Naxalism in India

blog.forumias.com/naxalism-in-india/

Context:

Recently, 15 Maoists were killed in the Konta area of Sukma district in Chhattisgarh.

Who are Naxals?

The Naxals are far-left radical communists whose military strategies are loosely based on
the ideology of Chinese Revolutionary Mao Zedong.
The term ‘Naxal’ derives its name from the village Naxalbari of district Darjeeling in West
Bengal, where the movement originated in 1967 under the leadership of Charu Majumdar
and Kanu Sanyal.
The Naxals strongly believe that the solution to social and economic discrimination is to
overthrow the existing political system

Background:

First Phase:

1967- Naxalbari uprising- a class conflict between peasants and landlords

1969- Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (CPI (ML)). Declared illegal by the
government
Naxal violence was mainly concentrated in West Bengal, Bihar
1971-The arrest and subsequent death of Charu Majumdar marked the end of the first
phase of the movement.

Second Phase:

In 1980, the formation of the People’s War Group in Andhra Pradesh marked the revival of
the movement and the beginning of its second phase.
In 1991, Naxalite extremism reached its peak
However, the movement faced a setback due to security operations taken across different
states. Internal conflicts within the group further weakened the movement

Third Phase:

In 2000, the third phase of the movement began with the establishment of the People’s
Guerilla Army
In 2004, the People’s War Group merged with Maoist Communist Centre and formed CPI
(Maoist). This augmented the strength of the movement
The Naxalite movement spread across 233 districts in 20 states

Current Status:
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According to a recently released report by the Home ministry, the number of districts
affected with Naxal violence decreased from 106 to 90 between 2015 and 2018. The
districts are spread across 11 states. 44 districts were taken out from the ‘Red Corridor’
and 8 new districts added

According to Home Ministry data, incidents related to Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) have
declined from 1016 in 2016 to 851 in 2017.

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Causes of Naxalite Problem:

Socio-economic:

Lack of human development-poor access to health, education, food insecurity

Cultural humiliation
Multifaceted forms of exploitation and social atrocities
Poverty and inequality in distribution of income
Poor land reforms and unequal distribution of land lead to rising discontent among tribals
Developmental projects, mining activities lead to large-scale displacement of tribals from
their lands. However, there was no adequate rehabilitation.
Poor public infrastructure- lack of roads, communication. Further, forested areas aided
developing guerrilla warfare
Political marginalization-The tribals have been largely unrepresented in mainstream
politics

Governance:

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 Mismanagement of forest, forest policies with restriction for their livelihoods.
ineffective implementation of government schemes
Suppression of demands, protests
Government failed to reach out to people at times of crisis, maintain law and order. These
made people indifferent to the democratic principles in poor tribal areas in India

Steps taken by the government:

Security:

1. Operation Steeplechase- Launched in 1971, it was a joint Army-CRPF-Police operation

which lead to the crackdown of many Naxalites
2. Operation Green-Hunt: in 2009, Government deployed Commando Battalion for Resolute
Actions (COBRA) against naxals. This operation popularly came to be known as Operation
Green Hunt.

Andhra Pradesh has its specialised Greyhound commando force to tackle LWE

3. Unified Command: In 2010, the Government established a Unified Command for inter-
state coordination (in intelligence gathering, information sharing and police responses)
between Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odhisa and West Bengal

Developmental:

Forest Rights Act, 2006: The Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest dwellers (Recognition
of forest Rights) Act 2006 or the Forest Rights Act recognizes the rights of the scheduled tribes
and forest dwellers

Additional Central Assistance (ACA) for the LWE affected districts (earlier known as Integrated
Action Plan): The aim of this initiative is to provide public infrastructure and services in the LWE
affected areas

Road Requirement Plan for LWE areas: The Road Requirement Plan (RRP) aims at
improvement of road connectivity in most LWE affected districts

Civic Action Programme: The scheme aims to build bridges between the local population and
the security forces.

The Left Wing Extremism affected States have been asked to effectively implement the
provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) on priority,
which categorically assigns rights over minor forest produce to the Gram Sabhas.

ROSHNI: It is a special initiative under, Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya
Yojana for training and placement of rural poor youth from LWE affected areas

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Naxal Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Programme: The programme provides for vocational
training and incentives for surrender of weapons.

Recently the home minister announced a new strategy of SAMADHAN which stands for

S: smart leadership

A: aggressive strategy

M: motivation and training

A: actionable intelligence

D: dashboard-based KPIs (key performance indicators) and KRAs (key result areas)

H-harnessing technology

A-action plan for each theatre

N- no access to financing.

Challenges:

1. The Viriginius XAXA report highlighted the following developmental gaps which has the
potential to promte extremisim in tribal areas:

Governors have been tardy in the matter of submission of reports under the provisions of
Schedule 5 and in respecting the constitutional guarantee of autonomy to tribal areas.
The deliberations of the Tribes Advisory Councils have been found to be tokenistic, and
the councils are filled with bureaucrats and ministers instead of representatives of tribal
communities with effective voice.
Tribal land alienation and dispossession are at the crux of the crisis tribal communities
face across the country — acquisition of land by the state using the principle of ‘eminent
domain’; manipulation of records and incorrect interpretation of law; encroachment of
tribal land by non-tribal people and immigrants; creation of national parks; and armed
conflict resulting in forced migration and eviction from homelands.
Development projects lead to influx of outsiders to tribal areas, thus harm tribal interests
by money landing activities and pollution.
Government agencies acquire land for “public purpose” but later transfer it to private
companies at throwaway prices.

2. Further, Naxal activities receive support and sympathy from local tribals and intellengisia
from urban areas
3. Poor infrastructure and connectivity has also aggravated the problem to tackle naxal
activities in remote tribal areas
4. Tribals have been caught in the middle of a conflict that has pitted the Maoists against
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 government forces. Naxals recruit villagers for their operation and the latter become
vulnerable to arrest and torture by government forces. Naxals have also been accused of
killing and torturing villagers after accusing them of being police informers.
5. Though LWE incidents have come down over the years, the present rising income and
social inequality pose a serious challenge for the government to address growing
discontent and extremism

Way Forward

Since the rise and spread of Naxalism is attributed to discontent arising out of economic
and social discrimination, the government should primarily focus on social and economic
development in the backward tribal areas
Government service delivery should be improved in tribal areas. Government should
ensure statutory minimum wages, access to land and water sources, education and health
The government should initiate sincere dialogue with marginalized groups and the
Naxalites and encourage surrender. Rehabilitation of the naxals and mainstreaming them
into the society should be ensured
The government should strike a balance between development and interest of tribals. It’s
important to recognize tribal rights on forests and ensure proper rehabilitation in case of
any displacement

Best Practice: Columbia

The Colombia peace process was signed between the Colombian government and the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP).
It is based on comprehensive rural reform to ensure holistic development of the rural
population, increasing and improving citizen participation in the government through
strengthening democratic and electoral opportunities, and involving the victims of
establishment or rebel atrocities in the actual negotiation process.
The peace process put an end to the conflict between Colombian government and FARC
rebels

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