Naxalite & Anti Insurgent Movements – Causes and cure by - Rajeshree Jorwar
Naxalite & Anti Insurgent Movements – Causes and cure
Authored by - Rajeshree Jorwar
LLM 2nd. Roll no. 56.
Abstract –
Indian politics is m
arked by violence. Naxal Movement is one case of violence that is both part and
apart from political process and party politics. It influences political
process, especially the electoral process, though it offers a strategy of
negation of the same political process in its avowed methods, since its
inception in 1968. From a Rebellion to a socio- political movement to a problem
involving the country's internal security; the Naxal Movement has indeed come a
long way. Naxalisim
not only affects the internal security but it also affects the external
security. This paper aims to study the Naxalite movement in India and the
problems faced by the Naxalites. The object of this research paper is to
identify the root causes of the Naxalite movement in India and mode of
operation identified to tackle its existence. The government of India had made
certain provisions to stop the entry of large number of people and to
rehabilitate the affected population but the main problem lies in the
implementation of these provisions so in this study we try to focus on the
solutions and how these provisions can be conveyed to the isolated mass in a
substantiated way. This paper also focuses on the the naxal tactics and
strategies and the suitable measures that should be taken by the government to
abolish the existence of naxalism in India. It also speaks about the naxal’s as
well as government’s point of view. It furthermore emphasizes on the evolution
of the naxalism in India for the purpose of understanding the reason of its
present domain and to tackle the problem faced by the Naxalites. A few keywords
in this paper can be seen as ‘naxalism’, ‘rightful redistribution’, ‘ideology’,
‘revolution’, ‘urban intelligentsia’, ‘India’.
Introduction
-
Naxal, Naxalite and Naksalvadi are
generic terms used to refer to various militant Communist groups operating in
different parts of India under different organizational envelopes. In the
eastern states of the mainland India (Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and
Odisha), they are usually known as, or refer to themselves as Maoists while in
southern states like Andhra Pradesh they are known under other titles. They
have been declared as a terrorist organization under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act of India (1967).
The term 'Naxal' derives from the
name of the village Naxalbari in West Bengal, where the movement had its
origin. The Naxals are considered far-left radical communists, supportive of
Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Their origin can be traced to the
split in 1967 of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), leading to the
formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist). Initially the
movement had its centre in West Bengal. In later years, it spread into less
developed areas of rural southern and eastern India, such as Chhattisgarh,
Odisha and Andhra Pradesh through the activities of underground groups like the
Communist Party of India (Maoist). For the past 10 years, it has grown mostly
from displaced tribal?s and natives who are fighting against exploitation from
major Indian corporations and local officials whom they believe to be corrupt.
Background
-
Naxalism
owes its name and origin to a small incident in Naxalbari village in the state
of West Bengal in 1967 in which a small group of local tribals and other
backward caste cultivators rose up against the feudal practices of
exploitation, oppression and atrocities involving denial of their share in
agricultural produce and the payment of fair wages by the upper caste
landlords. On 25th May, 1967 the police opened up fire on protesting peasants
led by three men, Charu Mazumdar, Jungle Santhal and Kanu Sanyal .Soon, this
protest assumed the shape of a left wing people's movement which became known
as the Naxalite movement, under the leadership of the aforementioned Charu
Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jungle Santhal. This movement gained control of
almost all the entire rural areas of the State of West Bengal. They demanded socio-economic
justice and the eradication of an oppressive feudal system. In many cases
because of frustration born out of grievance, they resorted to violence to seek
justice from the state agencies. The movement’s main demands included land
reforms, labour reforms, fair price for agro-forest produce, employment
guarantee, and the elimination of exploitation in mining operations. This
movement spread over to the adjoining state of Andhra Pradesh in 1968 and had
its epicenter in North-Eastern districts of Adilabad, Srikakulam, and
Visakhapatnam, including the Telangana region. The three leaders were arrested
for their extremist activities and Mazumdar died in police custody in 1972.
Santhal spent about a decade in jail and on died after his release in 1981. Only
the diminutive Sanyal survived. After spending seven years in jail, he became
involved in various forms of left politics, operating from his village near
Naxalbari until he reportedly committed suicide on 23rd March, 2010 by hanging
himself in his home at his native village at the age of 82.
The
movement had its ups and downs but it reached its climax in 1980 when the
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). The People's War Group (PWG) was
formed by Kondapalli Seetharamaiah an associate of Charu Mazumdar.
Subsequently, PWG emerged as the most formidable Naxalite formation not only in
Andhra Pradesh but also in adjoining states. This left wing extremist group is
linked with economic injustice, unemployment, poverty, land reforms, lack of
development and grievance frustration. Some studies have revealed that over 90
percent of the rural poor below the poverty line live in the 12 major states of
Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. It
is not a coincidence that the Naxalites are active in varying degrees in these
states. The Naxalite pro-poor ideology has a strong gravitation for the youth
among the student community.[1]
The
salient features of both the ‘Action Plan’ of the ‘People's’ War Group and the
Naxalite movement are as follows :
• A
redistributing of agriculture lands to the land-less and the excess land from
big landlords
•
Enforcing payment of minimum wages to farm labourers.
•
Imposing taxes and penalties on corrupt contractors and officers
Holding
people's courts for the redressal of grievances and dispensation of quick
justice to the aggrieved parties, free of cost.
•
The running of a parallel government in the tribal areas for the administration
of speedy justice.
•
Collecting funds from contractors and the rich for meeting these running costs.
•
The kidnapping of people for ransom so as to spread the message of this
ideology.
•
Attacking policemen as a counter measure to show their strength.
•
Destroying government property to undermine state authority.
•
Enforcing social code.
Naxalism
is considered the single biggest threat to India's security. Many Indian states
have been trying to fight the Maoists for some time, but with little success.
States are required to pool their resources and crush the leftist rebellion
once for all. The factors which gave rise to Naxalism in the country in late
sixties are, in any cases, are also very much present today in an acute and
aggravated form. The erosion of faith in the political processes, the grinding
poverty of a large mass of humanity, economic disparities, mounting
unemployment, tribal unrest, aggravating social tensions, and the failure of
the administration to fulfill the rising expectations of the people are take
their toll and are leading to a highly surcharged situation.
In
India about 80 million tribals are still considered to be the most vulnerable
and poorest of the poor. A large section of the tribal population living below
poverty line are victim of hunger and malnutrition. Tribals are dying of hunger
which is caused by food insecurity and poverty, in turn causes death by
starvation which creates a kind of terror amongst this population. Hunger has
thus been used as tool of terror against the tribals so as to keep them in the
state of total subjugation and inner colonization.
NAXAL
STRATEGY AND TACTICS[2]
-
Below are given the strategy and
tactics used by the naxals -
i.
Organisational Strength of the Extremist Groups –
The consolidation of several sections
of the Naxalites has been responsible for the organised, institutionalised and
planned manner in which the Naxalites function. The ideological dedication, the
cadre-based organisational setup and understanding of the micro socio-economic
situation in various regions of India makes the extremists plan, operate and
implement their strategies efficiently. There is a Central Committee and a
Politburo at the apex. The hierarchical structure, which flows from the
Regional Bureaus— State Committee/Special Zone Committee—Zone and Sub-Zone
District/ Division Committee—Squad Area Committee, is well established and
institutionalised. The armed wing has a few divisions and dalams. At the
village level, they have units called “Sanghams” comprising ideologically
committed active supporters.
ii. Protracted War -
The Naxalites have adopted the
strategy of “protracted war”. The aim is to capture political power by armed
struggle as a prelude to the subsequent unification of the liberated areas. The
armed struggle has no time limit. It can attain the goal in one or 10 or 20
years and, in this way, the struggle moves ahead. Recently, the Naxalite groups
have laid greater focus on organising along military lines. The military wing
has based its ideology on guerrilla warfare. They have resorted to
well-conceived, thoroughly planned and ably executed sensational actions such
as the attack on the convoy of Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu, the then Chief Minister
of Andhra Pradesh, the forced release of prisoners from the prisons at
Jehanabad (Bihar), Narayangarh (Orissa), police stations in Chhattisgarh and
Silda (West Bengal) and the recent spurt in hijacking of trains in Bihar and
Jharkhand.
iii. Building up Bases/Guerrilla
Zones -
In order to fulfil the aim of
protracted war, the Naxalites believe in building up both physical and mass
bases. Initially, the bases are built up in rural and remote areas. The areas
are, then, to be developed into “Guerrilla Zones” and ultimately into
“Liberated Areas”. Naxalites operate in the very heartland of India, known as
the Dandakaryna region (named after a mythological region from the epic
Ramayana) which spreads over Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra
and Madhya Pradesh. The heart of this region is the thickly forested area of
Abujmarh which is approximately 10,000 sq. km. This area till date has not been
surveyed by the Government of India. The Naxalites treat it as a totally
liberated area.
iv. Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ)
-
The Naxalites, with the support of
their Nepal counterpart, plan to create a ‘Red Corridor’, starting from the
Nepal border with Nepal and extending up to Kerala. It was in August 2001 that
the idea came up of establishing a Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ) or the Red Corridor.
It extended from the forest tracts of Adilabad (Andhra Pradesh) to Nepal,
traversing the forest areas of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar
and Nepal. It was conceptualised at Siliguri in a high-level meeting of the
Maoist leaders. The notion of CRZ seems to be working in the correct direction.
There has been a remarkable growth in Maoist between 2001 and 2010 in India.
Training the LWE affected areas being underdeveloped and forested, safe joint
training camps can be organised. It has been reported that some Nepal Maoists
have been possibly trained in the West Champaran and Aurangabad districts of
Bihar, and Palamau and Kodarma districts of Jharkhand. Also, CPI - ML and PWG
cadres are imparting specialist training to the Maoists of Nepal in Rolpa and
Rukum districts of Nepal. On this basis, they attack the enemy’s outposts. An
uncorroborated media input reveals that an attack on a police outpost in the
West Champaran district on July 16, 2004, was carried out jointly by Indian and
Nepalese groups. The attack on a police post in Madhu Bani in North Bihar in
June 2005 is also reported to be a joint operation.
v. Tactics -
To obtain their strategic,
objectives, the Naxalites have been very ruthless in their approach. The
following methods highlight their tactics to achieve their goals. The Naxalites
aim at enhancing public support and mass base. [3]
The failure of the Naxalbari movement in the initial stages led the Naxalite leaders
to rely solely on the people and create a powerful mass base. Therefore, now,
the Naxals’ aim is to enlarge their mass/support base by undertaking
development work and garnering the support of the civil liberty groups. In
addition, they indulge in rendering instant justice through ‘Jan Adalat’s’. The
movement has strengthened itself in the forest areas and in areas marked by
lack of governance.
vi. Jan Adalat’s -
Naxalites hold ‘Jan Adalat’s’ to
dispose of the criminal and civil cases and, then, dispense justice by
settlement of disputes and punishing the offenders. For this, the PWG has
introduced a new ‘Judicial System’ by forming the ‘People’s Court’, i.e., the
Gram Rajya Committee and subsequently ‘Revolutionary People’s Committee’, as an
alternate judicial system. The ‘Judicial Department’ i.e. ‘Sangham’ comprising
three to five members with a ‘People’s Protection Squad’ at its disposal,
delivers judgments and sentences, including fines and imprisonment in a
temporary designated lock-up in the village, apart from awarding capital
punishment. The Dandakaranya Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sangh (DAKMS) and the
Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghatan (KAMS) are two specific Naxal front
organisations that are entrusted with the task of looking into all disputes.[4]
Causes of Naxalism –
Following
can be the causes of Naxalism[5]
-
·
Zamindari System -
The Zamindari system was adopted
during the British rule wherein a piece of land was given to a Zamindar and in
return, he was required to pay a certain amount to the company or the state.
The Zamindar did not cultivate the land himself. He distributed and
redistributed it till it reached the tiller of the land who was a tribal or a
common man working hard in the field. At each stage, the poor people or the
tribals suffered immensely because a certain amount was required to be paid to
the renter of the land and it led to the exploitation of the poor tribal at
each stage.
·
Status of Tribals -
The government decided to declare
certain forests as reserved forests for the purposes of conservation,
scientific research, for sanctuaries and land acquisition for dams, roads,
industries, etc. It was done directly at the cost of the tribals who the
inhabitants of these forests for many generations were. Thus, the state
government, the contractors, and lower level officials fully exploited the
tribals, bringing down their status to that of encroachers in the forests.
·
Social,
economic and political grievances -
The
root causes of Naxalism among the tribals are directly linked to social,
economic and political grievances which include: deprivation, degradation,
exploitation, poverty, unemployment, illiteracy, oppression and historical
wrongs. Despite the constitutional safeguards with twin objectives of
empowerment and development of tribals for their integration into the
mainstream of the nation, they have been denied social economic, political
justice and human rights. More than 50% of them are illiterate and live below
poverty line under inhuman conditions. They are arbitrarily deprived of their
land rights and rights pertaining to forest areas. Their lands are not safe
even in the scheduled areas, and they are facing indiscriminate displacement
without an adequate rehabilitation package. Furthermore, they are exploited by
money lenders and also by the government agencies engaged in their so-called
welfare. Democracy has little meaning for the tribals as, amongst other things,
they are being used as vote banks for democracy without any participation in
the process of decision making on tribal affairs.
·
Bad
governance and exploitation -
Tribals
are helpless victims of bad governance and exploitation, and the dwindling
resource base of the tribal people can be quantified in the shape of loss of
land, restriction of access to forest produce and a lack of opportunities for
reasonable wage employment. Consequently, developmental inputs for the benefit
of these people have had little impact. Significantly, development processes
have interfered in many cases with traditional tribal institutional structures
and this has produced many negative results. These were contributory factors
for simmering unrest in most of the tribal areas.
·
Frustration
of the tribals -
It
was in the background of utter grievance frustration of the tribals arising out
of their exploitation and oppression which led them to their taking arms in
several areas to fight for their rights under the patronage of Naxalites. In
fact, over the years, tribal insurgency has become the predominant strand of
the Naxalite and people's war group movement. The combination of socio-economic
and political factors has led to a resurgence of left-wing extremism and the
Naxalite movement in India. The Naxalite ideology seeks to cut across the
barriers of caste, religion and region and unite people on broader economic
issues.
·
Tribals
caught in the crossfire -
According
to tribal people Land, water, minerals, poverty and guns are all connected for
their existence. In India's heartland, there are tribal villages where people
have not seen a doctor, a teacher, tap water or electricity and, furthermore,
they live in the middle of dense forests, sharing space with dangerous animals.
Whilst occupying fertile land, hunger still haunts them, and in Chhattisgarh,
the state with the highest tribal population in the country, even basic human
needs and civic amenities like drinking water, food, health, electricity and
education facilities are lacking. Even the areas in the grip of violence are
beyond the reach of the police forces. The people are famished and forced to
live a sub-human life.
·
Access to land and resources -
According to Maoist
sympathisers, the Indian Constitution "ratified colonial policy and made
the state custodian of tribal homelands", turning tribal populations into squatters
on their own land and denied them their traditional rights to forest produce.
These Naxalite conflicts began in the late 1960s with the prolonged failure of
the Indian government to implement constitutional reforms to provide for
limited tribal autonomy with respect to
natural resources on their lands, e.g. pharmaceutical and mining, as well as
pass 'land ceiling laws', limiting the land to be possessed by landlords and
distribution of excess land to landless farmers and labourers. In Scheduled
Tribes [ST] areas, disputes related to illegal alienation of ST land to non-tribal people, still common, gave rise
to the Naxalite movement.
·
Lack of human development -
The lack of human
development causes anger and resentments amongst the people. They feel
alienated and excluded. In addition often local elites are engaged in
exploiting, harassing and even torturing the tribal population. The Naxalites
receive most support from Dalits and Adivasis. Together they amount for one
fourth of India’s population; most of them live in rural India. Their causes
for supporting the violent movement are manifold. Among these groups persists
low degree of employment and qualification, new forest policies with
restriction for their livelihoods, cultural humiliation, weak access to health
care, education and power, restricted and limited access to natural resources,
multifaceted forms of exploitation, social atrocities, displacement and deficient
rehabilitation programs, political marginalisation and suppression of protests.
·
Increased
Militarization -
The
Indian government is known to have established a military presence in the form
of their paramilitary forces in the key states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,
Jharkhand, West Bengal, and most with the most recent insurgencies, of the late
2000s and 2010s, in the state of Chhattisgarh. The military efforts of former
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh have been continued and accelerated by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi since he came into power in 2014 but have largely been
unsuccessful given the difficult terrain of Indian jungles have prompted
increases in guerrilla warfare since the 1980s onwards.[6]
This military not only targets Naxalites but anyone potentially associated with
them; it has pushed them deeper into the forest and forced retaliation which
has proliferated violence instead of abating it.
·
Deliberate
Neglect and Underdevelopment
The
underdevelopment of tribal and indigenous parts of the country has long been a
feature of the Indian state, but it has been significantly exacerbated since
indigenous communities in what are considered Naxalite territories are
especially targeted and neglected as a means to
disincentivize the movement. Part of this may be traced back to British
colonialism, where indigenous resistance was routinely punished with neglect,
crop destruction, and drought (Bose & Jalal).[7]
The same tactics of induced famine have been used by the state in rural areas
that do not benefit the state and are thus deemed Naxalite[8].
This is a clear example of necro politics, where
the state apparatus reduces the life chances of entire populations through
neglect, removal of access to food for its own political aims.
·
Torture
-
Perhaps
one of the most well-documented state abuses has been the use of torture to
interrogate those though to be associated with the Naxalite insurgency. The
horrific techniques of physical torture, sexual abuse, and indefinite, unlawful
imprisonment used by police departments across India have been recorded in oral
and written personal histories and are a testament to the internal antagonism
that exists between the Indian state and its indigenous peoples’ wish for
autonomy over their ancestral land. The illegal use of torture has been
condemned by organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International
for violating fundamental human rights in both, the Indian Constitution as well
as international law. This further points to the shortcomings of an any means
necessary approach arrived at from perceptions of greed, which leads to
ineffective, unlawful counterinsurgency. [9]
[10]
·
State-sponsored
Vigilantism -
Another
unlawful activity that the state has been involved in is in supporting and
promoting the growth of vigilante groups as a counterinsurgency method, most
notably Sulwa Judum, which largely recruits urban youth to fight the Naxalites.
One of the main vigilante activities has been the emptying out of villages to
stop them from being used by Naxalites as their territory and to stop more
Maoist recruitment. This has led to the displacement of near 100,000 villagers
in 2007 alone, without significant improvement on the frontline with Maoist
rebels.[11]
·
Witch
Hunts -
In
more absurd counterinsurgency, increased antagonism towards India’s indigenous
because of their association with the Naxalite movement includes a police
endeavor to track down supposed witchcraft. In “Anti ‘anti-witchcraft’ and the
Maoist insurgency in rural Maharashtra, India” (2009), Amit Desai explores the
strange interaction between the state, villagers, and the public imagination of
Maoists in producing a witch hunt. This points to the way in which the state’s
counterinsurgency methods have interacted with rural populations to produce
medieval outcomes against tribal peoples and perceived Maoists.[12]
Overall,
these policies have not only proven ineffective, but they have also put the
lives of entire populations, tribes, and communities at risk of elimination and
displacement. This targeted violence towards an internal population through the
different instruments of the state, both legal and illegal, is inherently
necropolitical as it ignores the humanity of the rebelling actors. In this sense,
the state actually increases internal hostility and
proliferates violence instead of consolidating its legitimacy due to this
dynamic of resistance and repression.
STATE’S
RESPONSE TO NAXALITE CHALLENGE -
Government failed to understand the
reasons behind the Naxalite Movement. Initially the response of the central as
well as the state government, was that this was a problem of law and order. The
government completely failed to understand the situation and this can be borne
out by the statement made in LokSabha by Home Minister Y.B. Chavan, On June 13
1967, where he stated that “This was a case of lawlessness and should be
contained and crushed by the local police force”. Even Manmohan Singh who
served as the Prime Minister stated that “What was thought to be a brief period
of discontent has today grown into becoming India’s biggest threat to internal
security.
PRESENT
DOMAIN OF NAXALISM -
The exponential spread of Naxal
influence has now engulfed 231 districts or 20 states as compared to 182
districts or 16 states earlier, which indeed gives a pan-India hue to the Naxal
movement. The Naxals’ consolidation along the axis of the projected ‘Red
Corridor’ or the ‘Compact Revolutionary Zone’ (CRZ) highlights the long-term
objectives of the outfit. The Naxals’ aim is to upgrade their armed wing from a
‘Guerrilla Force’ to a regular ‘People’s Army’.
LAWS MADE
BY THE GOVERNMENT -
i. Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy,
2007 -
The main aim of this act is to
minimize the displacement of people and to promote non-displacing or least
displacing alternatives[13].
The objective of this act is to ensure that proper care is been taken of the
weaker sections of the society. On 11 October 2007 the government issued a
rehabilitation policy for the easy displacement of people who lost their land
for industrial growth. According to this policy land will be given for the
exchange of the land, in future jobs will be given to at least to one member of
the family, also they will be providing them with the housing benefits
vocational training and houses to people in urban and rural regions. [14]
ii. Forest Rights Act, 2006 -
This act grants the rights to weaker
sections of the society and the traditional forest dwellers. Forest dwellers
are the people residing in the forest from past so many years, for their
livelihood. Under this act forest dwellers are given various rights such as
land rights, right to protect and conserve and rights to use. The Ministry of
Environment and Forests has allowed conversion of kutcha roads into pukka roads
and also allowed the use of 1 hectare of land for non-forest purposes.[15]
iii. Chhattisgarh Special Public
Securities Act, 2006 -
This bill provides definition of unlawful
activities, declaring an organization unlawful, formation of an advisory board
wherever the state government feels the need for its establishment, procedure
of the formation of the advisory board, action of the advisory board, penalties
viz punishments even for not committing a crime, the power to notify a place
being used for unlawful activities and taking occupation of such place thereof
and revision/bar against intervention by the courts. These laws have in many
ways caused a lot of problems to the tribal’s and the scheduled castes by
negating the spirit of the various safeguards available to the scheduled tribes
under the constitution and other laws in the country.[16]
The act providing 'land for land' has become a nightmare for the government and
has become a stumbling block for ensuring industrialisation. As per the
Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) the government has banned all
organisations that have any connections with any Naxal movements like the MCC
or the CPI-M (Marxist-Leninist). There was no need of this bill to tackle
Naxalism. This bill was formulated, only to silence the appropriate discord and
dissent brewing in the minds of people in the areas affected by Naxalism due to
persistent ignorance by the government to their situation. This Bill has also
failed to make a distinction between the anti-social, anti-national elements
from the people who are peace loving.
Are these laws effective?
These laws have in many ways caused a lot of problems to
the tribals and the scheduled castes by negating the spirit of the various
safeguards available to the scheduled tribes under the constitution and other
laws in the country.52 The act providing 'land for land' has become
a nightmare for the government and has become a stumbling block for ensuring
industralisation. As per the Unlawful activities prevention act (UAPA) the
government has banned all organisations that have any connections with any
Naxal movements like the MCC or the CPI-M (Marxist-Leninist). There was no need
of this bill to tackle Naxalism. This bill was formulated, only to silence the
appropriate discord and dissent brewing in the minds of people in the areas affected
by Naxalism due to persistent ignorance by the government to their situation.
This Bill has also failed to make a distinction between the anti-social,
anti-national elements from the people who are 54 peace loving.
CSPS Bill, 2005 also provides the District Magistrate
unconditional powers to notify places which he thinks are being used for
unlawful activities without any prior notification. There is no requirement of
production of anything as evidence to prove that the said place is being used
for unlawful activities. It is just a violation of principles of natural
justice as the aggrieved parties don't even get a fair hearing. This bill
also provides that any revision application has to be filed with the High court
only, challenging the validity of the order of the government. This petition
has to be filed within 30 days and that no court has the jurisdiction against
any decision of the court. Any kind of application or form of revision or
injunction by a court or officer except for the High court and the Supreme
Court regarding any action to be taken as a follow up to the order of the
government has been barred in this Bill. So it can be said that this bill
was totally uncalled for and has only be brought to act as a blandishment to
the people.
CURES -
The complexity of the causes of the
Naxalite problem as well as its implications both for internal and external
security reflect a solution that is multi-dimensional and calls for a synergy
between the central governments and the states. In
order to comprehensively dissolve the Naxalite threat, the government has
to address its root causes. Socio-economic alienation and the dissatisfaction
with the widening economic and political inequality will not be solved by
military force alone, which seems to be the main instrument employed by the
government. The problem calls for a five-pronged solution: Social and economic
development, multi-lateral dialogue, Military
force, Governance and Social integration -
1. Socio-economic
development:
As the Naxalites are fuelled by
discontent from the marginalized and the poor, a larger percentage of the
national budget must be allocated to addressing the needs of these regions.
More of the national expenditure needs to be focused on developing these poorer
regions through initiatives regarding health, education, social welfare and
rural and urban development. Government service delivery should be improved in
these tribal areas. Both state and government must ensure that things such as
statutory minimum wages, access to land and water sources initiatives are
implemented. In coming up with strategies for national economic growth, the
government must always bear in mind the possible effects of fast growth for all
socio-economic groups in a country as large and diverse as India. If the social
needs of these marginalized people are addressed, there will be no discontent
to fuel the Naxalite?s movements.
2. Dialogue:
Second, the government should
initiate sincere dialogue with these marginalised groups, the Naxalites and
state leaders. The popularity of Naxalites with the adivasis is a reflection of
the fact that the government has been unaware or “unapologetically indifferent
to their plight”. By communicating and starting a dialogue between these
stakeholders, these groups will feel that they are being
listened to. By opening dialogue, the government can give opportunity for the
rebels to join the mainstream by showing them that solutions can be created
together with the government, by being part of the political system in a legitimate
way. They no longer need to resort to violence to get the state's attention. For example, the former
director-general of AP concluded that as a result of the ceasefire and dialogue
with Maoists in 2004, the violence in the state decreased by 80-90 percent in
the region. As David Pilling noted, the challenge for India?s leaders will be
to allow the necessary development in these poverty-stricken areas while
acknowledging the rights of a neglected indigenous group.
3. Military:
Currently, the main instrument
employed by the government to address the Naxalite threat is the increasing use
of the military. While some military force is still needed to combat against
the Maoist guerrillas, it should not be the only solution. By only addressing
the issue by brute force, government risks alienating civilians who are caught
in the middle. Coercion of the state will only encourage people to rally
against it.
4.
Governance:
The growing Naxalite insurgency also
reflects a flaw in the federal structure. Because law and order is seen as a
state responsibility, the central government is unable to be implementing a
coherent national strategy to address the threat. Ganguly notes that “in the
absence of a near complete breakdown of public order or without the express request
of the afflicted state, the central government cannot intervene.” The
government has the overall responsibility of mobilizing development, but it
cannot do so without the support of the states. The central government and the
states need to cooperate together to solve the internal security threats and
co-ordinate the implementation of this multi-dimensional approach. Both
organizations must complement and support each other's
initiatives and strategies[17]
5.
Social Integration:
The
tribals and scheduled castes that live in the Naxal affected areas have been
neglected for the past many decades and now want some attention from the
government. Providing them with incentives like giving them right over the
forest produce from the forests in which they have been living for generations,
providing them with houses etc. is the right modus of solving their basic
problems. The main reason for the spread of Naxalism is the exploitation of
poor and scheduled castes. The main thing which has to be done is to enforce land
ceiling laws, utilization of the funds provided to government to the maximum
and political expediency. Use of police forces should be to enforce the land
ceiling laws, evict landlords and ensure land to the farmers for cultivation.
They should be provided with police protection, and proper rehabilitation for
the people who have been displaced should be ensured. Security as well as
development has to run hand in hand to counter the Naxal problem.
The
government has to instil faith in the people that they will be governed in a
better manner than by the Naxals. The government should include laws in the
forest act that only forest dwelling tribes and scheduled castes should be
allowed to use the produce of the forest. Proper guarding of financial
institutions sanctioning loans to these tribes should be ensured which will
help these tribes to realize that the government is with them.
The
Central government should form a separate ministry which will undertake the
development of the areas affected by the Naxal activities. The following steps
ought to be taken by the government:
·
Ensure the safety of the civilians by stopping the Salwa Judum
campaign and ensuring that no counter insurgency measures are taken by risking
the lives of the civilians.
·
Checking instances of human rights violation by the security
forces and the Salwa Judum.
·
Registering the crimes perpetrated by the security forces, Salwa
Judum and the Maoists and bringing them to justice.
·
Banning of Bal Mandal (The child division of Naxalites) with
immediate effect.
·
Ensuring safety of those who surrendered and those who lived in
camps or were related with Salwa Judum activities.
Using
force against the tribals to deter them from joining the Naxals has and will
backfire against the government. The government should ensure peace in these
areas so that these people don't suffer more than they already have and this
can be done only if the government takes proactive measures so as to ensure
social justice and inclusive growth for the benefit of the marginalized
sections.
Conclusion
-
The Naxals reached out to the people,
understood them, took up their issues and fought for their dignity and rights.
They earned goodwill among the tribals and the downtrodden by fighting for
them. The Naxalite Movement started with a noble objective to protect the
rights of the tribals, but its extremism and violence deterred it from becoming
an accepted revolution. The tackling of the threat to internal security, as a
result of this movement must start with government addressing the problems
faced by the tribals and ensure that their rights are protected. The central
and eastern parts of the country are relatively underdeveloped as compared to
other parts of India, both industrially and agriculturally. The areas also lag
behind in almost all human development indicators. Hence, efforts must be made
by the government to tackle the disparities in the social system.
Therefore, the state must start
to fight the conflict legally, minimise collateral damage, strengthen the
leadership of the security forces and abstain from any human rights violation.
The security forces should better start protecting the population living within
the area of conflict instead of merely confronting the Maoists on large scale.
The Naxalite movement must be challenged politically by presenting better
alternatives to the Maoist approach and offer new perspectives. In this regard
the state should start addressing the basic needs of the poor and fulfilling its
main responsibilities to deliver human development to these disadvantaged
areas.
References
-
[4] Ministry of Home
Affairs, Annual Report, 2008-09
[5]
https://www.ijlmh.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/The-Naxalite-Movement-in-India.pdf
[6]
Routray, Bibhu Prasad, “ Left Wing Extremism: 3 Years of the Modi
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5-7.
[7] Bose and
Jalal, “Modern South Asia: History, Culture, Political Economy.”
[8] Roy, “Walking with the
Comrades”.
[9] Human Rights Watch, “ ‘Being Neutral Is
Our Biggest Crime’: Government, Vigilante, And Naxalite Abuses In India’s
Chhattisgarh State”.”
[10] Amnesty International. “India: Archana
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Mechanisms For Torture Victims”March 1,
1994
[11] Goswami and Miklian, “India’s Violent
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http://www.indiatogether.org/2007/nov/hrt-randrpol.htm
[14] Rehabilitation
and Resettlement Policy, 2007
[15] Forest Rights
Act, 2006
[16] 2“Indigenous
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http://www.aitpn.org/Issues/II-09-06- Forest.pdf
[17]
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348676559_The_Naxal_Movement