Red Ant Dream - Maati ke lal - Gondi Internationale

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Upcoming Screenings :

Pune
17 June 2013 (Monday)
National Film Archive of India
FAC Screening, NFAI Law College Road, Pune 411004

Bangalore
19-22 July 2013
details to be announced

Hyderabad
July 2013
details to be announced

Mahendra Karma's Annihilation - CPI Maoist statement

Elimination of fascist Salwa Judum leader Mahendra Karma: Legitimate response to the inhuman atrocities, brutal murders and endless terror perpetrated on the Adivasis of Bastar!

Attack on top Congress leaders: Inevitable reprisal to the fascist Operation Green Hunt being carried on by the UPA government hand in glove with various state governments!

On May 25, 2013, a detachment of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army conducted a massive attack on the 20 plus vehicles convoy of Congress party which resulted in wiping out of at least 27 Congress leaders, activists and policemen including Mahendra Karma, the bitter enemy of the oppressed people of Bastar and Nand Kumar Patel, president of the Congress’ state unit. It took place when the Congress party leaders were touring in Bastar region as part of their ‘Parivartan Yatra’ program (i.e. March of Change) keeping their eye on forthcoming assembly elections. At least 30 others also were injured in this attack including ex-central minister and veteran Congress leader Vidya Charan Shukla. The dog’s death of Mahendra Karma, notorious tyrant, murderer, rapist, robber and maligned as corrupt, in this historic attack has created a festive atmosphere in entire Bastar region. Former state home minister Nand Kumar Patel was also had the history of suppressing the people. It was in his tenure, paramilitary force (CRPF) was deployed in Bastar region for the first time. It was also not hidden from anyone that the former central minister VC Shukla who had been in various portfolios including Home ministry, was also a people’s enemy who had acted as a loyal servant of imperialists, comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie and landlords and had played a key role in formulating and implementing exploitative government policies. 

The goal of this attack was mainly to eliminate Mahendra Karma and some other reactionary Congress top leaders as well. However, during this massive attack some innocent people and some lower level Congress party activists who were in fact not our enemies, were also killed and injured caught in the two-hour long gun battle that ensued between our guerrilla forces and the armed police forces. Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) regrets for this and expresses condolence and sympathy to the families of the bereaved.

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) takes absolute responsibility for this attack. We send our revolutionary greetings to the PLGA commanders who led this daring ambush, to the red fighters who contributed in this success, to the people who took part in it by lending active support and to the entire revolutionary masses of Bastar region. This attack has once again proved the historic fact that those fascists who perpetrate violence, atrocities and massacres on the people, will never be forgiven and they would inevitably be punished by the people.

The so-called tribal leader Mahendra Karma was born into a feudal manjhi family. Both his grandfather Masa Karma and father Bodda Manjhi were notorious harassers of the people in their times and were acted as trusted agents of colonial rulers. His family’s entire history is known of inhuman exploitation and oppression of Adivasis. Mahendra Karma’s political life was started in 1975 as a member of AISF while he was studying the law. He was elected as MLA from CPI first in 1978. Later in 1981, when he was denied ticket by CPI, he joined Congress. In 1996, he had gone with a breakaway faction of Madhavrao Scindhia and became member of Indian Parliament as an independent candidate. Later he rejoined the Congress party.

In 1996, a massive movement took place in Bastar demanding the implementation of Sixth Schedule. Though mainly CPI had led that movement, our party – it was CPI (ML) [People’s War] then – also took active part in that movement mobilizing the masses on a large scale. But Mahendra Karma took bitter stand against that movement proving himself as representative of the selfish urban business people, who had come to Bastar as settlers and had accumulated massive wealth. Then only his anti-adivasi and pro-comprador nature was clearly exposed before the people. Since the 1980s, he had strengthened the bonds with big business and capitalist classes in Bastar.

Then in 1999, Karma’s name was exposed in a big scam called ‘Malik Makbuja’. A Lokayukta report revealed that in the period of 1992-96, Mahendra Karma hand in glove with timber black-marketers had made millions of rupees by cheating adivasi people and colluding with revenue and forest officials and the district collector. Though a CBI probe was ordered into this scam, nothing harm was done to the culprits as always happen.

Mahendra Karma was minister of jails in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Later became industries and commerce minister in Ajit Jogi’s government when Chhattisgarh state was carved out of it.  At that time a forceful land acquisition took place in Nagarnar for the proposed steel plant by Romelt/NMDC. While the local people refused to give up their lands, Mahendra Karma took stand against the people and in favor of the capitalists. He played a key role in forcibly taking away the lands by suppressing the people with support of brutal police force. The people who lost their lands in Nagarnar received neither compensation nor the employment as government had promised till now. They were forced to disperse.

From the very beginning, Mahendra Karma stood as an arch enemy of the revolutionary movement. The reason is clear – hailed from a typical feudal family and ‘grown up’ as an agent of big business and bourgeois classes. The first Jan Jagaran (‘awareness’) campaign was launched in 1990-91 against the revolutionary movement. The revisionist CPI had participated in that counter-revolutionary campaign. Karma and many of his relatives belonged to the landlord classes had actively participated in it. The second Jan Jagaran campaign was launched in 1997-98 led by Mahendra Karma himself. This was started in Mahendra Karma’s own village Faraspal and its surrounding villages and spread up to Bhairamgarh and Kutru areas. Hundreds of people were tortured and arrested and sent to jails. Many an incidents of looting and setting fire to houses took place. Womenfolk were raped. However, under the leadership of our party and mass organizations people came together and strongly countered this counter-revolutionary onslaught. Within a short time, this campaign was defeated.

Later the revolutionary movement became more consolidated. Anti-feudal struggles were intensified in many areas. Landlords like Podia Patel, the brother of Mahendra Karma, and some close relatives of him were killed as part of mass resistance actions. In many villages the power of feudal forces and bad gentry was thrown out and the process of establishment of People’s Revolutionary Power organs began. The feudal forces including Mahendra Karma were very furious as their lands were redistributed among the poor and landless peasants and the customs like unjustly forcing the people to pay penalties to the landlords were stopped. They opposed the progressive changes like stopping of forced marriages of women, discouraging polygamy etc. also. And at the same time, the revolutionary movement was seemed as a hurdle by the corporate houses like Tatas and Essars who started their attempts to plunder away the natural resources of Bastar region. So, they naturally colluded with the counter-revolutionary elements like Mahendra Karma. They fed him with millions of coffers in order to create conducive atmosphere for their arbitrary depredations. On the other hand, after the emergence of CPI (Maoist) as a country-wide consolidated party as an outcome of the merger between the genuine revolutionary organizations, exploitative ruling classes intensified their counter-revolutionary onslaught in the guidance of the imperialists so as to crush the revolutionary movement. Thus, a brutal attack in connivance with the Congress and the BJP has started in Bastar region namely ‘Salwa Judum’. So many followers and relatives of Mahendra Karma like Soyam Muka, Rambhuvan Kushwaha, Ajay Singh, Vikram Mandavi, Gannu Patel, Madhukarrao, and Gota Chinna etc. emerged as key leaders of Salwa Judum.

One can hardly find any examples in the history to compare the severity of the devastation and barbarity caused by Salwa Judum to the lives of the Bastar people. It killed more than one thousand people in cold blood; torched 640 villages into ashes, robbed thousands of houses; ate or took away chickens, goats, pigs, etc.; forced more than two million people to be displaced; dragged more than 50 thousand people into state-run ‘relief’ camps. Thus the Salwa Judum became anathema to the people. Hundreds of women were gang raped. Many women were murdered after rape. Massacres took place in many places. The atrocities perpetrated on the people and havoc created by the hooligans of Salwa Judum, the police and paramilitary forces, especially the Naga and Mizo battalions crossed all limits. There were several incidents in which people were brutally cut into pieces before being dumped in rivers. Cherli, Kotrapal, Mankeli, Karremarka, Mosla, Munder, Padeda, Paralnar, Pumbad, Gaganpalli... in many villages people were killed en masse. Hundreds of tribal youth were recruited as SPOs and were turned into hardened criminals. Mahendra Karma himself led the attacks on several villages in the name of conducting meetings and marches. Many women were raped by the goons with the direct instigation of Mahendra Karma. He was directly involved in many incidents of burning the villages, torturing and murdering the people. Thus, in the minds of the people of Bastar, Mahendra Karma remained as an inhuman killer, rapist, dacoit and a loyal broker of the big capitalists. In entire Bastar people have been demanding our party and the PLGA for many years that he must be punished. Many of them came forward voluntarily to give active support in this task. There were also a few attempts, but due to petty mistakes and other reasons he was able to escape.

With this action we have taken revenge of over a thousand adivasis who were brutally murdered in the hands of Salwa Judum goons and government armed forces. We also have taken revenge on behalf of those hundreds of mothers and sisters who were subjected to cruelest forms of violence, humiliation and sexual assault. We have taken revenge on behalf of the thousands of Bastarites who lost their homes, cattle, chickens, goats, bald, pottery, clothing, grain, crops ... everything and were forced to live a miserable life in subhuman conditions.

Immediately after this attack, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh etc. dubbed this as an attack on democracy and democratic values. One wonders whether these pet dogs of exploiter classes have any moral qualification even to take the name of democracy! Of late, on May 17, when eight people including three innocent children were killed by police and paramilitary forces in Edsametta village of Bijapur district, then why did none of these leaders bother to think about ‘democracy’? Between January 20 to 23, when villages named Doddi Tumnar and Pidiya of Bijapur district were attacked by your forces who torched 20 houses and a school house run by the people, did your ‘democracy’ flourish there? Exactly 11 months ago, on the night of June 28, 2012 in Sarkinguda village, 17 adivasis were slaughtered and 13 women were gang raped.  Were those incidents a part of your ‘democratic values’? Does your ‘democracy’ only applicable to the mass murderers like Mahendra Karma and ruling class agents like Nand Kumar Patel? Whether the poor adivasis of Bastar, the elderly, children and the women come under the umbrella of your ‘democracy’ or not? Are the massacres of adivasis a part of your ‘democracy’? Do any of those who are shouting loudly against this attack have any answer for these questions?

By the end of 2007, Salwa Judum was defeated by the resistance of the masses. Then in 2009, Congress-led UPA-2 has unleashed a countrywide offensive by name Operation Green Hunt (OGH). The US imperialists are not only giving guidance and help and support, but by deploying their special forces in India they also are actively participating in counter-insurgency operations. They are giving emphasis on killing the Maoist leadership. The Union government has so far sent more than 50 thousand paramilitary forces to Chhattisgarh as part of ongoing OGH, i.e. ‘War on People’. As a result, there has been manifold increase in massacres and destruction. 400 adivasis were killed by central and state armed forces here in Bastar so far since 2009. From mid-2011, Army troops have been creating bases in Bastar region in the name of setting up ‘training schools’. Both Chidambaram and Shinde, the former and present home ministers, including PM Manmohan Singh have been eagerly rendering all support to the Chhattisgarh government and expressing full satisfaction over Raman Singh government’s performance in crushing revolutionary movement. Raman Singh too has been expressing his gratitude on every occasion for Centre’s help. Therefore, in Chhattisgarh, there are no differences between ruling BJP and opposition Congress in terms of policies of suppressing the revolutionary movement. Only due to public pressure, as well as to gain electoral benefits, some of the local leaders of the Congress at times came in condemnation of incidents like Sarkinguda and Edsametta massacres. Their opposition is sham which is nothing more than opportunism. Both Congress and BJP are same in implementing corporate friendly and oppressive policies. The frequent penetration of Greyhounds forces across the Chhattisgarh borders from Andhra Pradesh, and the mass murders it committed first in Kanchal (2008) and recently in Puwwarti (May 16, 2013) are part and parcel of the oppressive policies adopted and implemented by Congress party. That's why we have targeted top leaders of Congress.

Today, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Home Minister Nankiram Kanwar, Ministers Ramvichar Netam, Kedar Kashyap, Vikram Usendi, Governor Shekhar Dutt, Maharashtra Home Minister RR Patil etc.; DGP Ram Niwas, ADG Mukesh Gupta and other senior officials of the police, who are hell-bent on crushing the revolutionary movement of Dandakaranya, are in the big illusion that they are unbeatable. Mahendra Karma also has kept the illusion that Z plus Security and bullet-proof vehicles would save him forever. In the history of the world, Hitler and Mussolini were in the same pride that no one could beat them. In the contemporary history of our country, the fascists like Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi also were victims of similar misgivings. But the People are invincible. People only are the makers of the history. Ultimately, a handful of exploiters and a few of their pet dogs will only be thrown in the dustbin of the history.

Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee of Communist Party of India (Maoist) calls upon the workers, peasants, students, intellectuals, writers, artists, media persons and all other democrats to demand the governments to stop the OGH immediately; to withdraw all kinds of paramilitary forces from Dandakaranya; to give up the conspiracy of deploying the Army in the name of ‘training’; to put an end to the interference of Air Force; to release all the revolutionary activists and ordinary adivasis languishing in various jails immediately; to scrap the cruel laws like UAPA, CSPSA, MACOCA, AFSPA, etc.; to cancel the all those MoUs signed with the corporate houses with the aim of plundering the natural wealth of the country.

(Gudsa Usendi) 

Spokesperson Dandakaranya 

Special Zonal Committee CPI (Maoist)

(This is translated and slightly abridged version of Hindi original)

Source : Banned Thought

Maoist leader Sudarshan survives assasination attempt

An attempt by the Andhra Pradesh police to abduct and murder senior Maoist leader, Sudarshan alias Srinivas in a fake encounter failed last week. The bullet meant for his brain ended up in his leg, and ridiculous stories have appeared in the media about this failed fake encounter, clearly the AP Police deserve an oscar for best screen play..

Top Maoist leader Sudarshan held

One of the Maoists freed in exchange for the 2011 release of Odisha collector R. Vineel Krishna has been held in Andhra after a day’s dramatic chase that saw him first jump off a police van and play a lunatic.

Sriramula Srinivas alias Sudarshan, 55, is also a key accused in the 2003 assassination attempt on former chief minister and Telugu Desam boss Chandrababu Naidu and in the murder of a state home minister, A. Madhav Reddy, three years earlier. Both attacks were landmine blasts.

Sudarshan, a native of Andhra’s Nalgonda district, is a central committee member of the CPI (Maoist) and said to be eighth in the hierarchy. He is also secretary of the rebels’ Andhra-Odisha Border Committee, blamed for the abduction of IAS officer and Malkangiri collector Krishna.

Sudarshan carried a bounty of Rs 20 lakh on his head, said A.V. Ranganath, the SP of Khammam, the district near the Odisha border where the chase began on Friday night and ended last evening.

Sudarshan was travelling in a Bolero with family members when the vehicle was intercepted and the rebel caught on Friday night on the basis of information that he had crossed over from Odisha for treatment.

Sudarshan was asked to get off the Bolero and made to sit in the solitary police van, with the SUV asked to follow on.

The Maoist was being brought to a police station in nearby Wyra town, around 245km from Hyderabad, when he jumped off the running vehicle and ran into a patch of maize fields along the road. The cops fired on him, injuring him in the leg, but he still managed to scamper away, police sources said.

In the melee, the Bolero also sped away and vanished into jungles near the spot. The vehicle had Sudarshan wife’s Vimala, also a senior rebel leader with a Rs 6-lakh bounty on her head, and their two daughters, the sources said.

Sudarshan spent the night in the fields, by when the police had intensified the search for him and circulated his photos in Wyra town and surrounding villages. The Maoist emerged from the fields yesterday morning, and pretending to be a mad man, threw stones at villagers to prevent them from getting close to him, the sources said.

However, the theatrics of disguise ended when some of the villagers tipped off the police last evening. Sudarshan also hurled stones at the police team that went to arrest him outside Wyra town but was eventually pinned down.

His bullet wound was nursed and he was brought under heavy security to Khammam town where a magistrate remanded him in judicial custody for two weeks. Police sources said he was likely to be brought to Hyderabad and lodged in the high-security central jail.

Sudarshan was arrested in Odisha after 38 Greyhounds — Andhra’s crack anti-rebel force — were killed in 2008 while crossing a reservoir at Balimela in Malkangiri. He was freed along with four others in exchange for the release of then collector Krishna in 2011. The rebel faces over 40 cases in Andhra and Odisha.

Andhra officers said many senior rebel leaders had crossed over to border towns in Andhra in recent months for treatment.

Source :

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1130325/jsp/nation/story_16712147.jsp

Challenges for Parlimentary Left in India - Praful Bidwai

It seems like Bidwai has taken a tip or two from SYRIZA's success in Greece.

Challenges for the Left in India 

By PRAFUL BIDWAI

The Left parties can reverse their decline and strengthen themselves only through candid self-criticism and by returning to mass work.

MEMBERS OF THE CPI(M) and activists protesting in Mangalore on August 27 against corruption in the city's corporation. The Left's presence in mass movements and grass-roots mobilisations on people's livelihood issues, while still substantial, has decreased.

THE mainstream Indian Left, which has contributed richly to the nation’s social and political life for over 80 years, today finds itself in crisis and decline. The Left – the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the CPI (ML-Liberation) and other smaller parties – successfully withstood the collapse of the Soviet Union and the global and domestic onslaught of neoliberalism and even grew in strength for almost two decades. This was a remarkable achievement given that many communist parties elsewhere in the world disintegrated.

However, the Indian Left has suffered numerous setbacks and reverses in recent years. These manifest themselves not only in its reduced parliamentary strength (down from 61 to 24 seats in the Lok Sabha), an electoral rout in West Bengal after 34 years, and a narrow defeat in Kerala, but, more importantly, in its declining national influence, prestige, moral-political authority, internal morale, and ability to forge a radical alternative to bourgeois politics, besides some weakening of Left unity.

Put starkly, the Left faces a number of crises and challenges: an ideological-programmatic crisis, a crisis in defining its policies vis-a-vis the state and ruling classes and in formulating political mobilisation strategies, and an organisational crisis, including factionalism and alienation of cadres.

The Left’s presence in mass movements and grass-roots mobilisations on people’s livelihood issues, while still substantial, has decreased. It is not taking up with enough vigour and tenacity burning issues such as gross income and wealth inequalities, which have reached obscene proportions in India, or the grave agrarian crisis, which has led to 250,000 farmers’ suicides. Its influence within the progressive intelligentsia is also on the wane.

Regrettably, this is happening just when global capitalism is in deep crisis, neoliberalism has proved utterly bankrupt, and popular disenchantment with the Indian state is at its peak. It is of the utmost importance for the health of Indian democracy that the Left resolves its crises and rejuvenates itself.

After all, it is the only current in mainstream politics which has a deep commitment to India’s underprivileged and an agenda of egalitarian social transformation. As this column has argued for two decades, if the Left did not exist in India, we would have to reinvent it. This must be done on a firmly Marxist foundation.

Many of these issues were discussed between top Left party leaders, eminent progressive intellectuals and civil society activists at a seminar organised by the Council for Social Development in New Delhi on August 8, which this writer coordinated. Although no overarching consensus emerged, this was the first dialogue of its kind, which all the 120 participants welcomed, not least because it highlighted the challenges facing the Left in a constructive, non-sectarian manner.

I also visited Kerala in mid-August to deliver the C. Achutha Menon Birth Centenary Lecture and met a good cross section of Left leaders, cadres and scholars in Thrissur, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram with whom I discussed the state of the Left.

What follows is partially based on these two rounds of discussion, besides my own political orientation and analysis. In part, it is also a somewhat expansive wish list, albeit from a well-wisher.

Consider a few propositions.

Ideologically, the Left is the sole consistent opponent of neoliberal policies in India’s mainstream political spectrum. This opposition must be reflected more adequately than it currently is in its own policies and practices, especially at the State level. More crucially, the Left must recognise and emphasise the cardinal truth that the neoliberal state is fundamentally authoritarian and must necessarily dispossess people and suppress or limit their social, economic and civil-political rights.

Opposing neoliberalism effectively thus also means fighting the Indian state, which is becoming increasingly repressive, and defending the citizen’s fundamental rights and liberties. This poses two dilemmas for the Left. How can it play a dual role as a party of governance (if only in a few States) and as a national party of opposition without the risk of being seen as part of the Indian establishment and partly losing consistency or credibility? Second, how can the Left achieve a balance between parliamentary politics and the politics of mass mobilisation to further its cause, which goes beyond capturing provincial power?

Resolving these dilemmas demands creative theorising and imaginative praxis. The Left can rise to these and the other challenges it faces only if it enunciates a distinctly emancipatory vision of social transformation based on Marxism, offers a cogent alternative to neoliberal economic and retrograde social policies, fights for an egalitarian income policy and income and wealth redistribution through higher taxes on the rich, devises innovative political mobilisation strategies, and widens its appeal by participating in struggles on issues that deeply concern working people.

To do this, the Left needs to update its analysis of Indian society and evolve a contemporary vision of development and relate this to its political programmes and policies. It must also develop a sharp analysis of the causes of the setbacks it has recently suffered, including through the social and economic policies pursued by its State governments, and its deficiencies in providing alternative perspectives and creating a pole of attraction for the classes and social groups it seeks to represent.

This calls for a number of changes, including a shift away from a literal belief in the inevitable development of the productive forces and the idea of a “two-stage” revolution. This is itself rooted in the axiom that India is some kind of semi-feudal semi-colonial society, rather than a capitalist one, even if it is a backward, poverty-stricken capitalist society that incorporates oppressive forms of gender and caste hierarchy and social exploitation, classically associated with pre-modern societies, into the bourgeois economic and social relations that prevail today.

This is not an academic distinction. Different characterisations of the state and the ruling class lead to divergent priorities, strategies and social coalitions. The central task before the Left is to oppose and weaken Indian capitalism and the neoliberal state while empowering working people to make inroads into, and eventually take over, governance structures to radicalise them along socialist lines.

This means combining a range of transitional demands based on a comprehensive charter of rights, which reflect mass aspirations for a life with human dignity, with a transformative politics and relating day-to-day mass struggles to that larger long-term goal.

Equally necessary is a rejection of the presumed inevitability and intrinsic desirability of industrialisation, especially along the classical Western pattern, which can lead to slippage into an “industrialisation at any cost” position.

This approach was at least partly responsible for the land acquisition and industrial promotion policies followed in West Bengal by the Left Front since 2006, which led to the Singur and Nandigram disasters and to the neglect of vital social agendas, reflected in the State’s slipping or stagnant human development indices.

Closely tied up with this is the dominant view of nature and natural resources as externalities rather than as something central or pivotal to an alternative radical perspective which makes a clean break with GDPism and incorporates environmental protection into development and social transformation agendas.

The Left has to “green” itself and address issues such as climate change and defence of the commons (common property resources) not just in global terms, which emphasise differential North-South responsibilities. It must do so domestically, too, in ways that conventional thinking simply cannot do and acknowledge that ecologically India’s growth trajectory is profoundly unsound. These issues must become organic to the Left’s emancipatory development vision.

True, the Left has shed its obsession with “development” of the productive forces counterposed to environmental protection, which was evident in its support for the Silent Valley project in the 1970s and its suspicion of the radical environmental movements of the 1980s and 1990s.

The Left does recognise neoliberal capitalism’s depredations and plunder of natural resources. But it has still not made ecology a central component of the development model it advocates. Even after Fukushima, the growing popular opposition to nuclear energy worldwide – inherently accident-prone and fraught with radiation and intractable problems of storing wastes that remain hazardous for thousands of years – and the emergence of safe, climate-friendly and cost-effective renewable alternatives, the Left still maintains a largely ambivalent position on nuclear power.

The Left has a unique opportunity to bring ecology centre stage amidst the explosion of grass-roots mobilisations in virtually every Indian State against destructive irrigation, power and industrial projects and on the issue of control over land, water, minerals and other natural resources. It must participate wholeheartedly in these and take on board their concerns to broaden its own agendas.

Above all, the Left should include these issues in a charter of people’s rights to the fulfilment of their basic needs and aspirations, including equitable provision of food, water, employment and social security, universal good-quality health care, education, energy and other public services.

Besides outlining such programmatic perspectives and strategies as an integral part of a humane politics which empowers working people, the Left can greatly gain in credibility and popular acceptance by developing sector-wise alternatives on issues such as land, water and shelter rights, equitable access to energy sources, sustainable agriculture, rural job generation, urban development, ecologically sound housing, transportation, neighbourhood schools, culture, and egalitarian education and skill-generation programmes.

Equally important are issues such as pensions for the old, special programmes for unorganised workers, and affirmative action in favour of underprivileged, dispossessed and marginalised groups, including single-women-led households and homeless people, besides religious and ethnic minorities.

Central to such a comprehensive charter or grand agenda would be a programme of combating gender discrimination and fighting for women’s rights, which goes beyond equal wages or 33 per cent political reservation and which recognises that patriarchy is a critical and integral component of the entire system of social oppression on which Indian capitalism is based. Fighting patriarchy cannot be left to the future; it must be integrated into the Left’s core agenda.

No less important are the “old” issues of caste, religion, ethnicity, tribal identity and regionalism, which the Left has self-confessedly neglected, and certainly not theorised to generate a multifaceted understanding of Indian reality. Some of these issues have been muddied by identity politics and its emotive appeal. But that makes it all the more pressing for the Left to address them in both theory and practice.

Of critical importance here would be a sustained, continuous dialogue between the Left parties and radical/progressive scholars and social activists devoted to expanding people’s rights and entitlements to a humane existence. A substantial base of knowledge, analysis and insight exists among the latter, from which the Left stands to gain handsomely through such interaction.

Among the “emerging” issues the Left must grapple with are the new authoritarian and communal structures growing within the Indian state as it evolves an Islamophobic “counterterrorism” strategy and deludes itself that “left-wing extremism is India’s greatest internal security threat” and then uses a militarist approach to deal with it.

Militarisation of state and governance in India’s tribal heartland, where the bulk of the country’s mineral and forest resources are located, is a great menace to democracy, perhaps greater than the crises in Kashmir or the north-eastern region were at their peak. Closely connected with militarism is nuclearism, or the government’s growing addiction to nuclear weapons and its tight embrace of nuclear deterrence, a doctrine India rightly described for half a century as “morally repugnant” and strategically irrational.

The Left must resolutely oppose militarism and actively return to the principled nuclear disarmament agenda it adopted after the Pokhran-II tests in 1998 but which it did not quite pursue during the 2005-08 debate on the United States-India nuclear deal.

Another battle the Left has to wage is over the belligerent and chauvinist nationalism growing in India, based on hubris and domination and on a perverse notion of Indian exceptionalism, which deeply influences our ultra-individualist middle-class elite. This nationalism is located in a Hobbesian world view where might always prevails and nations forever compete fiercely; they never cooperate.

The Left will not find it easy to radically transform its theoretical framework, analysis of strategic issues and its political practices given the indifferent or poor culture of internal (and external) debate that prevails in its organisation. Underpinning this is the doctrine of democratic centralism, interpreted along Stalinist lines, which stifles free debate. There has also been an erosion of the quality of discussion in party forums in relation to the 1950s or even the late 1970s.

If the Left wants to overcome its decline, it will have to reaffirm a firmly Marxist orientation but rethink the political framework, or paradigm, within which it works. It will have to swallow the bitter pill of painfully candid self-criticism and admission of strategic errors, theoretical inadequacies and flawed practices through open and free debate. Without such debate, there can be no course correction and stemming of the Left’s decline.

One last word: “Beyond the Obvious” will go beyond the visible range in these pages. But it will continue to fight in other forums for the ideas and causes it has championed since 1993.

Source :

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20120921291811800.htm

Operation Green Hunt and Cobra Propaganda Videos

Several propaganda videos about the COBRA battalions, their training and operations have appeared on-line over the last few weeks. Two of them are posted below.

Embedded with commandos of Operation Green Hunt

Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1GTbmbQc5g

It's only recently that the Indian government has started to appreciate the scale and complexity of the Naxal problem. More than Pakistan, its Naxal guerillas who keep the government on the edge these days -- because following on Mao's footsteps, these rebels want to overthrow the Indian government - and they are pretty serious about the task.

Till recently considered as mare security nuisance, (who occasionally indulged in violence) Naxals over the last five years have grown dramatically in numbers and strength-- and so have the killings.

After many security personnel were butchered across the nation -- the government decided to crack the whip and launch 'Operation Green Hunt' as a decisive push against the left wing ultras. 'Inside the Red Bastion' takes a rare peek into how anti -- naxal operations are conducted by the Indian Government in the dense and dangerous forests of Dantewada in Central India. How men, machinery and training is woefully short to tackle the Naxals, who are getting better by the day -- in handling weapons and war strategy.

Headlines Today (in a first for a TV channel) managed to embed itself with a crack team of commandos and venture into the Chhattisgarh forests -- the same area where hundreds of security force personnel have been butchered in the past months (Infact the team itself missed being attacked by a whisker)

The documentary compares the training of security forces and Naxlas, exposes the terrain advantage that the Naxals have and suggests what India can do to win this war within -- a war its fighting against its own peole.

Interview with N C Asthana - IG CRPF Cobra 

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ne010912Muslims.asp

COBRA Battalion



Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldeufc024rk

Special Show of COBRA's Operation X-95. COBRA (Acronym for Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) is a specialized unit of the CRPF created to counter the Naxalite problem in India.

This specialized CRPF unit is one of the only units of the Central Armed Police Forces in the country who are specifically trained in guerilla warfare. This elite fighting unit has been trained to track, hunt and eliminate small Naxalite groups.

Cobra has been set up with a grant of 1300 crore (13 billion) rupees from the Central government. They have been armed as a regular infantry platoon with INSAS rifles, AK rifles, X-95, Browning Hi-Power and Glock pistols, Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine guns and Carl Gustav recoilless rifle..

Inside Abujmarh- Tehelka

The Journalists who reported on this story in Tehelka

http://www.tehelka.com/channels/slider/Ne12051CoverStory.asp

Inside Abujmarh The Mythic Citadel
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Ne120512Coverstory.asp

are currently in ICU.


Living in cities, we walk like tourists, unmindful of the hellishness of others’ lives, until it actually hits us


http://www.tehelka.com/story_main52.asp?filename=Op260512Living.asp

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ws130612Editor_Cut.asp

Update :  1:30 PM - 15th June 2012.

Reports indicate that Tarun Sehrawat (22 yrs) is no more and breathed his last today morning.

Tarun Sehrawat 

R.I.P

Cremation of Tehelka Photojournalist Tarun Sehrawat is today at 3pm, Lodhi Crematorium, New Delhi.

Tusha Mittal is stable and on the path to recovery.

Tribute

http://www.tehelka.com/story_main53.asp?filename=Ws150612Tarun_Sehrawat.asp

Om Puri lauds Maoists, calls them fighters

Veteran Bollywood actor Om Puri, who drew flak for his controversial comments against parliamentarians, landed himself in another row by calling naxals "fighters not terrorists".

The 61-year-old actor who is here to shoot for Prakash Jha`s ‘Chakravyuh’, said naxalites were fighters who did not trouble the common man.

Puri said that naxalites kidnapped Sukma district collector, Alex Paul Menon, because he supported the social system against which they are fighting.

"They (naxals) are not terrorists because they don`t resort to irresponsible acts of terror by planting bombs on streets. Naxals are fighters who fight for their rights. They don`t harass the common man and the poor," Puri told reporters here last evening.

It is not for the first time that the actor has landed himself in trouble.

He was slapped with a privilege motion after making derogatory remarks against politicians at Ramlila maidan during Anna Hazare`s campaign for Jan Lokpal in August last year only to apologise later.

Source :
http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/and-more/om-puri-lauds-naxals-calls-them-fighters_111616.htm

CMAS evicts Savarna colonizers from Tribal lands

The CMAS has ejected Savarna Colonizers from Avarna lands for now, but is this campaign sustainable ?


Odisha: CMAS occupies non-tribal land

More than 500 members of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) on Sunday morning physically occupied land of non-tribal people in Bandhugaon of Koraput district, which they claimed originally belonged to their fathers and forefathers.

The CMAS members ploughed around 45 acres of arable land by hoisting red flags in Kumbhariput near Bandhugaon.

CMAS members and their sympathisers alleged that the non-tribal people had earlier encroached these lands of innocent tribals by offering them liquor.

The tribals marched with traditional weapons and encroached around 20 acres Dhusuraguda village and 12 acres of land in Tikarapada village respectively.

Three days ago, CMAS members had also re-occupied 72 acres of land in village Dasini under Bandhugaon block.

Source:
http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=33833

Rs 8,500 cr for roads in Maoist Districts approved

US$ 2 Billion package for connecting 6,000 habitations in 78 Maoist-hit districts.

The Centre has initiated the process to connect all tribal habitations and villages in border districts with roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

The Union Cabinet, at a meeting on Thursday, also approved a Rs. 8,500-crore special package for connecting 6,000 habitations in 78 Left wing extremist-affected districts and entrusted the Union Ministry of Rural Development with the job of preparing the estimates for the two projects.

Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo underlined the problems of the tribals who lived in scattered habitations of less than 250 people, and hence were still deprived of road connectivity.

The Cabinet directed Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh to conduct a survey to establish the number of such habitations in all the Schedule V areas that needed to be covered, and prepare the estimate for taking a final decision on extending this basic facility to the tribals living in remote forests and hills.

Similarly, the Cabinet was sympathetic to the problems of the people residing in villages in border areas that Union Road Transport and Highways Minister C.P. Joshi batted for. The Ministry of Rural Development will study all the 362 border blocks located along Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Mr. Ramesh has ordered a survey to establish the number of villages under the two categories, and the money that would be required to construct roads under the PMGSY, the allocation for which has been raised to Rs. 24,000 crore for the current financial year.

To cope with the problem being faced by over six States, which have completed their PMGSY targets, the Ministry of Rural Development is evolving new guidelines to put PMGSY II in place, to provide them funds which have, obviously, been stopped.

The Ministry of Rural Development intends to address the concerns of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Rajasthan, by allowing upgradation of rural roads on a cost-sharing basis. While the Centre favours a 50:50 sharing arrangement, the States were willing to meet 25 per cent of the expenditure, and want the Centre to foot the remaining 75 per cent of the cost.

In contrast, Bihar was allocated funds after a gap of two-and-a-half years, after resolving the irritants that had stalled the sanction of projects and resources. In the first tranche, Rs 915 crore has been provided for construction of 1,900 km of roads in seven LWE districts of Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Jamui, Rohtas and Nawada.

For the remaining 31 districts, the Ministry is likely to sanction the proposals received for constructing 1,350 roads and 96 bridges, totalling 3,840 kms, at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,440 crore.

Accepting Mr. Ramesh's rider, no Central agency will be engaged in the construction of rural roads. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has agreed to appoint engineers to strengthen the State rural roads works department.

Source :
http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-05-18/news/31765599_1_maoist-hit-rural-roads-naxal-hit-districts

Indian Army men kill a dog for Breakfast in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh

The Army man can be heard shouting Operation Kutta is successful at the end. Somebody in Delhi should nominate these guys for a medal.

Mr Chidambaram kindly supply your troops with some rations and meat, or I won't be surprised if they take to cannibalism in Dantewada.

On the one hand the mongrels of Dantewada / Bastar save the lives of hundreds of Paramilitaries by sniffing  out IED's and paramilitaries repay this favour by consuming more than 5000 of these dogs over the last few years ?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1-8AMoBlM

This video was posted online in June 2010.

In this picture , CTJWC Director Basant Kumar Ponwar trains his ‘students’ in the techniques of IED detection

Brigadier B K Ponwar needs to change his dog training motto to " Mission Breakfast Nahin Banana".

Maoists justify abducton of Chhattisgarh collector Alex Paul Menon

Even as the second round of talks between interlocutors was set to begin at Raipur, outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) circulated a three page note early on Friday morning, listing in detail their perception about the problems being faced by the tribals and incidents of alleged atrocities by the security forces in tribal Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

A three page note "why we detained the collector", issued by CPI (Maoist) South Bastar regional committee secretary Ganesh Uike said they were forced to issue such a statement to set the record straight after a group of so-called intellectuals, supported by vested interests, unleashed a propaganda to whip up sympathy in favour of the Sukma collector.

"These people need to understand the reality on the ground and the manner in which the people are suffering state's repression and the role of district collector in it", Uike claimed alleging that it was during the tenure of Alex Paul Menon that a tribal youth Podium Mada was first tortured in police custody and later murdered. Later, this murder was passed off as a suicide in police custody, he alleged.

According to the Maoist release, another youth Podyam Sanna was picked up from his house at Pollampalli on February 11. Before the formation of Sukma district, police in erstwhile Dantewada district picked up a woman Soni Sodi from village Jabeli and subjected to third degree methods. But the district collector Alex Paul Menon did not utter a word when the then superintendent of police of Ankit Garg was bestowed with the President's police medal on Republic Day, it alleged.

Describing Chhattisgarh government's on-going "gram Suraj'-a village outreach programme-- as a farce, the Maoist leader alleged that such a campaign was being carried out at the behest of the World Bank. He said the CPI (Maoist) had earlier given a call for boycott of gram Suraj campaign. He also alleged that the government machinery, which also includes the district collector, were in fact trying to extend benefits to corporate houses by trying to hand over Bastar's rich natural resources to them.

Alleging that nearly 2000 villagers were languishing in jails of Dantewada, Jagdalpur, Raipur, and Rajnandgaon, Uike said 700 people were stuffed inside the Dantewada prison, which has a capacity to accommodate only 150 inmates. Besides, the rebels also alleged that the police had slapped false cases against a large number of people and the security were continuously violating human rights in the tribal areas.

Uike alleged that the security forces had launched an operation code named as "Operation Vijay " in Abujmarh in March this year and attacked the houses of villagers and destroyed their houses. He said the so-called intellectuals and others, demanding release of collector Menon, should first study whether the report submitted by the district collector at the meeting of "left wing extremism affected districts", organised by the Centre, was in the interest of the poor tribals of the region.

Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoists-justify-abduciton-of-Chhattisgarh-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon/articleshow/12893876.cms

Analysis of the situation in 2012

Give below is my analysis of the current situation. This is a purely hypothetical article.

Disclaimer 
My knowledge of Maoist and communist theory is limited. I am not trying to fit my analysis into any particular ideological framework.

Analysis of the situation in 2012

Maoist affected districts in India based on 2011 data.

Naxal affected Districts ( As of 2005)

As the Home Minister P Chidambaram has stated repeatedly over the last several years, the Government Of India (GOI) has come up with a two-pronged strategy to deal with the Maoist insurgency

"Appropriate police action led by state governments in collaboration with central forces and development works in the affected areas to deal with the Maoist rebellion. He also makes it clear that he is confident this strategy will show results in the medium term." (CNN-IBN, March 14th, 2012).

This two pronged strategy of the Central Government translates into the "Clear, Hold, Develop approach to tackle Naxalism". This doctrine is derived from the Clear, Hold and Build model used by the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is not clear what time frame "Medium Term" constitutes but my assumption based on various factors, reveals that this could be in the range of 2-3 years (750-1100 days).

Now this two pronged Carrot and the Stick approach which has been under development over the last few years, has acquired a broad outline, structure and purpose.

1. Operation Green Hunt (OGH) and it's coming successors : Operation Haka, Octopus etc, which will climax with the entry of the Indian Army in direct operations by as early as 2013. (The Stick)

2. Integrated Action Plan (IAP) , Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship Scheme (PMRDFS) and other related schemes. (The Carrot)

Let us now analyse the first part of this strategy

1. Operation Green Hunt (OGH).

Operation Greenhunt is a new phase in a very old war being fought since millennia , the actors have changed, the stage has changed but the purpose remains the same - Appropriation of Avarna Resources.

Savarna's Vs Avarna's

For centuries the Avarna's in India, have retreated deeper and deeper into the forests under the onslaught of Savarna rule. The Avarna's whose population once spanned the entire length and breadth of the Indian sub-continent, today find themselves encircled in a few forest pockets in central India.

Over centuries the more that the Avarna's acquiesced to Savarna demands , the more sacrifices were demanded from them. Today it has reached a point where the Savarna's are demanding nothing less the total annihilation of the Avarna's, their way of life and transfer of all their lands, rivers, forests into the hands of corporations owned by puppet Savarna individuals and their foreign masters.

As Arundathi Roy has stated in an article

" There’s an MoU on every mountain, river, forest glade. What the media calls the Maoist Corridor—the Dandakaranya—could well be called the MoUist Corridor." Chidambaram’s War - Outlook.

OGH is a product of a Savarna mindset and has been planned by the Bania's and Brahmins who rule over India. The execution of OGH will be done by the Indian Army and security forces comprising of Kshatriya's and Avarna's.

Savarna Alliance - The Brahmin CRPF chief and his Bania master.

Brahmin Strategist : Jairam Ramesh, Minister for Rural Development.

Dr Raman Singh- The Brahmin Chief Minister of the state of Chhattisgarh 

Brij Mohan Agarwal (Fmr Home Minister of Chhattisgarh) - The Bania Mastermind behind Salwa-Judum.

The Genesis of Operation Green Hunt

Depending on the definition, Green Hunt either began in July 2009, September 2009 or November 2009. Speaking off record, senior policemen have confirmed that the intensification of “search and comb” operations in Maoist dominated districts in Central India began as early as July 2009.

In September 2009 the press reported on the progress of “Operation Green Hunt” : a massive 3 day joint operation in which the central CoBRA force and state police battled Naxal forces in Dantewada.

"By November 2009, the press was regularly reporting on the planning and progress of Green Hunt, prompting Home Minister, P. Chidambaram to term the operation a “media invention.” Since then, the security apparatus has scrupulously avoided all mention of Green Hunt." (The Hindu February 6, 2010)

The seeds of operation Green Hunt were sown as early as in 2006 , when India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first made efforts to project Left Wing Extremism as the greatest threat to India, since then the tape recorder has been playing ad nauseum for good effect and was last heard repeating the message in February, 2012.

The threat and fear of Maoists needs to be raised at regular intervals so that there is no slack in the pace of mobilization or a let down in the guard of the administration.

The deployment of OGH has also been influenced by the Sri Lankan military's total annihilation of the Tamil Tigers in Eelam War IV which ended in May 2009.

The general chorus in the security establishment at that time was that if the tiny island nation of Sri Lanka could rout the LTTE (A non-state actor which had it's own navy, air force and was building it's own submarines) then what's stopping India a nation of 1.1 Billion with the world's largest standing volunteer army from taking the Maoist bull by the horns ?

Moreover unlike India which has a US$ 1.8 trillion economy to fund and sponsor the war, the Sri Lankan economy and military were in shambles and the Lankan government had to depend on borrowed bullets, planes and foreign military aid from Pakistan, China to defeat the LTTE.

Soon some of these experts were heard tom-tomming the Sri Lanka Model as the solution to India's Maoist problems at various forums. Before the Sri Lanka Model caught the fancy of the Security establishment, the Kashmir Model was explored for some time.

The Kashmir insurgency as we know, started in 1987, after wide spread fraud was reported in the elections to state assembly, the Indian army was later moved in and had to evolve a different doctrine containing grid based deployment to contain the insurgency.

The Origin of the Grid in Jammu and Kashmir

By May 1990 it was clear that Kashmir valley was in the grip of an insurgency of intensity not seen before. It started out in the urban areas and then spread to the countryside. The army which till then was the guardian of the international border (IB) and the line of control (LOC) was called in to assist in Counter Insurgency (CI) ops.

Based on its experience with low intensity conflicts in Nagaland, Sri Lanka and Punjab, the Indian Army was quite wary of trying to replicate strategy and tactics successfully used elsewhere. 

By 1993 the army had got together a doctrine for the low intensity conflict in Kashmir. In Nagaland for example, the army had learnt that physical domination of each and every village was one way to combat insurgency. 

Long experience had taught the army the value of the grid system. In this system the whole terrain was divided into a grid. Each node at any given time would have a platoon worth of ready to move soldiers, the so called quick reaction team which would mutually reinforce other nodes. All would be covered with heavier fire support and have adequate logistics. 

However the grid often looked better on paper than on the ground. The obvious reason for this was the terrain. In the Wanni jungles of Sri Lanka where the grid had been successfully applied, civilians and villages were few and far between, and so attack helicopters and artillery could be used. This enabled heavy firepower to be brought in to support troops in the grid in minutes. 

Now the Kashmir valley is very densely populated and there is fear of collateral damage from using heavy fire support. So troops fighting CI had to do without it. To makeup for that the grid had to be more densely packed. This is where the army saw the need for additional forces such as the Rashtriya Rifles (RR). Wikipedia.

The same Rashtriya Rifles (RR) which enforced the Grid in Jammu and Kashmir is now being deployed in the Naxal-affected areas of the country particularly Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Rashtriya Rifles to move from Kashmir into Red zone.

In 2009, an attempt was made to induct the Rashtriya Rifles into anti-naxal operations but the Army was reluctant to redeploy them for various reasons. What suffering awaits the Adivasi's at the hands of the RR nobody knows but a look at it's record in Kashmir is quite indicative.

The British Counter-Revolt Model

For three centuries starting from 1778 AD , the East India Company and later the British Raj brutally suppressed hundreds of big and small tribal revolts all over India. For details refer to wikipedia List of revolts by Adivasi's in India.

One of the key strategies used by the British was to recruit and organize Tribal Battalions who would then be unleashed on the revolting communities. These tribal battalions were highly successful and extremely loyal to the British empire.

The Bhil Battalion for instance which was constituted in early 19th century to suppress the revolt by Bhil tribals stayed loyal to the Britishers even during the Revolt of 1857 when Sepoys of the East India Company revolted nation wide.

The current administration seem to have taken a leaf out the British experiences and there is currently large scale recruitment and deployment of tribal personnel on similar lines as a part of Operation Green-hunt. It can be said that Salwa Judum was merely a 21st century manifestation of an 18th century idea.

Both the Indian Army and various state governments intend to recruit Avarna's and engage them in a fratricidal war.

Maharashtra: state to form tribal battalion to fight Naxals - March 2012

To beat Maoists, Centre plans an army of tribals : March 2012

Thus OGH has been planned based on the direct experience in suppressing revolts and lessons learnt in four broad theatres of War.

1. The Tribal revolts during British Raj.
2. The Counter insurgency in North East.
3. The Counter insurgency in Kashmir.
4. The Eelam Wars (Sri Lanka Model).

OGH and it's successors will use elements from all these four theatre's of war to bleed the naxalite movement in India.

It is imperative that those bearing the brunt of this offensive should study and learn from the experiences of these 4 conflicts in which the victor has always been the State.

Map showing the first 60 IAP districts. The Ring of Fire in Central India is now spread across 78 districts in 9 states.

The Ring of Fire

Operation green hunt will be focussed on 78 IAP districts spread across 9 states identified by the GOI. These districts form a ring in central India and are the most affected by Maoist Insurgency. OGH aims to clear these areas of Maoists and then launch so called developmental activities.

One key strategy of OGH remains to first break the contiguous ring and then box the Maoists into areas isolating them from their comrades in other districts. This will lead to the fragmentation of the Maoist controlled areas and cause complications to the Maoist leadership in the long run.

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)

As part of PMGSY, roads have been planned and are being constructed at strategic locations to fragment the ring of fire and provide support to security forces. These all weather roads once built will divide and weaken the hold of Maoist forces in these 78 districts.

OGH aims to inflict heavy losses and increase the body count of Maoists substantially. The Intelligence Bureau will complement the effort by going after top Maoist leaders in urban areas and those leaders who venture out of their jungle bases.

Indian Army Personnel will engage with the Maoists during the final crunch.

Indian Army's Role

Last year , the Indian Army came out with an assessment saying it needs 65,000 troops to fight Naxals. The Indian Army has already completed the training of at-least 5000 Army Personnel at it's newly acquired training bases in Greater Bastar, Chhattisgarh. These trained personnel will eventually be deployed some years from now in Anti-Maoist operations.

The Indian Army has played an important role in the formulation of OGH. A whole host of capacity building  initiatives are also under way under their direct supervision, most of which has not yet been made public.

This week, the Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh travelled to Chhattisgarh's Bastar region and spent a few hours at Kondagaon area, some 220 km of from capital Raipur, and held discussions with jawans about the coming operations.

Infiltration of IPS

The Indian Army has allowed it's officers to be inducted into the Indian Police Service with the primary intention of putting them in command of OGH. More than 120 IPS officers will be recruited this year from the Indian Army. 

Over the next two years, the stage will be set for a final brutal assault on the Maoist movement during which the Indian Army will play an active and crucial role like it did in "Operation Steeplechase" which broke the back of the Naxalite movement in West Bengal during 1971.

In fact, there is loose talk that the current Anti-Maoist operation is based on the 1971 template.

Indian Air Force

With logistics in mind a seperate Air-Wing for Anti-Maoist operations has been planned and will be given shape this year. Air wing to help in anti-Maoist ops - MHA. This Air Wing could be functional within the next 700 days.

In 2009, a 1,300-m airstrip was constructed in the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College Campus without DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) approval. Indian Express

More such airstrips are being built in the IAP districts as the battle for India's heart intensifies.

Air support played an important role in the defeat of the LTTE in Eelam War IV, it is not yet clear if the Indian Government has acquired the will to carry out aerial bombardment of Maoist dominated districts. But yes they can now fire in so called self defence.

As the late Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower once said

“You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have
been won or lost primarily because of logistics.”

The government is aware that getting the logistics of troop deployment right and ensuring the supply chain functions will play an important role in the success of this campaign.

Unlike the Maoists who mostly live of the land with support from the local population , the Paramilitary has to ensure a regular supply of food and rations from a hostile population and access to medical facilities in case of injuries.

5 Years of Mobilization

The GOI had realized that the merger of the PWG and MCC in late 2004, would lead to an expansion in Maoist capabilities and operations. Since 2007/08 the GOI began making serious efforts in augmenting the capabilities of the security forces. This is reflected in the report released by the Ministry of Home Affairs in December 2011.

3 Year Report on Major tasks accomplished by Ministry of Home Affairs

Extract from the Report

Left Wing Extremism : LWE

29.The following interventions have been made to contain the growth of Naxalite movement in the country:

• CPI (Maoist) included in the Schedule to UA(P)A and declared terrorist organisation.

• 5 Polit bureau members and 7 other Central Committee members of CPI (Maoist) in custody.

• Number of CAPF battalions deployed in LWE affected States increased from 37 in 2008 to 73 in Nov 2011.  In addition, 10 cobra battalions also deployed. ( Comment : If each battalion consists of 1000 armed personal then it translates into 83,000 pairs of feet on the ground, out of which 10,000 are CoBRA personnel trained in Jungle warfare. The above statistic does not include other anti-maoist groups like Salwa Judum activists and SPO's who could collectively number in the 15,000 range. This figure is much lower than the estimated 350,000 Indian Army troops stationed in Jammu and Kashmir, along with 200,000 paramilitary forces. Meanwhile the Maoist Army's (PLGA) strength is conservatively estimated at 9,000-10,000 armed fighters, with access to about 6,500 firearms.)

• Capacity building of State police forces in 9 LWE affected States through enhanced allotment in 2011-12 under Security Related Expenditure Scheme (SRE) (Rs.598 cr) and Scheme for Special Infrastructure (SIS) (Rs.362 cr).

• Focused development of 60 Tribal and backward LWE affected districts in 9 LWE affected States through Integrated Action Plan (IAP).  63,416 projects sanctioned, of which 26,593  completed, incurring an expenditure of Rs.1,391 cr till Nov 2011.

• Monitoring of flagship and other development schemes in LWE affected districts by the Planning Commission.

• A road requirement plan (RRP-1) for 5565 km in LWE affected areas at a cost of Rs.7,300 cr approved by CCEA in Feb 2009.

• Construction/strengthening of 400 fortified police stations at a cost of Rs.2 Cr per police station approved on 20 June 2010.

• Talking the walk is easy but walking the talk is an altogether different affair. The devil as we know lies in the details and in the case of OGH it lies in the execution of plans prepared by Delhi.

Ground Realities : Cup half empty or half full ?

While all the above initiatives look good on paper, the ground realities we find convey a different picture as Ajay Sahni writes in the Eurasia Review :

• Despite many claims of the cumulative ‘improvement’ in the capacities of central and State Security Forces (SFs), the state’s vulnerabilities remain largely unaddressed.

• At least some claims of such ‘improvement’ are, in any event, largely falsified or fabricated – including the Union Ministry of Home Affairs’ (UMHA) November 30, 2011, claim that the police-population ratio had been raised to 176 per 100,000, from an National Crime Records Bureau figure of 133 per 100,000 as on December 31, 2010. Others, such as UMHA’s claims of “significant measures taken to strengthen the Indian Police Service” (IPS) remain something of a smokescreen, since existing deficits in the Service will take decades to fill, even with dramatically accelerated intakes.

• UMHA also claims that “Number of CAPF (Central Armed Police Force) battalions deployed in LWE (Left Wing Extremist) affected States increased from 37 in 2008 to 73 in November 2011, glossing over the fact that this has roughly been the level of deployment since the disastrous ‘massive and coordinated operations’ were launched by the Centre in end-2009. That these Forces have, along with State Police Special Forces, largely been frozen in a passive defensive posture since the Chintalnad massacre of April 2010, and that offensive operations against the Maoist have now become more and more the exception among demoralized SF contingents, remains unsaid.

• On the other hand, the anecdotal evidence of state vulnerabilities and disarray is mounting. In one devastating disclosure, the UMHA conceded that as many as 46,000 officers and personnel took voluntary retirement from the CAPF between 2007 and September 2011, while another 5,220 officers and personnel resigned from service over the same period. 461 suicides and 64 instances of fratricides were also recorded. Worse, UMHA noted that the rate of increase of cases of resignation in the CRPF and Border Security Force (BSF) was “alarming”, at more than 70 per cent in 2011, over 2010.

• In the wake of the March 27 incident in Gadchiroli, Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil complained that Police officers were ‘unwilling’ to work in the Maoist afflicted Gadchiroli and Chandrapur Districts, citing the recent example of four Police Sub-inspectors, who resigned from the Force after completing training, when they were posted to Gadchiroli.

• Patil had nothing but a litany of complaints to offer after the Gadchiroli incident, blaming the Centre for a failure to give advance information of Maoist attacks. Unsurprisingly, Maharashtra saw an increase in Maoist related fatalities to 69 in 2011, over the 2010 figure of 40, even as the all-India fatalities almost halved (from 1180 to 602).

• The other principal Maoist affected States, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar suffer from equal and endemic deficiencies in their security structures, as well as from both ambivalence and infirmity in their political leaderships.

The murder/suicide of Rahul Sharma also shows that there are deep structural anomalies in the apparatus directing OGH. If the Superintendent of Police needs to commit suicide to get his point across, then one is left wondering what is the morale and motivation of his minions down the order?

Also when IPS officers over-looking Anti-Maoist operations regularly succumb to heart attacks (i.e O P Rathore, B.S. Maravi ) it hardly evokes confidence in the ability of the police force.

The fog of war has only started rolling and will only get thicker from now on. A lot of the media reports on the offensive has been released to create disinformation, confusion and contain half-truths. No media report linked in this article can be taken at face value as most of us are aware that  the first casualty of any war is the Truth, OGH is no different.

Thus the dis-separate parts of the security machinery that has come together to constitute OGH is yet to reach a level where they pose a serious threat to the Maoist's and there continues to exist severe deficiencies, anomalies and incongruencies in the state mobilization.

However, the broad general trend among the security forces seems to be an increase in co-operation, capacity building, training and co-ordination but they are still far from finding their mojo.

Updated IAP map containing 78 districts where PMRDFS will be implemented. 

2. IAP , PMRDFS and other Schemes

We now move the second part of the two pronged strategy , the so called development activities under the Integrated IAP, PMRDFS and related schemes. ( The Carrots)

War of Attrition

The war between the Maoists and the Indian state is a War of Attrition. While OGH will try to inflict heavy casulties on the PLGA and People's Militia's, IAP and PMRDF will seek to prevent fresh recruitment to the Maoist fold by providing incentives, alternate sources of livelihood to the local population. It will also try to alienate the support base of Maoists by providing civic amenities and financial benefits.

This is the only purpose of the IAP and PMRDF, prevent fresh blood from joining the Maoist fold and keep their attention diverted towards other illusions. If the IAP is implemented as planned it will affect the ability of the Maoists for fresh recruitment in the coming years in these districts.

IAP as a Money Circulation Scheme
IAP could serve as a money circulation scheme , where in money will be first transferred from the GOI's bank accounts in Delhi to bank accounts in IAP districts after which some dust will be raised to serve as a smokescreen of development, expenditure etc after which the the bulk of the money will be siphoned back to Delhi from where it will take flight to foreign bank accounts.

Jairam Ramesh has asked the Prime Minister for an additional allocation of Rs 35,000 Crore for the IAP districts over the next three years. Lots of money to be made ! !

This plan has been in operation for the last 2 years but the results are sketchy and mixed.A revamp has been planned this year.

The number of IAP districts now stands at 78, after more districts were added this year. The expansion of the IAP to districts that have only a marginal presence of Maoists shows that it is also being used as a pre-emptive measure.

An overview of the IAP is given below :

Integrated Action Plan to Develop Tribal and backward Districts in LWE Areas

Introduction

At the time of presentation of the budget for the year 2010-11, the Government had announced its decision to introduce a special scheme to address the development of 33 Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts.   It was inter-alia, stated that the Planning Commission would prepare an Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for the affected areas and that adequate funds would be made available to support the action plan. 

The 33 districts (later expanded to 34) referred to in the Finance Minister’s announcement were a sub-set of the 83 LWE affected districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs for coverage under its Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme.  This sub-set consisted of those districts where more than 20% of the Police Stations experienced some incidents of naxal violence.  Subsequently, West Medinipur district of West Bengal was added to the list due to the situation prevailing there, taking the total to 35 districts. 

Implementation of IAP 

IAP was formulated as an additional central assistance scheme on 100% grant basis in November 2010.  To begin with, the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 tribal and backward districts was to  be implemented with a block grant of Rs.25 crore and Rs.30 crore per district during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively for which the funds were to be placed at the disposal of the Committee headed by the District Collector and consisting of the Superintendent of Police of the district and the District Forest Officer. 

The district level committee will have flexibility to spend the amount for development schemes according to need, as assessed by it.  The Committee would draw up a Plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as School Buildings, Anganwadi Centres, Primary Health Centres, Drinking Water Supply, Village Roads, Electric Lights in public places such as PHCs and Schools etc. The concerned Development Commissioner/ equivalent officer in charge of development in the State shall be responsible for scrutiny of expenditure and monitoring of IAP. 

The Planning Commission will undertake macro level monitoring of the scheme and implementation of the scheme will be reviewed and suitable decisions taken on the modalities for implementation of the scheme as a part of the 12th Five Year Plan. 

The salient features of the guidelines are: 

(i)The district level committee should draw up a plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as school buildings, Anganwadi centres, Drinking Water supply, Village Roads, electric lights in public places such as PHCs and schools etc. The schemes so selected should show results in the short term. 

(ii)A suitable form of consultation is to be ensured with the local Members of Parliament on the schemes to be taken up the under the IAP. 

(iii)The expenditure on the projects should be over and above the expenditure being incurred for the regular State/Central/Centrally Sponsored Schemes.   The district level committee should ensure that there is no duplication of expenditure on the same project. 

(iv)The State Government will release the funds directly into the bank account opened for this purpose by the District Collector or District Magistrate. The State Government will ensure that funds are transferred to this bank account within 15 days of the release of the funds to the Consolidated Fund of the State Government failing which the State Government should transfer to the district penal interest at RBI rate. 

Achievements Under IAP 

The implementation of the scheme commenced in the year 2010-11 and Rs.25 crore per district i.e. total Rs.1500 crore for the year 2010-11 was released in December, 2010.  The districts immediately finalized the works to be taken up, completed the tender processes wherever required and the works on the ground commenced immediately in all the 60 districts.  

Currently, the implementation of IAP in the districts is in full swing. The total funds released so far for the year 2011-12 is Rs.1090 crore and the total funds released so far since the commencement of the Scheme is Rs.2590 crore.  Against the total amount of Rs.2590 crores released so far to the 9 States, the expenditure as on 27.12.2011 is Rs.1468.83 crore i.e. 56.71% of the funds released. 

Under the IAP, so far 62327 projects for an amount of Rs. 3230.02 crore have been taken up in the 9 States.  These include construction of School Buildings/School Furniture, Anganwadi Centres, Drinking Water facilities, Rural roads, Panchyat Bhawan/Community Halls, Godowns/PDS shops, livelihood activities, skill development/trainings, minor irrigation works, electric lighting, health centres/facilities, Ashram Schools, construction of toilets, construction of multi-purpose chabutra, construction of passenger waiting hall, special coaching classes for students, construction of ANM centres, development of play grounds etc. 44.42% of projects taken up so far have been completed i.e., 27687  projects have been completed so far.   State-wise details of physical progress as on 27.12.2011 vis-à-vis projects sanctioned are: Andhra Pradesh- 702 (1140), Bihar - 2367 (12889), Chhattisgarh - 6115 (14718), Jharkhand- 5621 (11769), Madhya Pradesh - 1446 (5352), Maharashtra - 2667 (4398), Orissa - 6829 (15087), Uttar Pradesh - 1337 (1548) and West Bengal - 603 (1272). 

Parameters to Qualify under IAP         

While formulating the scheme, the Planning Commission considered that the scheme should not be limited only to the severely LWE affected districts.  It was proposed by them that the scheme should cover other tribal and backward districts also and the following criteria was adopted to identify districts for inclusion in the scheme: 

(a) Whether the district is included in the list of 83 SRE districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs;
(b) Whether the tribal population exceeds 25%;
(c) Whether the forest area exceeds 30%;
(d) Whether the poverty ratio in the district exceeds 50%; and
(e) Whether the district is covered under the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF). 

Districts meeting four of the above-mentioned five criteria and forming a contiguous block were selected for coverage under the proposed scheme.  Thus, with this criteria, a total of 60 districts were selected for coverage under the scheme. 

Monitoring 

The Development Commissioner of the State/equivalent officer incharge of development in the State is responsible for scrutiny of expenditure and monitoring of the IAP in the State.  In order to facilitate the monitoring, the States are required to send district-wise monthly progress reports in the prescribed format and also upload the information on the Management Information System(MIS) along with photographs of the works.
     
Regular monitoring of the IAP is being carried out by the Member-Secretary, Planning Commission through video conferences with the District Collectors/District Magistrates and Development Commissioner of the States concerned.  So far 14 such video conferences/meetings have been held including the Video Conference meetings held by the Union Home Minister, Union Minister of Rural Development and MoS (Independent charge) for Environment and Forests. In addition, the Review Group headed by the Cabinet Secretary also reviewed the progress of implementation of IAP with the Chief Secretaries of 9 States through video conference meeting. 

Provisions for change in IAP 

The Ministry of Home Affairs has also constituted an Empowered Group of Officers with Member-Secretary, Planning Commission as its Chairperson.   The Empowered Group, inter-alia, has overriding powers to modify existing norms/guidelines on implementation of various development programmes and flagship schemes in consultation with the Ministries/Departments concerned. 

States’ Response to IAP 

The implementation of IAP has been successful and the scheme has had a very good response.  A number of requests had been received from the Chief Ministers, Members of Parliament and State Governments for inclusion of more districts under the IAP.  On the basis of requests received from the State Govts., the Govt. of India has decided on 07.12.2011 to include additional 18 LWE affected districts under IAP from the financial year 2011-12 onwards and to provide block grant of Rs.30 crore to each of these districts during the current financial year. 

Conclusion: The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism activities in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, rights of local communities, administration and public perception.  In dealing with this decades old problem, it has been felt appropriate, after various high-level deliberations and interactions with the State Governments concerned that an integrated approach aimed at the relatively more affected areas would deliver results. 

With this in view, a detailed analysis of the spread and trends in respect of LWE violence has been made and 83 affected districts in nine States have been taken up for special attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of security situation and development schemes.

Source : GOI

Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship Scheme (PMRDFS)

The Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who is the force behind the scheme made it clear as to what PMRDFS is about when he spoke to the Hindu this month:

The aim of the unique scheme is simple. “If the Maoists attract youth through their ideology, then the government has to counter that in a similar way." The Hindu

The PMRDFS seems to be loosely based on the US based Peace Corps and Presidential Management Fellows Scheme.

The first batch of 156 candidates were selected this year from a pool of 8,000 applicants. The youth selected will spend the next two years assisting district collectors in implementing welfare programmes across the 78 most-affected Maoist districts (Ring of Fire).

The Ministry of Rural Development in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Science will implement this program and the candidates have just begun their training in April 2012.

The Ministry is set to spend Rs 60 crore on the scheme, with stipends amounting to Rs. 53 crore and the training cost Rs 6.5 crore.The Fellows will be paid Rs 50,000 in the initial two months of training to be organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and then Rs 75,000 for the rest of the fellowship period.

Profiles of PMRDFS Candidates selected

Source : Economic Times

Candidates by post-graduate Educational Background

Candidates by number of years of work experience. 

More details of the candidates are expected to be updated on the website here and a brochure of PMRDF can be downloaded here.

A blog is also in the offering : http://pmrdfs.blogspot.in.The job profile of PMRDF's as given on the website is as follows

PMRDFs will basically function as development facilitators, assisting the Collector and his/her colleagues by actively pursuing a district programming approach that follows three key strategies given below:

• Strengthen the district resource base for programming by finding ways of resourcing all the planned activities and rational budgeting.

• Establish or strengthen systems by exploring alternative ways of delivering services to reach the most deprived communities.

• Trigger processes which would support the changes that have been envisioned in this approach (e.g. village planning).

What impact the PMRDFS will have and how will the Maoists deal with this incursion, has to been seen ? My only advice would be "Fragile - Handle with care".

Other Schemes 
Along with IAP and PMRDF's, there are various other schemes like Job Schemes etc which have been rolled out and many more which are components of the IAP and currently in stealth mode.

Tackling Naxal issue: Govt plans Rs. 1000-cr body with help of India Inc
http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Tackling-Naxal-issue-Govt-plans-Rs-1000-cr-body-with-help-of-India-Inc/Article1-840639.aspx

Conclusion : 

The Government of India's strategy is broadly in line with that of LIC strategy developed by US  Imperialism.

Low Intensity Conflict (LIC)

1. Conducting military, social, economic, political and psychological wars in co-ordination
2. Winning the hearts and minds of the people.
3. Using intelligence as a strategic weapon.
4. Special Forces.

To know more about the shape of things to come, kindly read the booklet below :

Low Intensity Conflict - The Cruelest counter-revolutionary war of the Imperialists


A Booklet authored by Mupalla Laxman Rao alias Com Ganapthy, GS of CPI(Maoist)


https://sites.google.com/site/sakethrajan/book-lic-is-the-cruelest-war-on-revolutionaries.pdf?attredirects=0

Anticipation is the Key to Victory

The key to winning any battle is knowing what your opponent is going to do before he does. This comes from experience and pattern recognition.When you can anticipate, you can place yourself in the ideal position to bury your opponents before they have the time to adjust.

The current rate of mobilization suggests that the Maoist's have 2-3 years before the current government's strategy could lead to a tipping point after which the Maoists could face serious reversals and heavy assaults on their strongholds unless they can match the build-up (which seems unlikely considering the resources at their disposal and heavy losses incurred at the top.). Preliminary incursions have already begun in their liberated zones.

The government has a greater capacity and staying power than the Maoists and can take greater losses and incur a higher expenditure over a sustained period. India has an unemployment rate of 7-10%. Which means there are an estimated 70-100 million idle minds and hands in this country at any point of time. It is very easy for the GOI to train some of these and put guns in their hands, unlike the Maoists who have to operate, recruit and train under severe constraints.

The Avarna's under the leadership of the Maoists will then have to face the question of whether they will  make their stand militarily or whether they can counter the offensive through non-military means ?

A police constable holds a Maoist manufactured rocket launcher seized last month : The Maoist are gearing up for the State offensive by fabricating Area Weapons such as these. But will it be enough to stop the forces from advancing ? 

OGH, IAP, PMRDFS and other schemes exist today because the Indian state has acquired the will to implement these schemes. The character of the Indian State is that of a Puppet, the strings of the puppet lie in the hands of the Savarna alliance, the puppet merely acquires the character of the puppeteers.

All that is needed is that the Maoist's control a few strings of the puppet and it should be enough to throw a spanner in the puppet-works and de-stabilize it.

How could this be done ? .... Is another post for another day....

References and related documents:

Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas : Planning Commision
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/Development%20Challenges%20-%20Planning%20Commision.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

MHA-Report-2010-2011.pdf (16 MB)
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/MHA-Report-2010-2011.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

MHA-Report-2011-2012.pdf (8 MB)
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/MHA-Report-2011-2012.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Privatisation unlimited-- Rivers for sale in Chhattisgarh
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/Privatisation%20unlimited--%20Rivers%20for%20sale%20in%20Chhattisgarh.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Backward Region Grant Fund Guidelines
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/Backward%20Region%20Grant%20Fund%20Guidelines.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Bureau of Police Research : Social,Economic and Political Dynamics in Extremist Affected Areas
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/Bureau%20of%20Police%20Research.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Anti-Caste posts on Operation Green Hunt
http://www.anti-caste.org/operation-green-hunt/

PMRDFS-Capart
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/pmrdfs-capart-india.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

PMRDF Brochure
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/pmrdf-brochure.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Armed Conflicts in South Asia
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/Armed%20Conflicts%20in%20South%20Asia.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Dantewada : Smita Gupta
https://sites.google.com/site/naxalrevolution/Dantewada-Smita-Gupta.pdf?attredirects=0&d=1

Integrated Action Plan to Develop Tribal and backward Districts in LWE Areas
http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=79472

Jharkhand to study 'Kashmir Model' to curb naxalism
http://news.oneindia.in/2007/06/29/jkhand-to-study-kashmir-model-to-curb-naxalism-1183115454.html

Operation Steeplechase - Indian Army's 1971 operation against Naxalites
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/antimaoist-operation-has-a-71-template/528868/0

Rashtriya Rifles to move from J&K into Red zone
http://www.cg-04.com/news/rashtriya-rifles-move-jk-red-zone

India: Enduring Strength Of Maoists – Analysis
http://www.eurasiareview.com/02042012-india-enduring-strength-of-maoists-

International conspiracy behind Maoist activities in India: Chhattisgarh CM
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhopal/International-conspiracy-behind-Maoist-activities-in-India-Chhattisgarh-CM/articleshow/12499134.cms

How Maoists went from snatching weapons to making them
http://www.dnaindia.com/analysis/column_how-maoists-went-from-snatching-weapons-to-making-them_1670298

'Killing Maoist leaders will not solve the issue'
http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-killing-maoist-leaders-will-not-solve-the-issue/20111125.htm

Finally, Army moves into Maoist territory
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-12-14/india/28225740_1_army-moves-army-officer-indian-army

General V.K. Singh visits Maoist heartland
http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=11407057&programId=1073754912&tabId=13

120 army, paramilitary men to join IPS by next year
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-10-20/india/30302261_1_ips-officers-indian-police-service-paramilitary-men

More army soldiers reach Bastar for training
http://www.bharatdefencekavach.com/News/2023_More-army-soldiers-reach-Bastar-for-training.html

Army’s presence in Chhattisgarh may improve life for the locals
http://www.asianage.com/ideas/army-s-presence-chhattisgarh-may-improve-life-locals-249

First phase of Operation Green Hunt begins
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-11-02/nagpur/28083958_1_gadchiroli-cpmf-operation-green-hunt

Operation Green Hunt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Green_Hunt

3 Year Report on Major task Accomplished by Ministry of Home Affairs Released http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=78023

Green Hunt: the anatomy of an operation
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article101706.ece

Fresh development plan for naxal-affected districts
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/fresh-development-plan-naxal-affected-districts

Poverty, lack of development lead to Naxalism: Chidambaram
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/poverty-lack-of-development-lead-to-naxalism-pc/239165-3.html

India's Maoists and the Dreamscape of 'Solutions' : Ajai Sahni
http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/ajaisahni/10AS-3Seminar.htm

Expedite block-based approach to deal with Naxalism, Jairam tells Ahluwalia
http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2766757.ece

The Man Who Went Behind Enemy Lines
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main47.asp?filename=Ne301010The_Man_Who.asp

Shape, Clear, Hold, and Build: "The Uncertain Lessons of the Afghan & Iraq Wars"
http://csis.org/publication/shape-clear-hold-and-build-uncertain-lessons-afghan-iraq-wars

Chasing shadows in Abujmard
http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/article3297568.ece

Can 'Operation Octopus' lead to annihilation of naxals?
http://daily.bhaskar.com/article/MP-RAI-can-operation-octopus-lead-to-annihilation-of-naxals-3080390.html?HT1a=

Mr Chidambaram’s War
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?262519

Caste Situation in India (Marxist Perspective)
http://www.anti-caste.org/

Caste Atrocities in India
http://atrocitynews.com/

Communalism Watch
http://communalism.blogspot.in/