Movements: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Narmada Bachao Andolan Dalit movement Consumer movement Women movement (is already sent- sindhus topic) Self- respect movement Naxalbari movement Terrorism Religious movement notes are not available it would be nice if the person who took the topic can send.

Narmada Bachao Andolan Narmada Bachao Andolan is the most powerful mass movement, started in 1985, against the construction of huge dam on the Narmadariver. Narmada is the India's largest west flowing river, which supports a large variety of people with distinguished culture and tradition ranging from the indigenous (tribal) people inhabited in the jungles here to the large number of rural population. The proposed Sardar Sarovar Dam and Narmada Sagar will displace more than 250,000 people. The big fight is over the resettlement or the rehabilitation of these people. The two proposals are already under construction, supported by US$550 million loan by the world bank. There are plans to build over 3000 big and small dams along the river. It is a multi crore project that will generate a big revenue for the government. The Narmada Valley Development plan is the the most promised and most challenging plan in the history of India. The proponents are of the view that it will produce 1450 MW of electricity and pure drinking water to 40 million people covering thousand of villages and towns. Some of the dams have been already been completed such as Tawa and Bargi Dams. But the opponents says that this hydro project will devastate human lives and bio diversity by destroying thousand of acres of forests and agricultural land. On the other hand it will overall deprive thousands of people of their livelihood. They believe that the water and energy could be provided to the people through alternative technological means, that would be ecologically beneficial. Led by one of the prominent leader Medha Patkar, it has now been turned into the International protest, gaining support from NGO'S all around the globe. Protestors are agitating the issue through the mass media, hunger strikes, massive marches, rallies and the through the on screen of several documentary films. Although they have been protesting peacefully, but they been harassed, arrested and beaten up by the police several times. The Narmada Bachao Andolan has been pressurizing the world bank to withdraw its loan from the project through media. The strong protests through out the country not only made impact on the local people but has also influenced the several famous celebrities like film star Aamir Khan , who has made open efforts to support Narmada Bachao Andolan. He said he only want that those who have been rendered homeless should be given a roof. He pleaded to the common people to take part in the moment and come up with the best possible solutions.. The Dalit movement The Dalit movement in the familiar sense of organised resistance of the ex-untouchables to caste oppression, may not be traced beyond colonial times. However, in a wider sense of the struggle of lower castes against the hegemony of Brahminical ideology, it has to coexist with the history of caste itself. The broad framework of caste remaining the same, the Dalit movement could also be seen in a historical continuum with its previous phases. In another sense, it could be taken as the articulation phase of the numerous faceless struggles against the iniquitous socio-economic

formation ordained by the caste system, that has occupied vast spaces of Indian history. By any reckoning it seems to have done well in identifying its friends and foes, putting in place its strategies and tactics and more importantly, carving out a space for itself in every sphere. It kept pace with the changes taking place in socio-political sphere during the colonial times and thus displayed significant learning during this phase. However, it could not do so thereafter when it had to consolidate its gains particularly in the context of substantial changes that befell during the post-independence times. During this period, it appears to have been eclipsed by the shadow of its own past. In an attempt to grasp certain generalities of the Dalit movement, this paper will try to present a hypothesis that all the predominant attributes that the contemporary Dalit movement tends to reflect, are basically acquired from the circumstances that brought it into existence. In corollary, the hypothesis is extended to state that the Dalit movement did not assimilate any significant learning through changes in these circumstances and so allowed itself to degenerate and to be used by the very set of people whom it intended to fight. While wading through the web of Indian reality around the Dalit movement it is expected to throw up issues the clarity on which is considered prerequisite to chalk out a road map for its liberation.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The mythologized history of India does not provide many clues to the direct rebellions of the oppressed masses against their oppression. But it is inconceivable that they did not take place at all over a long period of two millennia that nibbled at their existence every moment with a 'divine' contrivance called caste. The extraordinary success of this contrivance of social stratification is as much attributable to its own design that effectively obviated coalescence of the oppressed castes and facilitated establishment and maintenance of the ideological hegemony as to its purported divine origination. None could ordinarily raise a question as it meant incurring divine wrath and consequent ruination of the prospects of getting a better birth in their next life. Thus the caste system held society in a metaphysical engagement and at the same time in physical alienation with itself. Materially, it provided for the security of every one through caste professions and psychologically an aspirational space for every caste including the non-caste untouchables to feel superior to some other. Since, this superstructure was pivoted on the religio-ideological foundation, the manifestation of resistance to the caste system always used the metaphysical toolkit that contrived its arguments into the religious form. Right from the early revolts like Buddhism and Jainism down to the Bhakti movement in the medieval age, one finds articulation of opposition to the caste system materialising in a religio-ideological idiom. This trend in fact extends well down to modern times that marks a new awakening of the oppressed castes and the birth of the contemporary Dalit movement. All anti-caste movements thus, from the beginning to the present, invariably appear engaged in religious or metaphysical confrontation with Brahminism, either in terms of its denouncement or of adoption of some other religion. The religious discourse is thus a common feature of all the anti-caste movements. For example, the Satnami movement of the Chamars in the Chhattisgarh plains in Eastern Madhya Pradesh that eventually became an independent religious sect (Russel 1916); the Dravid Kazhagam movement of Periyar EVR Ramaswamy Naicker which created a stir by publicly burning the effigy of Rama and celebrating the virtuousness of Ravana; the Nadar Mahajana Sabha in Tamilnadu (Hardgrave 1969); the Ezhava movement of Narayana Guru which culminated in establishment of a new religious sect called Sree Narayan Dharma Pratipalana Yogam in Kerala (Thomas 1965; Aiyappan 1944; Samuel 1973), and the most pervasive Dalit movement (Zelliot 1969) led by Babasaheb Ambedkar curiously reaching its climax of mass conversion to Buddhism; they all signify an overriding hatred for the religious code of Manu and a proposition of an alternate faith for themselves. It essentially embodied dejection with the Brahminism, which was perceived to be the root cause for their sufferings. The most articulate expression of this dejection is found in

Ambedkar's own analyses that holds overthrowing of 'Hindu' religious ideological hegemony as a necessary condition for the liberation of Dalits (Omvedt, 1994). Notwithstanding the views of some people who contend that the caste system was not a rigid system that had disallowed inter-caste movement of people, the fact remains that it does not have any evidence of having brought in a change in the forces of production or in the relations of production till the advent of British rule. With its quasi-autonomous villages it remained in a fossilised form for centuries. This feature of the Indian society precisely impelled Marx to disdainfully comment that India did not have history and to commend the British colonial rule for waking it up from its slumber to Western modernity. The first cultural shock this Indian society received was through the Moslem invaders. For the first time the Indians got to relate with some other religion and to realise that not only could there be alternative religious systems but also the gods postulating them. Egalitarian Islam initially treated all Indians equally but soon the imperative of their political strategies made them realise the utility of the intrinsic divisions existing in the Indian society and they not only decided to compromise their egalitarian zeal but also allowed adulteration of their cultural broth with the poison of caste. Bhagawan Das (1983) quotes Ibn Batuta, a Moslem scholar who accompanied Mahmud Ghaznavi stating that the Moslem invaders at first treated all Indians alike but later took advantage of the cleavages existing in Indian society. The compulsions of politics overtook religious spirits, which meant the Brahminic social order, based on castes remained largely unhindered and even influenced the emergent Moslem society with the Hindu converts. Even then this process spelt a sea of opportunity to the untouchables living outside the cities and villages. It was the Moslem invaders who first opened the gates of their cities to these 'Untouchables'. Many 'Untouchables' and low caste people embraced Islam and joined the invaders, partly to avoid persecution and partly in search of better status and fortunes. Those who embraced Islam and joined the armies of Moslem invaders imitated the customs and manners of their new masters. They gradually merged and integrated into Moslem society. Besides those who formally embraced Islam, whether voluntarily or under compulsion, there were millions of those who belonged to the artisan castes like weavers, masons, carpenters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, basket makers, potters, dyers etc., who slowly came to be Moslems. There were even some high caste Hindus including Brahmins who converted to Islam for various reasons. These converts coming from diverse castes brought in their respective cultural modes of living into the emergent Moslem society and along with it the caste divisions. Thus, although conversions to Islam could not rid the untouchables from their caste status fully, going by the intensity of oppression, they certainly must have experienced a great relief. First of all, the conversion enabled them to come out of their caste professions, which had been the mainstay of their low social status. Secondly, in renouncing their religion they must have had a sense of revenge against the ignominy heaped upon them and a vague sense of belonging to the ruling community. Thirdly, the opportunity to wield the sword in itself meant many things to them: it meant notional raise in their caste status catapulting them from a non-caste untouchable to that of Kshatriya - a penultimate rung in the caste hierarchy; it meant realisation of their manhood for the first time; it meant restoration of their confidence and most importantly, it meant economic betterment. It is a moot point whether these conversions could be called a social movement insofar as technically the latter insists upon an organisation striving for some collective goal of social change. It certainly reflects a spirit of rebellion at least at the individual level to defy the caste code and embrace a different faith. Insofar as caste society had the intrinsic organisations of castes that governed their respective caste behaviours and managed the community life within the caste framework, it is a difficult proposition to say that this rebellion materialised without any organisational backing. An individual in the caste society was too small an entity to transcend the dictate of his caste organisation. In all probability these kinds of people's choices particularly in large numbers, get exercised only with social connivance. As could be seen from the later

instances of conversions (Minakshipuram in Tamilnadu and several conversions of Dalits to Buddhism), the religious conversions never took place in any significant scale without there being a social movement to support it. In this sense, one could surmise the existence of some movement of untouchables that spearheaded the conversion to Islam. The above overview highlights the following: Indian society as a whole never accepted hierarchy as a basic value system. The anti-caste movements essentially were against the creed of Brahminism that had ordained the iniquitous social structure. They were always articulated in terms of constituting an anti-theses to oppressive aspects of the 'Hindu' religion. They invariably materialised in the form of denouncements of these aspects and in corollary, adoption of a different faith, which in their perception was better. These movements invariably needed certain extraneous enablers especially the political congeniality. BIRTH OF AN AUTONOMOUS DALIT MOVEMENT Unlike the Moslem invaders, who had ruled India on the strength of their developed feudalism, far superior to the priest-ridden Indian system, the British conquest of the country was based on their superior technique of production and social form (the bourgeois), that was much more efficient than the technique of feudalism. The British colonisation with its bourgeois liberal ethos coupled with the imperatives of their ruling strategy, created space for working up subaltern identities, mainly in terms of caste and religion. The institutional changes (judiciary, civil administration, commodity markets), cultural changes (modernity, western mode of living, English education, exposure to western treasure of knowledge and scholarship), economic changes (zamindari and ryotwari systems in place of jajmani-balutedari), and emergent social changes that came in during the colonial rule gave impetus to the aspirations of the lower castes. The development opportunities that these changes created came into conflict with traditional social relations, which still shackled them through caste bondage. There appears to be some kind of capability threshold that takes into account a balance of all resources with a social group, below which social movements are not possible. The colonial rule lent various opportunities to the disadvantaged sections and pushed them up past this threshold. It was thus natural that the first of the social resistance movements was by the Shudra castes. Because, as the labouring caste, they constituted an immediate interface with the parasitic upper castes, and in terms of resources they got over the threshold sooner than, say, the more oppressed untouchables. These movements broadly exposed the fraud perpetrated by Brahmins in the name of religion. They denounced their exploitation and praised British rule as an enemy of the enemy. In this formulation Dalits were vaguely bracketed as the co-oppressed ally. But the anti-Brahmin consciousness of these movements could not hold out in the face of the contradictions these castes had with the untouchable castes. Although, the Dalit movement was significantly influenced by the non-Brahmin movement of backward castes, it soon drifted away from the latter. With the advent of Ambedkar, it soon secured national prominence. Around this time, there was a strong revolutionary movement all across the globe that drew its inspiration from the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. It claimed its ideological strength from the theories of historical materialism, dialectical materialism and scientific socialism propounded by Karl Marx. The Russian revolution had ignited hope of emancipation in oppressed humanity. In India too, it soon took roots and came to be reckoned as a political force, especially in the urban centres where it had a particular appeal among the workers of various factories. The leadership of this communist movement however came from the middle class educated youth who for historical reasons had to come from the upper castes, the majority being the Brahmin itself. Their comprehension of the philosophy of communism was acutely constrained on one hand by the lack of systematic political education compounded by the non-availability of much of the original

literature, and on the other by their class and caste consciousness. It rested on the dictums like class struggle, dictatorship of proletariat and notions of the base and superstructure without the underlying dialectics that lent it its specific meanings. This movement was essentially pitted against British imperialism that brought them nearer some sections of the nationalists and tended to ignore the caste as a superstructural identity. The emergence of autonomous Dalit movement could not therefore be taken kindly by the communist movement, as it saw the Dalit movement to be dividing the workers, diffusing the focus of the anti-imperialist struggle and being non-scientific. On its part, the Dalit movement not only did not find any answer to their specific caste exploitation but on the contrary total apathy about it in the communist movement. In their strategic formulation, the open anti-State stance of the communists moreover did not found favour with the Dalits. As Gail Omvedt perceptibly observes, the autonomous Dalit movement had to engage with three forces in colonial society: 1. It developed in opposition to the socially and culturally pervasive and historically deep-rooted hegemony of Brahminical Hinduism. 2. It had to contend with the hegemony of the nationalist movement, which under the leadership of the Congress, strove to take over the agendas of several subaltern movements while restraining their democratic and egalitarian potential. 3. It had to face a difficult relationship with the communist movement which otherwise should have been its natural ally. CONCLUSION The Dalit movement has to revisit its stand on the issues of State, Religion, other modes of exploitation and culture. It needs to restate its objective in clearer terms, whether it aims at establishing a society based on liberty, equality, and fraternity or at just reversing the sides in the equation of exploitation. It will have to rethink about its friends and foes in this context. The era of globalisation increasingly demands clearer stands by various classes of people. It already appears sans its vitality and badly stagnated in the past. Its consequent degeneration has already hit the Dalit masses. It needs serious self-criticism. While there is a need for ruthless self-criticism in the Dalit movement along the above lines it should not mean denying its positive aspects. There are many of them: it implanted positive values of liberty, equality and fraternity; it promoted political consciousness to struggle against exploitation and injustice; it declared its allegiance to scientific rationalism and opposition to humbug of any kind. In terms of its gains, it has created significant resource base for itself in terms of education, organisational experience, and experience of working with the apparatus of its adversary. It is no mean an achievement to have secured this wherewithal in a short time. What is saddening is that it appears to be rapidly losing its grip over these gains and is straying into the channels created by the enemy. It could not consolidate its gains and hold together its constituents to work in a coordinated fashion for its long-term goal. This is possible only if it liberates itself from the grip of petty bourgeois hegemony and orients itself to serve the Dalit masses. The rhetorical aspects of such statements can be easily overcome by establishing certain ground rules, such as fixing priorities as per their salience to the majority Dalit masses; creating the structural space for their participation in decision making; promoting revolutionary culture among them, establishing values of struggle against any act of injustice, and anchoring the vision at achieving liberation of mankind to counter intrusion of any parochial tendencies. It certainly means a complete overhaul of itself. The consciousness and attitude of Dalit movements appears to have been frozen at its birth. It needs to recognise that the post-independence reality presents a far intricate complexity than in the colonial times. Consumer movement

Since Independence, India has been struggling to develop and strengthen its industrial base. However, during this period the Indian consumer has borne incredible hardships and has been subjected to exploitation of every kind in the name of self-sufficiency. Passive by nature, most Indian consumers have had to put up with adulterated food, faulty weights, under measures, spurious and hazardous drugs, exorbitant prices, endemic shortages leading to black marketing and profiteering, substandard products, useless guarantees, callous and indifferent services from public utilities and a host of other ills. In the mid-Sixties however, the worm began to turn and the consumers began to organise themselves. They started voicing their concerns and demanding better products and services and fighting for their rights. The consumer movement historically began in the early part of this century with the formation of the Passengers and Traffic Relief Association and the Women Graduates Union, Bombay, during 1915. But its real beginning in terms of sustained, visible and continuing expansion was during the Sixties. The Consumer Guidance Society of India (CGSI), All India Bank Depositors Association; Bombay Civil Trust, Bombay; Surat Consumer Association, Surat; Jyoti Sangh Grahak Suraksha Vibag, Ahmedabad were all set up in the Sixties. During the Sixties there were two major developments at the International level. President John F. Kennedy of the U.S. dedicated his administration to the promotion and protection of consumers' interests, helping the consumers realise their four fundamental rights; i.e. rights to safety, information, choice and redressal. He made this public commitment on March 15, 1962, the day now observed as "World Consumer Rights Day." The International Organisation of Consumers Union (IOCU) was also set up during 1960. Initially its headquarters was in The Hague, Netherlands. Later on it came to be known as Consumer International (CI) and its headquarters shifted to London. The World Consumer Congress meets every three years, and members share their experience and learn from one another. The last one was held at Santiago, Chile. The next one is scheduled for 2000. The Fair Trade Practice Association, set up by leading Indian business houses is presently known as the Council for Fair Business Practices and was set up in Bombay around 1965. Subsequently during each of the decades a few more consumer groups came up in different parts of the country, more particularly Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Delhi. During 1969, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission was set up under the MRTP Act of 1969. The Commission has powers to grant interim relief. In the absence of other quick and inexpensive remedies available to consumers, the MRTP Commission fills the void. Cases of restrictive trade practices which adversely affect competition and those of unfair trade practices largely arising out of false and misleading advertising are taken to this Commission. Till the mid Seventies, consumer organisations were largely engaged in activities of consumer protection by writing articles and holding exhibitions. To a marginal extent they were also engaged in making representations to the Government for changes in policies and laws. One noticeable exception was Mrinal Gore of Bombay who believed in direct action such as processions, demonstrations and picketing. She is remembered as "Paniwali Bai." Another organisation which cropped up in the national scene during the Seventies was the Akhil Bharathiya Grahak Panchayat at Poona. Its thrust was collective wholesale buying of domestic needs and redistribution among consumer families thereby eliminating middle men and their margins. They also pursued direct action in terms of boycotts and picketing. This is now carried on by the Mumbai Grahak Panchayat, Mumbai. In 1974 some elitists in Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu, got together, formed a consumer group and started working on malpractices in ration shops and overcrowding in road passenger transport etc. Prior to

this R. R. Dalavai, a freedom fighter and a Gandhian, started working on consumer protection in and around Chennai through consumer cooperatives. Another major change that took place was the emergence of the Consumer Education and Research Centre (CERC), Ahmedabad. It gave a new thrust and turn to the movement. The Eighties witnessed an upsurge in the number of consumer groups coming up across the country; there are now 1,500 consumer groups. This number should not give the wrong message that the movement is strong and effective. A disturbing factor with a good number of consumers groups is gross inadequacy of financial resources. Half of them have an annual income and expenditure of Rs. 10,000/- or less and about 20 per cent have Rs. 25,000/- or less. Further, most of them are concentrated in urban and semiurban centres and the movement is yet to pick up in rural areas. During 1983, the Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) began out of a rural newspaper Gram Gadar (Village Revolution) in Rajasthan. Today CUTS is one of the leading VCOs in the country specialising in economic, trade and industry matters besides rural activities. A major breakthrough came during 1986 when Parliament, under the leadership of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi passed a law for Consumer Protection (COPRA - 1986). It is only in India that we have three tier consumer courts at district, State and national levels with different levels of pecuniary jurisdiction. The orders of these courts are compensatory and not punitive. The procedure is simple, speedy in redressal and inexpensive. VCOs have a locus standii in these courts and no court fee is charged. Another milestone during the early Nineties was the development of synergy by and among the VCOs by the formation of State level and nation level federations. It began with Tamil Nadu in 1990 and was followed by States like Gujarat, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. FEDCOT (Federation of Consumer Organisations - Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry) is noteworthy among the State Level Federations of VCOs. Frederich Naumann Stiffung, a German Foundation in Delhi took the initiative to suggest VCOs in India to form a consumer coordination council at the national level as a countervailing force against lobbying and advocacy efforts by trade, industry and the professions. Today, CCC, New Delhi, is a National Coalition of VCOs in the country. During the Janata Party rule between 1977 and 1980, under Mohan Dharia and during the days of A. K. Antony as the Minister for Consumer Affairs, the movement received a boost. More and more consumers individually and collectively have begun to assert their rights and pursue remedies to the logical end. Some of the recent innovations in the consumer movement are the formation and adoption of citizens charters largely by the State services and the setting up of regulatory authorities for public utilities. The one living individual who deserves special mention in the field of consumer protection is H. D. Shourie, Director, "Common Cause," New Delhi, who was conferred with the "Padma Bushan" Award by the Government of India for his relentless crusade for common cause even in his 80s. Self-Respect Movement The Self-Respect Movement was founded in 1925 by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy (also known as Periyar) in Tamil Nadu, India. The movement has the aim of achieving a society where backward

castes have equal human rights,and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy. The movement was extremely influential not just in Tamil Nadu, but also overseas in countries with large Tamil populations, such as Malaysia and Singapore. Among Singapore Indians, groups like the Tamil Reform Association, and leaders like Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani were prominent in promoting the principals of the Self-Respect Movement among the local Tamil population through schools and publications. A number of political parties in Tamil Nadu, such as DMK and AIADMK owe their origins to the Selfrespect movement,the latter a 1972 breakaway from the DMK. Both parties are populist with a generally social democratic orientation. The movement has been in political power in Tamil Nadu since 1967, when the DMK under C. N. Annaduraidefeated the ruling Congress Party. The incumbent (as of 2009) Chief Minister is M. Karunanidhi of the DMK. The Tenets of Self-Respect Periyar was convinced that if man developed self respect, he would automatically develop individuality and would refuse to be led by the nose by schemers. One of his most known quotes on Self-Respect was, "we are fit to think of 'self-respect' only when the notion of 'superior' and 'inferior' caste is banished from our land". Periyar did not expect personal or material gain out of this movement. He used to recall in a very casual manner that as a human being, he also was obligated to this duty, as it was the right and freedom to choose this work. Thus, Periyar opted to engage himself in starting and promoting the movement. Periyar declared that the Self-Respect Movement alone could be the genuine freedom movement, and political freedom would not be fruitful without individual self-respect. He remarked that the so called 'Indian freedom fighters' were showing disrespect of self-respect, and this was really an irrational philosophy. Periyar observed that political freedom as conceived by nationalists not excluding even Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru did not cover individual self-respect. To him neither revival of the original spirit of Hindu religion and ancient traditions which formed part of Gandhi's conception of freedom, nor complete liberation from the British rule which was considered by Nehru to be the meaning of freedom or both of them together could ensure individual self-respect or remove the ills from Indian societies. In his opinion the task of fulfilling the need for self-respect would have to be faced whatever be the extent of political freedom gained. Pointing out that even the British monarch in a sovereignindependent nation had no freedom to marry a person of his choice and had to abdicate his kingdom, Periyar raised a question whether Gandhi's vision of freedom or Nehru's concept of independence contained even an iota of individual self-respect. Periyar believed that self-respect was as valuable as life itself and its protection is a birth right and not swaraj ('political freedom'). He described the movement as Arivu Vidutalai Iyakkam, that is, a movement to liberate the intellect. The terms tan-maanam or suya mariyadai meaning 'self-respect' are traceable in ancient Tamil literature considered a virtue of high valor in Tamil society. Periyar once claimed that to describe the ideology of his movement, no dictionary in the entire world, implying that no other language, could provide a word better than or equal to suya mariyadai. Started as a movement (Iyakkam in Tamil) to promote rational behavior, the Self-Respect Movement acquired much wider connotation within a short period of time. Periyar speaking with M.K. Reddy at the First Self-Respect Conference held in 1929, explained the significance of selfrespect and its principles. The main tenets of the Self-Respect Movement in society were to be: no kind of inequality among people; no difference as rich and poor in the economic life; men and women to be treated as equals in every respect without differences; attachments to caste, religion, varna, and country to be eradicated from society with a prevalent friendship and unity

around the world; and every human being seeing to act according to reason, understanding, desire, and perspective, and shall not be subject to slavery of any kind or manner. Equality with stress on economic and social equality formed the central theme of the Self-Respect Movement was due to Periyar's determination to fight the inequalities ingrained in the caste system and religious practices. Working on the theme of liberating the society from the baneful social practices perpetrated in the name of dharma and karma, Periyar developed the idea of establishing this movement as the instrument for achieving his objective. Anti-Brahmanism Tamil Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars) were frequently held responsible by followers of Periyar for direct or indirect oppression of lower-castepeople on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in attacks on Brahmins and which among other reasons started a wave of mass-migration of the Brahmin population. Periyar in regards to a DK member's attempt to assassinate Rajagopalachari, "expressed his abhorrence of violence as a means of settling political differences". Eventually, the anti-Brahmanism subsided with the replacement of the DMK party by the AIADMK Self-Respect marriages One of the major sociological changes introduced through the self respect movement was the selfrespect marriage system, where by marriages were conducted without being officiated by a Brahmin priest. Periyar had regarded the then conventional marriages were mere financial arrangements and often caused great debt through dowry. Self-Respect marriages encouraged inter-caste marriages and arranged marriages to be replaced by love marriages. It was argued by the proponents of self-respect marriage that the then conventional marriages were officiated by Brahmins, who has to be paid for and also the marriage ceremony was in Sanskrit which most people did not understand, and hence were ritual and practices based on blind adherence. Naxalbari Movement Naxalite or Naxalvadis (name from the village of Naxalbari in the Indian state of West Bengal where the movement originated), are a group of 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 formation of Communist Party of India (Marxist- Leninist). They have been responsible, since 1947, of violent acts on the Indian state and its machinary. Initially the movement had its centre in West Bengal. In recent years, they have 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). They lead the NaxaliteMaoist insurgency. As of now Naxalites are active across approximately 220 districts in twenty states of India accounting for about 40 percent of India's geographical area, They are especially concentrated in an area known as the "Red corridor", where they control 92,000 square kilometers. According to India's intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing, 20,000 armed cadre Naxalites were operating apart from 50,000 regular cadres working in their various mass organizations and millions of sympathisers, and their growing influence prompted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to declare them as the most serious threat to India's national security. The Naxalites are opposed by virtually all mainstream Indian political groups.[ . In February 2009, Central government announced its plans for simultaneous, co-ordinated counteroperations in all Left-wing extremism-hit statesChhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal, to plug all possible escape routes of Naxalites.
History:

The term Naxalites comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a extremist section of Communist Party of India (Marxist)(CPI(M)) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal led a violent uprising in 1967, trying to develop a "revolutionary opposition" in opposition to the CPI(M)

leadership. The insurrection started on May 25, 1967 in Naxalbari village when a farmer was attacked by local goons over a land dispute. Maoists in the guise of local farmers retaliated by attacking the local landlords and escalated the violence. Majumdar greatly admiredMao Zedong of China and advocated that Indian peasants and lower classes must follow in his footsteps and overthrow the government and upper classes whom he held responsible for their plight. He strengthened the Naxalite movement through his writings, the most famous being the 'Historic Eight Documents' which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology. In 1967 'Naxalites' organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and later broke away from CPI(M). Violent 'uprisings' were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 AICCCR gave birth to Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Practically all Naxalite groups trace their origin to the CPI(ML). A separate tendency from the beginning was the Maoist Communist Centre, which evolved out of the Dakshin Desh-group. MCC later fused with People's War Group to form Communist Party of India (Maoist). A third tendency is that of the Andhra revolutionary communists, which was mainly presented by UCCRI(ML), following the mass line legacy of T. Nagi Reddy. That tendency broke with AICCCR at an early stage. During the 1970s the movement was fragmented into several disputing factions. By 1980 it was estimated that around 30 Naxalite groups were active, with a combined membership of 30 000. A 2004 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".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." India's Research and Analysis Wing, believed in 2006 that 20,000 Naxals are currently involved in the growing insurgency Today some groups have become legal organisations participating in parliamentary elections, such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. Others, such as Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti, are engaged in armed guerrilla struggles Violence in Bengal The Naxal movement was immensely popular with not only the radical sections of the students movement in Calcutta, but the whole student body of Bengal undeniably were sympathetic about them since the mainstream Communist ideology had proved itself to be hypocritical and farcical in practice, as they stand to this day. The state machinery of India systematically annihilated this student support baseline from the whole movement as international human rights watch dog bodies picked up frantic calls of disappearances of students and intellectuals. Between 1969 and 1979 an estimated 5000 students and intellectuals disappeared or were killed under mysterious conditions. The West Bengal Left Front maintains that these students and intellectuals left their education to join violent activities of the Naxalites. Charu Majumdar progressively changed the tactics of CPI(ML), and declared that revolutionary warfare was to take place not only in the rural areas but everywhere and spontaneously. Thus Majumdar's 'annihilation line', a dictum that Naxalites should assassinate individual "class enemies" as a part of the insurrection was exploited by state media and the Bengal Left Front to infuse a sense of demonic identity into Naxals and over thirty years portrayed them as a social evil. Where as the statistical data refers to the theory being only practiced against such elements in civil society who were deemed as "class enemies". The police, landlords and corrupt politicians cutting across mainstream party lines. Throughout Calcutta, schools were shut down. The police claims that students took over Jadavpur University and used the machine shop facilities to make pipe guns to attack the police and that their headquarters became Presidency College, Kolkata. The movement soon found ardent supporters amongst most of the educated class, and Delhi's prestigious St. Stephen's College, alma mater of many contemporary Indian leaders and thinkers, became a hotbed of Naxalite activities. The strategy of individual terrorism soon proved counterproductive. Eventually, the Chief Minister, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, began to institute counter-measures against the Naxalites. The West Bengal police and the state sponsored CPI(Marxist) cadres fought back to stop the

advancement of Naxalites. The student part of the movement was cruelly repressed by numerous disappearing s, staged encounters, and a doldrum of state sponsored media allegations tarnishing the image of the Naxalite movement and this massive and relentless public brain washing campaign was partly successful in hijacking public opinion sympathetic of the Naxalite ideology to that of misinformed 'fear'. The human rights violations on the West Bengal police went unabated for decades after this to attain the demonic proportions of the eighties and nineties where they have been appropriately termed as the 'uniformed mafia' . Buddhadev Bhattacharya tactically led from the front line as the police and home minister of West Bengal during the same period to turn the evil nexus of CPIM and the West Bengal Police into a feared repressive regime which was the most effective counteractive agent against the onslaught of Naxalites. Moreover, the movement was torn about by disputes infused by state intelligence. In 1971 CPI(ML) was split in two, as Satyanarayan Singhparted ways with Majumdar's leadership. In 1972 Majumdar was arrested by the police and subsequently he died in Alipore Jail under unexplainable circumstances. After his death the State unsuccessfully tried fragmenting this movement for the next three decades. Lalgarh, West Bengal has emerged as a region close to coming completely under control of the Naxalites after the group threw out the local police and attacked members of the ruling communist government in late May 2009. The state government initiated a huge 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 aimed at creating a 'liberated zone' against "oppression of the establishment Left and its police" has given them a major base in West Bengal for the first time since the Naxalite uprising went underground in the mid-1970s and that "We will have an armed movement going in Calcutta by 2011". Cultural references The British musical group Asian Dub Foundation have a song called Naxalite. This song was part of the soundtrack to the 1999 film Brokedown Palace. In 2005 a movie called Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi directed bySudhir Mishra was released with the backdrop of Naxalite movement. In August 2008, Kabeer Kaushik'sChamku starring Bobby Deol and Priyanka Chopra explored the story of a boy who is brain-washed to take arms against the state. There is a reference to a character, in the novel, The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, joining with the Naxalites. The 1998 film Haazar chaurasi ki Maa (based on the novel, "Hazar Churashir Maa" by Mahasweta Devi) (Mother of 1084-the number assigned to her son) 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 with his son becoming a Naxalite. The 2007 Kannada movie Maathaad Maathaadu Mallige directed by Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar again portrays Vishnuvardhan as a Gandhian, confronting a Naxalite Sudeep showing that the ways adopted by Naxals will only lead to violence and will not achieve its 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 Deaths related to violence Violence has peaked in India from Maoist or Naxalite separatist violence being more dangerous to India's national security, as declared by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. From the Ministry of Home Affairs it has been stated that:

1996: 156 deaths 1997: 428 deaths

1998: 1999: 2000: 2001: 2002: 2003: 2004: 2005: 2006: 2007:

270 deaths 363 deaths 50 deaths 100+ deaths 140 deaths 451 deaths 500+ deaths[ 892 deaths 749 deaths (as of September 30, 2007) 384 deaths

(related to Naxalite insurgency)

2008: 938 casualties (including 38 Maoists)

2009: Naxalites separatists struck at the first phase of elections on 16 April, 2009 in Bihar, Chattisgarh and Jharkhand killing 18 civilians and security forces. Later, on 23 April, 2009, they also struck in the second phase of polling in Jamshedpur and surrounding areas in Jharkhand injuring several member of the polling party. May 2009: 16 police die in suspected Maoist attack The BBC maintains that upwards of 6,000 people have died in the Naxal uprising. Terrorism in India Terrorism in India is primarily attributable to Islamic, Hindu, Sikh, Christian and Naxalite radical movements. The regions with long term terrorist activities today are Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Central India (Naxalism) and Seven Sister States(independence and autonomy movements). In the past, the Punjab insurgency led to militant activities in the Indian state of Punjab as well as the national capital Delhi. As of 2006, at least 232 of the countrys 608 districts were afflicted, at differing intensities, by various insurgent and terrorist movements. In August 2008, National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has said that there are as many as 800 terrorist cells operating in the country. Western India Mumbai Mumbai has been the most preferred target for most terrorist organizations, primarily the separatist forces from Kashmir. Over the past few years a series of attacks including explosions in local trains in July 2006, to the most recent and unprecedented attacks of 26 November, 2008, where two of the prime hotels and another building, in south Mumbai, were sieged. Terrorist attacks in Mumbai include:* 12 March 1993 - Series of 13 bombs go off killing 257 6 December 2002 - Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 2 27 January 2003 - Bomb goes off on a bicycle in Vile Parle killing 1 14 March 2003 - Bomb goes off in a train in Mulund killing 10 28 July 2003 - Bomb goes off in a bus in Ghatkopar killing 4 25 August 2003 - Two Bombs go off in cars near the Gateway of India and Zaveri Bazaar killing 50 11 July 2006 - Series of seven bombs go off in trains killing 209 26 November 2008 to 29 November 2008 - Coordinated series of attacks killing at least 172.

Jammu and Kashmir Armed insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir killed tens of thousands till date

Northern and Northwestern India Bihar Although terrorism is not considered a major issue in the state, existence of certain groups like the CPI-ML, Peoples war, MCC,Ranvir Senaand Balbir militias is a major concern as they frequently attack local policemen and politicians. Poor governance and the law and order system in Bihar have helped increase the menace caused by the militias. The Ranvir Sena is a militia of forward caste land owners which is taking on the might of powerful Naxalites in the area. The State has witnessed many massacres by these caste groups and retaliatory action by other groups. All the militias represent interest of some caste groups. The main victims of the violence by these groups are helpless people (including women, old and children) who are killed in caste massacres. The state police is ill equipped to take on the AK47, AK-56 of the militants with their vintage 303 rifles. The militants have used landmines to kill ambush police parties as well. The root cause of the militant activities in the state is huge disparity among different caste groups. After Independence, land reforms were supposed to be implemented, thereby giving the low caste and the poor a share in the lands which was till then held mostly by high caste people. However, due to caste based divisive politics in the state land reforms were never implemented properly. This led to growing sense of alienation among the low caste. Communist groups like CPI-ML, MCC and People's War took advantage of this and instigated the low caste people to take up arms against establishment which was seen as a tool in the hands of rich. They started taking up lands of rich by force killing the high caste people. The high caste people resorted to use of force by forming their own army Ranvir Sena to take on the naxalites. The State witnessed a bloody period in which the groups tried to prove their supremacy by mass killings. The Police remained a mute witness to these killings as it lacked the means to take any action. However now the Ranvir Sena has significantly weakened with the arrest of its top brass. The other groups are still active. There have been arrests in various parts of the country, particularly those made by the Delhi and Mumbai police in the recent past, indicating that extremist/terrorist outfits have been spreading their networks in this State. There is a strong suspicion that Bihar is also being used as a transit point by the small-arms, fake currency and drug dealers entering from Nepal and terrorists reportedly infiltrating through Nepal and Bangladesh. However, in recent years these attacks by various caste groups have come down with better government being practised. Punjab During 1970s, the Indian Green Revolution brought increased economic prosperity for the Sikh community in Punjab. This propensity kindled an age old fear in the Sikh community - that of being absorbed into the Hindu fold and led to the rise of Sikh militants. The insurgency intensified during 1980s when the movement turned violent and the name Khalistan resurfaced and sought independence from the Indian Union. Led by Jarnail

Singh Bhindranwale who , though not in favor in the creation of Khalistan but also was not against it, began using militancy to stress the movement's demands. Soon things turned bloody with India alleging that neighboring Pakistan supported these militants, who, by 1983-4, had begun to enjoy widespread support among Sikhs. In 1984, Operation Blue Star was conducted by the Indian government to stem out the movement. It involved an assault on the Golden Temple complex, which Sant Bhindranwale had fortifed in preparation of an army assault. Indira Gandhi, India's then prime minister, ordered the military to storm the temple, who eventually had to use tanks. After a seventy-four-hour firefight, the army successfully took control of the temple. In doing so, it damaged some portions of the Akal Takht, the Sikh Reference Library and some damaged to the Golden Temple itself. According to Indian government sources, eighty-three army personnel were killed and 249 injured. Militant casualties were 493 killed and eighty-six injured. During same year, the assassination of Indira Gandhi by two Sikh bodyguards, believed to be driven by the Golden Temple affair, resulted in widespread anti-Sikh riots, especially in New Delhi. Following Operation Black Thunder in 1988, Punjab Police, first under Julio Ribeiro and then under KPS Gill, together with the Indian Army eventually succeeded in pushing the movement underground. In 1985, Sikh terrorists bombed an Air India flight from Canada to India, killing all 329 people on board Air India Flight 182. It is the worst terrorist act in Canada's history. The ending of Sikh militancy and the desire for a Khalistan catalyzed when the then-Prime Minister of Pakistan, Benazir Bhutto handed all intelligence material concerning Punjab militancy to the Indian government, as a goodwill gesture. The Indian government used that intelligence to put an end to those who were behind attacks in India and militancy. The ending of overt Sikh militancy in 1993 led to a period of relative calm, punctuated by militant acts (i.e. the assassination of Punjab CM, Beant Singh in 1995) attributed to half a dozen or so operating Sikh militant organisations. These organisations include Babbar Khalsa International, Khalistan Commando Force, Khalistan Liberation Force and Khalistan Zindabad Force. Support for Khalistan is still widespread among Sikh communities in Canada and the United Kingdom. New Delhi Three explosions went off in the Indian capital of New Delhi on October 29, 2005 which killed more than 60 people and injured at least 200 others. The high number of casualties made the bombings the deadliest attack in India of 2005.It was followed by 5 bomb blasts on 13 September 2008. Delhi security summit The Delhi summit on security took place on February 14, 2007 with the foreign ministers of China, India, and Russia meeting in Hyderabad House, Delhi, India to discuss terrorism, drug trafficking, reform of the United Nations, and the security situations in Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, andNorth Korea.[3][4] Attack on Indian parliament Terrorists on December 13, 2001 attacked the Parliament of India resulting in a 45-minute gun battle in which 9 policemen and parliament staffer were killed. All the five terrorists were also killed by the security forces and were identified as Pakistani nationals. The attack took place around 11:40 am (IST), minutes after both Houses of Parliament had adjourned for the day. The suspected terrorists dressed in commando fatigues entered Parliament in a car through the VIP gate of the building. Displaying Parliament and Home Ministry security stickers, the vehicle entered the Parliament premises. The terrorists set off massive blasts and used AK-47 rifles, explosives and grenades for the attack. Senior Ministers and over 200 Members of Parliament were inside the Central Hall of Parliament when the attack took place. Security personnel sealed the entire premises which saved many lives.

Uttar Pradesh Ayodhya crisis The long simmering Ayodhya crisis finally culminated in a terrorist attack on the site of the 16th century Babri Masjid -Demolished Ancient Masjid in Ayodhya on July 5, 2005. Following the twohour gunfight between Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorists based in Pakistan and Indian police, in which six terrorists were killed, opposition parties called for a nationwide strike with the country's leaders condemning the attack, believed to have been masterminded by Dawood Ibrahim. Varanasi blasts A series of blasts occurred across the Hindu holy city of Varanasi on 7 March 2006. Fifteen people are reported to have been killed and as many as 101 others were injured. No-one has accepted responsibility for the attacks, but it is speculated that the bombings were carried out in retaliation of the arrest of a Lashkar-e-Toiba agent in Varanasi earlier in February 2006. On April 5, 2006 the Indian police arrested six Islamic militants, including a cleric who helped plan bomb blasts. The cleric is believed to be a commander of a banned Bangladeshi Islamic militant group, Harkatul Jihad-al Islami and is linked to the Inter-Services Intelligence, thePakistani spy agency. Northeastern India Northeastern India consists 7 states (also known as the seven sisters): Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, and Nagaland. Tensions exists between these states and the central government as well as amongst the tribal people, who are natives of these states, and migrant peoples from other parts of India. The states have accused New Delhi of ignoring the issues concerning them. It is this feeling which has led the natives of these states to seek greater participation in self-governance. There are existing territorial disputes between Manipur and Nagaland. There is a rise of insurgent activities and regional movements in the northeast, especially in the states of Assam, Nagaland, Mizoram andTripura. Most of these organizations demand independent state status or increased regional autonomy and sovereignty. North Eastern region tension have eased off-late with Indian and state government's concerted effort to raise the living standards of the people in these regions. However, militancy still exists in this region of India supported by external sources. Nagaland The first and perhaps the most significant insurgency was in Nagaland from the early 1950s until it was finally quelled in the early 1980s through a mixture of repression and co-optation. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM), demands an independentNagaland and has carried out several attacks on Indian military installations in the region. According to government officials, 599 civilians, 235 security forces and 862 terrorists have lost their lives between 1992 and 2000. On June 14, 2001, a cease-fire agreement was signed between the Government of India and the NSCN-IM which had received widespread approval and support in Nagaland. Terrorist outfits such as the Naga National Council-Federal (NNC-F) and the National Council of Nagaland-Khaplang (NSCN-K) also welcomed the development. Certain neighbouring states, especially Manipur, raised serious concerns over the cease-fire. They feared that NSCN would continue insurgent activities in its state and demanded New Delhi scrap the ceasefire deal and renew military action. Despite the cease-fire the NSCN has continued its insurgency[citation needed]. Assam After Nagaland, Assam is the most volatile state in the region. Beginning 1979, the indigenous people of Assam demanded that the illegal immigrants who had emigrated

from Bangladesh to Assam be detected and deported. The movement lead by All Assam Students Union began non-violently with satyagraha, boycotts, picketing and courting arrests. Those protesting frequently came under police action. In 1983 an election was conducted which was opposed by the movement leaders. The election lead to widespread violence. The movement finally ended after the movement leaders signed an agreement (called Assam Accord) with the central government in August 15, 1985. Under the provisions of this accord, anyone who entered the state illegally between January 1966 and March 1971 were allowed to remain but were disenfranchised for ten years, while those who entered after 1971 faced expulsion. A November 1985 amendment to the Indian citizenship law allows non citizens who entered Assam between 1961 and 1971 to have all the rights of citizenship except the right to vote for a period of ten years. New Delhi also gave special administration autonomy to the Bodos in the state. However, the Bodos demanded for a separate Bodoland which led to a clash between the Bengalis, the Bodos and the Indian military resulting in hundreds of deaths. There are several organizations which advocate the independence of Assam. The most prominent of which is the ULFA (United Liberation Front of Assam). Formed in 1971, the ULFA has two main goals, the independence of Assam and the establishment of a socialist government. The ULFA has carried out several terrorist attacks in the region targeting the Indian Military and non-combatants. The group assassinates political opponents, attacks police and other security forces, blasts railroad tracks, and attacks other infrastructure facilities. The ULFA is believed to have strong links with Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN), Maoists and the Naxalites. It is also believed that they carry out most of their operations from the Kingdom of Bhutan. Because of ULFA's increased visibility, the Indian government outlawed the group in 1986 and declared Assam a troubled area. Under pressure from New Delhi, Bhutan carried a massive operation to drive out the ULFA militants from its territory. Backed by the Indian Army, Thimphu was successful in killing more than a thousand terrorists and extraditing many more to India while sustaining only 120 casualties. The Indian military undertook several successful operations aimed at countering future ULFA terrorist attacks, but the ULFA continues to be active in the region. In 2004, the ULFA targeted a public school in Assam killing 19 children and 5 adults. Assam remains the only state in the northeast where terrorism is still a major issue. The Indian Military was successful in dismantling terrorist outfits in other areas, but have been criticized by human rights groups for allegedly using harsh methods when dealing with terrorists. On September 18, 2005, a soldier was killed in Jiribam, Manipur, near the Manipur-Assam border by members of the ULFA. Tripura Tripura witnessed a surge in terrorist activities in the 1990s. New Delhi blamed Bangladesh for providing a safe haven to the insurgents operating from its territory. The area under control of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council was increased after a tripartite agreement between New Delhi, the state government of Tripura, and the Council. The government has since been brought the movement under control though certain rebellious factions still linger. Manipur In Manipur, militants formed an organization known as the People's Liberation Army. Their main goal was to unite the Meitei tribes of Burmaand establish an independent state of Manipur. However, the movement was thought to have been suppressed after a fierce clash with Indian security forces in the mid 1990s. On September 18, 2005, six separatist rebels were killed in fighting between Zomi Revolutionary Army and Zomi Revolutionary Front in theChurachandpur District.

On September 20, 2005, 14 Indian soldiers were ambushed and killed by 20 rebels from the Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) terrorist organization, armed with AK-56 rifles, in the village of Nariang, 22 miles southwest of Manipur's capital Imphal. "Unidentified rebels using automatic weapons ambushed a road patrol of the army's Gorkha Rifles killing eight on the spot," said a spokesman for the Indian government. Mizoram The Mizo National Front fought for over 2 decades with the Indian Military in an effort to gain independence. As in neighbouring states the insurgency was quelled by force. South India Karnataka Karnataka is considerably less affected by terrorism in spite of having many places of historical importance and the IT hub of India, Bengaluru. However, recently Naxal activity has been increasing in the Western Ghats. Also, a few attacks have occurred, major ones including an attack on IISc on 28 December 2005 and serial blasts in Bengaluru on 26 July 2008. Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh is one of the few southern states affected by terrorism, although of a far different kind and on a much smaller scale. The terrorism in Andhra Pradesh stems from the People's War Group or PWG, popularly known as Naxalites. The 'PWG, has been operating in India for over two decades with most of its operations in the Telangana region in Andhra Pradesh. The group is also active in Orissa and Bihar. Unlike the Kashmiri insurgents and ULFA, PWG is a Maoist terrorist organisation and communism is one of its primary goals. Having failed to capture popular support in the elections, they resorted to violence as a means to voice their opinions. The group targets Indian Police, multinational companies and other influential institutions in the name of the communism. PWG has also targeted senior government officials, including the attempted assassination of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. It reportedly has a strength of 800 to 1,000 well armed militiants and is believed to have close links with the Maoists in Nepal and the LTTE ofSri Lanka. According to the Indian government, on an average, more than 60 civilians, 60 naxal rebels and a dozen policemen are killed every year because of PWG led insurgency.Also one of the major terrorist attack is 25 August 2007 Hyderabad Bombing. Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu had LTTE Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam militants operating in state Tamil Nadu up until the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. LTTE had given many speeches in state Tamil Nadu led by Velupillai Prabhakaran, Tamilselvan and other Eelam members. Tamil Tigers, now a banned organisation, have been receiving many donations and support from India in the past. The Tamil Nadu Liberation Army, a militant Tamil movement in India that have ties to LTTE. Tamil Nadu also faced terrorist attacks orchestrated by Muslim funadamentalists. For more information refer, 1998 Coimbatore bombings. Air India Flight 182 Air India Flight 182 was an Air India flight operating on the Montreal-London-Delhi-Bombay route. On 23 June 1985 the Boeing 747-237B operating on the route was bombed over Irish airspace, killing all onboard. Until 11 September 2001, the Air India bombing was the single deadliest terrorist attack involving aircraft. It remains to this day the largest mass murder in Canadian history. This act was taken responsibility by Babbar Khalsa known as being a hardcore terrorist group which was and still is banned in Canada, United States, United Kingdom,Germany, and India in 1985.

The incident occurred within an hour of the Narita Airport Bombing. The plane, a Boeing 747-237B (c/n 21473/330, reg VT-EFO) named Emperor Kanishka exploded at an altitude of 31,000 feet (9500 m), crashing into the Atlantic Ocean killing all 329 people on board, of whom 280 were Canadian citizens and 22 were Indian nationals.