs on implementation rather further projects.

                  The well known Thomas Moore once said “we are living in dreams rather than our achievement”. Yes, it is right in the context of India, a country relied only on past achievements. Development and  poor people where in different sphere. Mahatma Gandhi says “India lives in villages”. So development  means uplift of downtrodden, secularly, culturally, religiously and all varieties of diversity exist in India. India is the name of culmination of differences, when some occurred in the differences where the name of India will change.
Source via - History of Modern India 
by Bipin Chandra  

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

NAXALISM or MAOISM


NAXALISM or MAOISM what are they .?
Humans only manipulated and misguided by politicians and some capitalist who only care about their money.



World View:

  1. the Red Army Faction or BaaderMeinhof Gang in the former West Germany
  2. the Red Brigades in Italy,
  3. the 17 November Movement in Greece,
  4. the Shining Path of Peru,
  5. Peoples Revolutionary Army and the Motoneros of Argentina.
  6. The Maoist groups in India and Nepal

Overview:

  1. PM calls it as "India's single largest internal security Problem"
  2. 8,000 people have been killed between 2001 and 2012.
  3. Govt estimates of Maoist forces : 15000-20000 army, atleast 40% of them are women; avg age in high teens and low twenties.
  4. Various estimates suggest Maoist rebels could number up to 40,000. Of these, thousands may be armed with weapons ranging from AK-47s to light machine-guns raided from police stations or bought from dealers in Nepal. The cadre mostly comprises farmers, landless labourers, tribals and the extremely poor, including women and children.
  5. The Indian government, led by the United Progressive Alliance, banned the CPI (Maoist) under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) as a terrorist organisation
  6. Naxalites have been charged by the government with running an extortion economy in the guise of a popular revolution, extorting vast amounts of money from local branches of mining companies and other businesses

Origin:

  1. The peasant movement in Andhra Pradesh just after India’s independence was a precursor to the rise of Maoist thought. But it was an attack on a tribal man in the Naxalbari village of West Bengal on March 2, 1967 that sparked the violent, extremist left-wing movement.The Communist Party of China hailed the movement as the “Spring Thunder of India”.
  2. The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is an ultra-leftist political party in India which aims to overthrow the government of India through people's war and to establish a class-less society; ‘seizure of power’ through an agrarian revolution. Eight articles written by CharuMajumdar  at this time—known as the Historic Eight Documents—have been seen as providing their ideological foundation: arguing that revolution must take the path of armed struggle on the pattern of the Chinese revolution.
  3. Groups occupied vacant lands in parts of Naxalbari, Khoribari and Phansidewa police station areas of Siliguri sub-division on the plea that such lands were in excess of the permissible ceiling on land holdings
  4. The Naxalite movement spread in the West Bengal State as a wildfire and particularly the urban elite youth and the bhadralok class got attracted to it.
  5. the extremist faction could not mobilise people for further organised militant activities because govt. arranged redressal of the long-standing grievances, especially in respect of the hapless and poor tea garden labourers and landless or marginal farmers.
  6. 1972 : Death of CharuMajumdar
  7. A police research paper says the movement was subdued for two decades till 1991.
  8. Various splinter groups of Naxalites started resurfacing in various parts of India during the early 1980s. Thus, the Naxalites of Andhra Pradesh regrouped as the CPI-ML (Peoples’ War Group/ PWG); likewise the Bihar Naxalites rechristened themselves as the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). Of all the newly organisedNaxalite groups, the CPI-ML (PWG) turned out to be the most active not only in Andhra Pradesh but also in Orissa, in the tribal belt (Bastar-Dandakaranya) of Madhya Pradesh (now mostly in the State of Chhattisgarh) and Maharashtra, causing considerable violence in these States.
  9. In Bihar : greatest adversary was not so much the administration and the police but the armed gangs (senas) of the landlord class - the RanbirSena, the BhumiharSena; instead of assuming the characteristics of class struggle as propagated by Maoist ideologues, the skirmishes took the shape of caste warfare.
  10. Later reincarnated as the Maoist movement since 2004 : barring a few splinter groups, Naxalites have largely completed their process of merger and consolidation with the formation of the CPI (Maoist) on 21 September 2004

Questions :

  1. What is India's Maoist challenge all about?—

Ideological challenge to the very foundation of Indian state.-challenges the very edifice of Parliamentary democracy and constitutionalism

  1. How are the objectives of Maoist challenge to be accomplished?

They hope to accomplish these objectives not through Gandhian methods or Ideological debates, but by the stride of violence and terror as fundamental instruments

  1. Where is this challenge most visible?
    1. It started off in a small village called Naxalbhari;
    2. 70s saw Maoist challenge in Urban areas; Today it is predominantly and overwhelmingly rural.
    3. Geography of this challenge : Mostly Central India; Mineral Rich areas, Forest Rich Areas and Tribal dominated areas with Bihar(everything is related to caste-lower castes and under-classes have been mobilised) as an exception;
    4. 88/620 districts are classified as LW extremism affected. {8 in AP, 2 in MH, 10 in MP, 10 in CH,17 in JK 18 in OR, 3 in UP, 11 in Bihar and 3 in WB} 500-600 Gram panchayats are badly affected
  2. Who are the foot soldiers of this Movt.?
    1. Leadership is 99% from AP; Telugu is Lingua-Franca of Maoist Leadership
    2. Majority of Foot soldiers are tribals but few exceptions.
    3. Tribal participation b/c of 4Ds tribal Displacement(from their land), Deprivation(of their rights), Disconnect(from the mainstream) and Discontent(with the Govt.)
  3. Why has this grown?
    1. Once it was confined to 6-7 districts(of AP) in 70s and 80s after demise of Urban oriented Naxalbharimovt.
    2. factors : (Way our Political economy and Administration works)
      1. Political Neglect of this issue (Eg: No political party in India can afford to ignore Dalit issues; They are central to India's electoral fortunes (300 constituencies). Similarly Muslim populations(can affect 200 constituencies). Tribals no more than 50 constituencies). Tribal vote is not central to electoral performance.Dalits and Muslims live with other communities which is not the case of Tribals. This has affected the nature of political mobilization of political parties. SankaranCmt. condemns Maoist violence for its focus on military actions rather than on the mobilization of people for social transformation.
      2. Mining contributed to misery of Tribals. Tribal areas to the policy makers are simply mineral rich areas. (Ecological unsustainability & Social devastation has contributed to their discontent). Poor regions in the world are invariably mineral rich regions(Eg: Applachian mountains, Russia, Australia, China). The way extraction industry operates environmentally or socially doesn't lead to prosperity of the locals but it certainly leads to prosperity of outsiders. 40% of the total population displaced post-independence due to development have been tribalsie nearly 10-15 Million. At times they are subjected to not just one displacement but to multiple displacements.Our track record of land acquisition, Rehabilitation is pathetic.
      3. Insensitive Forest Administration : First symbol of Government in Forest Areas is Forest Guard. Forest Guard is armed with Indian Forest Act of 1927. 1000s of tribals in Jharkhand, Chattisgarh are jailed on flimsy charges of collecting items of daily existence. 2006 : Forest Rights Act was enacted. But Forest Bureaucracy continued its hostility towards it.
  4. What are we doing to deal with this?
    1. our first and instinctive response was to expand our security operations; Today 70000 para-military forces in 88 districts, 30000 local police
    2. Lately from Security only approach(Security Response) to Security Plus approach (+Development Response)
    3. Some security successes to integrate these areas with mainstream societies.
  5. Missing pieces of our strategy and what needs to be done?
    1. We end up having Half-hearted responses if we don't recognize this as an ideological challenge & Development Challenge
    2. Fundamental requirement is Political response(Where Political parties are weak, Maoists are strong and vice-versa).  There is a political impasse (classic case of "immovable object" meeting "irresistable force")
      1. India's Response to Maoists(P.Chidhambaram): "Do not give up arms, Do not give up Ideology, Do not disband your cadres, Come for Dialogue";
      2. Political conditions that Maoists want(Comrade Ganapati gave his 3 conditions in an interview ) : All out war has to be withdrawn, For any kind of democratic work the ban on party and mass organization has to be lifted, illegal detention & torture of comrades has to be stopped and released. If these demands are met, then the same leaders who are released would lead and represent the party in talks.
      3. Ultimate solution to Maoist problem is political. We defeated militancy in Punjab politically. We defeated insurgency in Mizoram,Tripura politically(insurgent PuLaldenga now is CM of Mizoram; Similarly Prafulla Kumar Mahanta of AGP(AsomGanaParishad)). 155 militants belonging to four groups surrendered in Manipur boosting the peace initiative
    3. Restitution and Reconciliation on past injustices. The facts that injustices have been perpetrated is undenial.
    4. Expansion of institutional space for other organizations (ie engaging Civil Society). Constitution of Peace seekers and Gandhian organizations. Multiple tracks of engagement and find out via-media

Conclusion : The tragedy of our society is it required Maoists to wake India up to Tribal predicament.

Approach:

  1. On Security Front
    1. 1908s in AP : Police operations created a sense of insecurity among sections of the Maoist cadres which prompted them to resort to brutal murders and tortures of villagers on the slightest suspicion of being police informers. This created alienation of Naxalites from locals. Victories of Greyhounds against Naxals with substantial support from locals in Nallamala forest areas.
    2. Treat Naxalism as a national problem(the way Central government engaged themselves, with all the force and strength, in Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir). Information dissemination and intelligence gathering is the Key.
    3. "There should be one centre from where all information regarding naxalism should be disseminated to the States"
    4. Designing proper SOPs(Standard Operating Procedures) to avoid casualties
    5. There is debate over involving the army and the air force to drive out Maoists hiding in dense forests.
    6. AP's special police force "Greyhounds" role in recent Sukhma encounter in Chattisgarh.Usage of UAV(Unmanned aerial vehicles) to track the movements of maoist cadres.
    7. Chattisgarh : the creation of resistance groups from amongst the tribal people known as the SalwaJudum or Special Police Officers(SPOs)
    8. Their arsenal now boasts of self-loading rifles (SLRs), AK series of rifles and INSAS rifles. It is believed that currently the Maoists have also gained access to the technology of fabricating rockets and rocket launchers.
  2. On Developmental Front
    1. Challenges of Naxalism can be understood in ecological terms of Forests, people and livelihoods which due to to our failure to address, have grown up to emergent state in such areas.Unless we understand the ecological basis of conflicts and evolution of local/regional terrorism we often fail to find sustainable ceasefire solutions
    2. Improving security situation through Participatory development based on inclusive governance; lapses in enforcing PESA,Forest Rights act resulted in deteriorating situation in 5th Scheduled areas
    3. AP's WHAM(Winning hearts and Minds) strategy to fight Maoist forces.
  3. Measures to preserve integrity and sovereignty
    1. strengthening of Rule of Law. Conviction rate for Terror crimes is quite low since tribals(refuse to become witnesses) are engulfed in fear.Tribals are picked up randomly and remain for four, five, six years in jail as undertrials. The judicial process is slow and families suffer, they get frustrated. Maoists campaign that innocents are kept in jail for no reason.
    2. Fostering respect for human rights and provision for reparation for violations
    3. reversing ethnic(NE insurgency), national and religious discrimination(Kashmir issue, communal riots), political exclusion(Regional movts like Telangana) and socio-economic marginalisation(backward regions).
    4. listening to people and becoming more responsive to society.
  4. Negotiation/ Peace Talks:
    1. "I would rather listen to them than fight. A lot of times, they have got legitimate grievances packaged as political positions" - Roger Fisher, Negotiation Guru
    2. Physical safety of Naxals is an impeding factor (How can a banned party negotiate without lifting the ban)
    3. Political structures need to build confidence by dialogue; Acts of terror contain the seeds of rejection of political structures.
    4. High profile Kidnaps :Sukma district collector in chattisgarh, Italian tourists in Odisha. Capturing hostages is believed to be the only way for naxalites to the govt. to lend them their ears. Collector and tourists happened to be there when they were looking for a hostage to communicate their demands to govt.
    5. CCC(Cmt for concerned citizens) convened 1994 Andhra Peace talks
      1. earned legitimacy in dealing the issue impartially
      2. But failed to design a realistic agenda
    6. The Andhra Pradesh government initiated peace talks in 2004 but the ceasefire did not hold for long. The Maoists made an offer in 2010 but the central government rejected it.
    7. By the end of 2012 : GOI important move towards negotiations. Promise to put up CMG(Crisis mgmt. groups) - teams to negotiate hostage situation in LW Extremist states. Can CMG address the root of the problem?
      1. CMG must be prepared for two realistic issues Naxals are known to rise
        1. Release of imprisoned Maoists or the return of tribal land occupied by Non-tribals(direct and tangible demand - cost-benefit analysis can be applied)
        2. Involving underlying needs and perceived injustices that drive their movt.
      2. Such skills should be taught based on Principal negotiation techniques "Never start negotiate the demands, start with needs and wants underlying them"; Need active listening that doesn't come naturally to conflicting parties; "Give and Take based on needs not on demands"
      3. CMG needs to anticipate the potential challenges to its implementation in order to avoid failed promises of the past (Eg: CCC)
    8. Imprisoned Maoists be brought under police custody to negotiate on behalf of the party rather than roping Civil society who are removed from realities of Parties interests.

Affected Regions:

  1. Eastern Highlands : From "Pasupati"(Pasupathinath temple in Nepal) to "Tirupati"
  2. mostly active in what has come to be known as the “red corridor” from Andhra Pradesh in the south to West Bengal in the east. But they do have some sort of presence in 21 out of 28 states in India.
  3. In some areas, Maoists run their own people’s court (62 Jan Adalats were held last year) and levy taxes on traders.

Some thoughts:

  1. 2008 : Bandhopadhyaycmt report on "Development Challenges in Extremist-affected areas"
  2. Initially, it was discrimination ,oppression, and landlordism (essentially Feudal order) that gave rise to naxalism; and now alienation of tribals from their natural habitat is driving it.
  3. The feeling of 'parentless' (Discontent with the Govt.)makes people vulnerable to anti-state ideologies(Tribals in MP eat Kesari Dal which has paralytic effect)
  4. SC made an observation " the whole issue of development appears to be so simple, logical and commonsensical. And Yet, to the millions of Indians, development is a dreadful and hateful word that is aimed at denying them even the source the sustenance. It is cynically said that on the path of 'maldevelopment' almost every step that we take seems to give rise to insurgency and political extremism"
  5. Just society cannot be created through unjust and inhuman means.. The outcomes of strategies which are built around bloodshed, vengeance, repression and hate will always ultimately be brutal and unjust, even if the violence is undertaken for lofty ideals.

Recent initiatives and case studies:

  1. central government has a Naxal Management Division that provides funds, additional security forces, logistics and coordinates between states.
  2. Integrated Action Plan(IAP) - to increase inter-state coordination
    1. in 88 identified districts.
    2. All the resources like planning, intelligence, etc., should integrate [to fight Naxalism].
    3. There should be one centre from where all information regarding Naxalism should be disseminated to the States.
    4. There should be some long-term strategy, which will be decided together. So far, there is no success in this coordination
    5. Extension for 4 more years.
    6. Physical Infra facilities like school buildings, anganwadi centers, rural roads, panchayat buildings, community halls and irrigation works were given priority where as social investment in health care, Sanitation and water supplies is very less
    7. now under consideration for merging into BRGF
    8. Is CAP part of IAP?
    9. Payment of MGNREGA wages in cash has been allowed under IAP for selected tribal and backward districts to obviate payment delays where outreach of banks/post-offices is inadequate.
  3. Implementation of IAP.
    1. Rural Development Min. wants to do that through local bodies where as Home Min. wants to carry it through District admin which will help in increasing the credibility of Govt. in tribal areas.
    2. Existing model : 30 crore/district through a 3-membered district-level cmt(District Magistrate, SP, District Forest Officer).
    3. Home and Finance ministries are in favour of existing model while PC and Rural Development ministry are advocating to spend atleast half of the amount through local bodies and representatives. Home ministry pointed out that in most villages local bodies are either missing or lying defunct, while in some places panchayat members were either cooperating with Naxals or were not helping local admin. due to fear of Maoists.
  4. Army recruitment to keep youths off Maoism.
  5. Programme "Roshini" in 24 most critical LW extremism affected districts.
    1. Provides beneficiaries aged between 18-35 years with requisite training for the trade or job chosen through public-private partnerships in the fields of tailoring, construction, mobile repairing, nursing and retail.
    2. Pro-actively covers Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups(PVTGs) on priority basis.
    3. Funded by Central and state govts. in the ratio of 75:25
    4. Similar to "Himayat" being run in J&K
  6. CAP (Civic Action Project):
    1. allows CAPFs(Central Armed Paramilitary Forces) to carry out developmental programmes in 9 LWE affected states under the project "Winning Hearts and Minds" by spending on physical and social infrastructure.
    2. It was tweaked to make it "individual-oriented" rather than "project oriented" as this approach will help in bridging the gap b/n locals and security personnel more efficiently.        

      Source via - thehindu.com/
      timesofindia.indiatimes.com/



Naxalism – A Pseudo Problem

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action;
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake
                                                                                              - Rabindranath Tagore



The attack in southern Chhattisgarh this past May 25 and other previous struggles between the Naxalites and the government forced me to revive this verses which present a state of intense sorrow. Naxalism is stated as national problem, internal threat, obstacle for development, agitator of peace, many more words are there but it is more important to know that what are the parameters, situations led to such growing state that it is incorrigible. 


The incidents followed by each other played a vital role to setup and to strengthen the Naxalism in India. Here are some details:-


1948
Around 2500 villages in the south were organized into ‘Communes’ as a part of a movement which came to be known as Telangana Struggle. This ‘Indian revolution’ follows the Chinese path of people’s war. This revolutionary strategy was based on Mao Tsetung’s new democracy
1964 -1967
Communist Party of India(Marxist)(CPI-M) splits from united Communist Party of India(CPI) and decides to participate in election postponing armed struggle
Communist leader Charu Majumdar formed the basis of naxalite movement based on Marx-Lenin-Mao thoughts CPI-M forms a coalition government in West Bengal that created division in the party as Charu Majumdar accused for betraying the revolution
May,1967(Naxalbari Uprising)
Charu Majumdar with help of Kanu Sanyal, Jangal Santhal and rebel cadres initiated a violent uprising in the small village “Naxalbari” in West Bengal against landlord’s men over a land dispute. The CPI-M led United Front Government cracked down on the uprising ,but this Naxalism ideology soon spread over many states and Comrades from TamilNadu,Kerala,Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Kerala,Orrisa,Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal met and set up All India Coordination Committee of Revolutionaries(AICCR) in the CPI(M)

1968-2000
AICCR renamed All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR). After it’s dissolution it became CPI (ML). There were many armed clash between CPI(M) and CPI(ML).Many parties formed based on maoist thinking and they have tried to succeed politically


  

Until the 1990s the Naxalites were a marginal presence in Indian politics. But in that decade they began working more closely with the tribal communities of the Indian heartland. About 80 million Indians are officially recognized as “tribal”; of these, some 15 million live in the northeast. It is among the 65 million tribals of the heartland that the Maoists have found a most receptive audience. There are following reasons which has stirred up the flame of Naxalism

·         Economically the tribals are the most deeply disadvantaged segment of Indian society. As few as 23 percent of them are literate; as many as 50 percent live under the poverty line. The state fails to provide them with adequate education, healthcare or sanitation; more actively, it works to dispossess them of their land and resources

·         The naxals enjoy immense support among the lower strata of the society in which they known as the Red corridor, a collection of states with active Naxalism. The tribals consider the Maoists as their friends for them these rebels who have stood by them when police beat them, the political parties are with the Salwa Judum (An anti-Naxalite movement in Chhattisgarh),the courts do not give them a hearing, the media does not care about them.

·         The original struggle was against feudal landlords and landownership, but the new struggle is against state domination, modernization and development which parallels the rise of India as a strong economy propelled by capitalism and liberal economic gains

·         Politically the tribals are very poorly represented in the democratic process. In fact, compared with India’s other subaltern groups, such as the Dalits and the Muslims, they are well nigh invisible. Dalits have their own, sometimes very successful, political parties; the Muslims have always constituted a crucial vote bank for the dominant Congress Party.

·         The main cause of Naxalism is the glaring inequality in rural India based on unequal distribution of land. Equitable distribution of surplus vested land for cultivation purpose is the main demand of the Naxalites. This is also the centre point of the land reform measures.

·         Charu Majumdar, the pioneer of the Naxalite movement had said: “China’s Chairman is our Chairman and China’s path is our path”. While India is sensitized about the ongoing proxy war by Pakistan, there is very little or no consciousness that Maoism or Naxalism is actually a proxy war by China being waged against India for last five decades.

Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of India, called Maoist insurrection, “the single biggest internal-security challenge”. The solution needs to be multidimensional and calls for a synergy between the central governments and the states. The socio-economic alienation and the dissatisfaction with the widening economic and political inequality will not be solved by military force alone, which seems to be the main instrument employed by the government. In spite of many reasons that have continued to grow Naxalism but following considerable steps will help to demolish the some of root causes of it.

Socio-economic development:-

As the Naxalites are fuelled by discontent from the marginalized and the poor, a larger percentage of the national budget must be allocated to addressing the needs of these regions. More of the national expenditure needs to be focused on developing these poorer regions through initiatives regarding health, education, social welfare and rural and urban development.

Government service delivery should be improved in these tribal areas. Both state and government must ensure that things such as statutory minimum wages, access to land and water sources initiatives are implemented. If the social needs of these marginalized people are addressed, there will be no discontent to fuel the Naxalite’s movements.

Discussion:-

The government should initiate sincere dialogue with these marginalized groups, the Naxalites and state leaders. By communicating and starting a dialogue between these stakeholders, these groups will feel that they being listened to. By opening dialogue, the government can give opportunity for the rebels to join the mainstream by showing them that solutions can be created together with the government, by being part of the political system in a legitimate way.  They no longer need to resort to violence to get the state’s attention.

Military:-

Currently, the main instrument employed by the government to address the Naxalite threat is the increasing use of the military. While some military force is still needed to combat against the Maoist guerrillas, it should not be the only solution. By only addressing the issue by brute force, government risks alienating civilians who are caught in the middle.
So by looking into all aspects of Naxalism, I consider it is a Pseudo problem and can be tackled thru efficient steps to maintain peace.

“You cannot find peace by avoiding life” - Virginia Woolf

Source via - thehindu.com/
timesofindia.indiatimes.com/
wikipedia.org