Genie Speaks: [UPSC Interview prep feed Vol.15] Naxalism

Topic Discussed: Internal Security - NAXALISM.

Disclaimer: This is a guest post and the author wants to remain anonymous.

Kautilya, ancient indian strategic genius, had classified threats faced states into 4 categories internal, extenally-aided internal, external and internally-aided external. For us internal and externally-aided internal threats became prominent since about 1980 with adoption of “policy of bleeding India through a thousand cuts” by one of our neighbours[1]. This policy was unfortunately continued,in one form or the other, despite various regime changes in the neighbouring country. It is estimated that that about 252 districts are affected by some kind of organised internal security threats[2] , including about 173 infested by Naxalism . This series of articles on Internal Security attempts to cover internal security threats of Secessionist terrorists of J&K, Naxalism, insurgency in North-East, secessionist-terrorist movement of Khalistan(which may be dormant for the time being, but some of its cadres are still working on revival[3] ) and other terrorist organisations. Threats like Communalism, caste-tensions, inter-state disputes may also be covered, if possible. The first article in the series is on Naxalism.

Naxalism

History

The movement emerged in 1967 in a small West Bengal village called Naxalbari located in the Terai region's chicken-neck corridor. The genesis of the problem could be traced to our failure in implementing our own socio-economic policy in true spirit. On 2 March,1967 a tribal peasant supported by a court order had gone to till his own land and was attacked by goons of a local landlord[4]. This led to confrontation which became not only a conflict between peasants and landlords, but also took form of a violent conflict with State Authorities. Tribals armed with bows and arrows took over land ownership at many places, paddy stocks were lifted and distributed.

The Authorities at that time took it as merely a “law and order problem”[5]. W. Bengal Government took a decision of initiating police action[6] and after about 52 days the movement was apparently suppressed but its impact was felt at many other parts of the country subsequently and the movement had spread to states of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa,Madhya Pradesh, UP. “Operation Steeplechase” was initiated and by 1972 all major Naxalite leaders were arrested.The death of Charu Mazumdar,one of its founders, in 1972 gave a severe blow to the movement [6]. However, the movement revived again in 1980s by formation of People's War Group(PWG) in AP which subsequently expanded itself to other states as well. Meanwhile, Maoist Communist Centre(MCC), formed in 1975 emerged as a grave threat in undivided Bihar. MCC organised even ran parallel judicial systems in which verdicts of “chheh inch chhota kar do”(reduce by 6 inches, meaning beheading) were frequently given.

The total number of victims of Naxal violence per year ranged between 489 to 598 between 1996 to 1999.It may also be worth mentioning that Landlords and the so-called “upper castes” also organised their own private forces (particularly in the state of Bihar) like Ranvir Sena and Sunlight Sena. These were responsible for various brutal massacres like Lakshmanpur Bathe (in which about 60 people,including woman and children, were killed and unfortunately Patna High Court acquitted all accused due to lack of evidence[7]), Bathani Tola (in which 21 people,including woman and children, were brutally killed and unfortunately Patna HC acquitted all accused on grounds of insufficient evidence[8] ).

In the year 2004, MCC and PWG merged together[9] and the period saw increase in deaths per year due to Naxalism from 653 in 2004 to 1168 in 2010. The period of 2011 to 2013 saw substantial decline from 1169 to 342[10].

Current Scenario

Although there has been a considerable decline in Naxal related violence and the group has itself admitted that its support,strength and weapons has considerably reduced [11].About 10 states are still facing naxal-related threats,the worst affected state is Jharkhand, from where about 33 % of total naxal incidents are reported, followed by Chattisgarh from where about 29 % of total incidents are reported[12].In recent past Naxals have carried out a number of serious attacks, including:-

· 2010 Dantewada attack, causing death of 76 CRPF Personnel.

· 2013 Darba Valley Attack, killing 28 people including major leaders of Congress like Mahendra Karma, Nand Kumar Patel and Vidyacharan Shukla.

· 2014 Gheeram Ghati, Sukma, causing death of 16 people including 11 CRPF Personnel

· 2015 , a series of 4 incidents one after the other between 11 April and 13 April loss of lives of 13 security personnel.

Clearly a lot is yet to be done, particularly in the states of Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh. According to West Bengal DGP Naxals have established ties with ISI with SIMI's help[20]. This alliance could be fatal if appropriate actions are not taken. The links between Naxals and others organisations like ULFA,NCSN(IM) also needs to be taken care of. It should be kept in mind that Naxals today are less ideological and are more engaged in activities like extortion of levies[29].The annual estimates of extortion is about 1,500 crore rupees[29].In this respect Naxals are more of an organised crime institution today than an ideological force. Ideology is being mostly used today as a propaganda to shield their own crimes and gather support.

Problems, possible way out and where we lack

There is near consensus amongst experts that the core of the problem is socio-economic and there is a need for a “two-pronged approach”[13] (combining both law and order as well as social integration approach) abandoning the pure “law and order” approach.

Prakash Singh,former DGP(UP,BSF,Assam), states “it(Naxal Movement) draws sustenance from the grievances of the people which have not been addressed.Governance being what it is-inefficient,corrupt,insensitive and ,what is worse,increasingly infiltrated by criminal elements -it is unlikely that the movement would be contained in the near future.The future course of events will depend upon sagacity and wisdom of policy makers as on willingness of Naxal leaders to shed the ideological garbage and adapt themselves to changing times ”According to EN Ram Mohan,former DG,BSF, who was tasked by Home Ministry to investigate into Dantewada Massacre, failure to implement Fifth Schedule of the constitution and land-reforms is responsible for growing menace of Naxalism[14].

It has been estimated that 60-65 million people have been displaced for developmental projects since independence,out of which over 40% are tribals and another 40% consist of dalits and other rural poor[15]. According to Fifth Schedule , there “shall” be a Tribes Advisory Council(TAC) in states having scheduled area (also if President directs in states not having such areas but having Scheduled Tribes) to advice the Governor on matters relating to welfare and advancement of STs. It was envisaged that TAC will protect interest of tribals , but unfortunately TACs have either not been constituted in many states or they have remained largely ineffective. Although there has been a consistent demand for constitution of empowered TACs[16].Ineffective implementation of Forest Rights Act which recognised customary land right upto 4 hectares per household, right to minor forest produce and Gram Sabha nod for land acquisition has further complicated the matters.

Lack of development and governance structures in Naxal affected areas is clearly visible. According to the 2001 census, about three quarters of Dantewada district (most affected by Naxal violence) consists of 1220 tribal villages. Of these, 1161 have no medical facility, 214 have no primary schools, and the literacy rate is a meagre 29 per cent for men and 14 per cent for women.

Similarly, two other Naxalite-affected states, Bihar and Jharkhand, among the poorest states in India, have a literacy rate of 47 per cent and 54 pe cent respectively, far behind Kerala, with a 93 per cent literacy rate, and the national average of 65 per cent. Even in 2011 censsus, Dantewada recorded literacy rate of mere 33 %.Jharkhand has a maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 278 deaths per 100,000 live births, much worse than the national average of 217. Godda along with Palamu have a MMR of 318.

So much has been talked about “two-pronged strategy” and programmes like Integrated Action Plan[17], BGRF , Saranda Development Plan were launched , yet their success has been limited at best.

For example consider the case of Saranda Plan. Saranda was liberated from Naxal control by brave security personnel. The government envisaged Saranda Development Plan to gather support of local population by means of development. However if newspaper reports are to be believed, now there are more mines and fewer schools, the stream which provides drinking water to tribals is now red due to indiscriminate washing of iron-ore dumpers in the stream, no new health centre has been established and there is a sense of dissatisfaction amongst people[18] . Such failures on developmental front leads to loss of grounds gained by security forces. Prakash Singh also makes a similar observation and suggests regular audit of developmental work done by Government Departments in Naxal-affected areas[19].

What can be done?

As stated earlier, the solution called the “two-pronged approach” is already known to us and there is a near-consensus, if not consensus, about its possible effectiveness. What is perhaps needed is political will to act.

On law and Order Fronts the following actions could be undertaken:-

· Many causalities result from violation of Standard Operating Procedures[21]. The field Officers must be instructed to strictly adhere to the same.[22]

· Intelligence gathering could be improved through Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs).

· More number of Locals must be inducted in CRPF and Police as they have geographical knowledge of the area and possess necessary language skills[23].

A newspaper reports “The jawan's admission highlights why Naxals have an edge over STF, CRPF and BSF. Maoists not only know their territory like the back of their hand, but have a welloiled intelligence network and logistics support in "sangams" or village-level supporters. No familiarity with local Gondi dialect is another major problem, particularly in gathering intelligence in Bastar, that's bigger than Kerala in geographical terms. ” Special schools, on lines of Sainik Schools, may be established in tribal areas for this purpose. Salwa Judum has been declared unconstitutional by Supreme Court , yet many Officers like RK Vij[24] have stressed upon the utility of having a auxiliary force of locals. Perhaps , a revamped, more humane auxiliary force consisting of locals may be created.

· Police Reforms as per the Supreme Court Judgement in Prakash Singh case and Soli Sorabjee Report should be implemented in letter and spirit.

· Acquittal of all accused as in Bathani-tola and Laxmanpur-Bathe cases shake the confidence of people upon state authorities. Naxals always look for such opportunities to gain support and strengthen their propaganda. To avoid such acquittals perhaps there is need to look into reforming our laws which are too much biased in favour of the accused and make it very difficult for the prosecution to put its case. Justice Malimath Committee had recommended that our current “adversarial system” should be improved by including elements of “inquisitorial system” and “quest for truth” should be the objective of Judicial System.[25][26]

Social Integration Dimensions:-

· Constitution of empowered TACs and implementation of Fifth Schedule in letter and spirit.

· Land-reforms should be carried out

· Implementation of Forest Rights Act , PESA.

· Reforms in PDS.Reetika Khera have found how the state of Chhatisgarh has made drastic improvements in its PDS[27]. Similar model can be replicated in other states.

· Improving social welfare scheme by learning from success stories of TN,Kerala,Himachal Pradesh and the recent turnaround in Chhattisgarh.[28]

· Implementation of provisions of Mines and Minerals Bill,2015 which includes,inter alia, creation of a District Mineral Foundation (DMF) and a National Mineral Exploration Trust (NMET). The DMF is to be established by the state government for the benefit of persons in districts affected by mining related operations. The NMET shall be established by the central government for regional and detailed mine exploration.

In short the solutions are known to us, what is needed is willingness to act.It is worth quoting Prakash Singh again at the end “The future course of events will depend upon sagacity and wisdom of policy makers as on willingness of Naxal leaders to shed the ideological garbage and adapt themselves to changing times ”.

References:

[1] The New Khaki: The Evolving Nature of Policing in India, by Arvind Verma , https://books.google.co.in/books?id=9lIOI0MtsHQC&pg=PA111&dq=bleeding+india+through+a+thousands+cuts+zia&hl=en&sa=X&ei=IxBHVe2OGNGJuwTo54HQDw&ved=0CCcQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=bleeding%20india%20through%20a%20thousands%20cuts%20zia&f=false

[2] Prakash Singh's talk at IDSA, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuXPyFl7MDM

[3] http://sikhsiyasat.net/2015/03/18/sad-mann-announces-to-hold-india-out-of-khalistan-rallies-during-modis-visit-to-canada/ , http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Separatist-Sikhs-in-Canada-to-intensify-Khalistan-movement-ahead-of-Modis-visit/articleshow/46543789.cms

[4] http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/twenty-five-years-on-naxalbari-is-a-stark-symbol-of-the-revolution-that-failed/1/307248.html

[5] Address of the then Home Minister YB Chavan to Lok Sabha

[6] Kohima to Kashmir : on the terrorist trail, Prakash Singh

[7] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/patna-high-court-acquits-all-26-accused-in-laxmanpur-bathe-massacre-case/article5218083.ece

[8] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3321368.ece

[9] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/patna/PWG-and-MCC-merge-to-form-new-party/articleshow/885422.cms

[10] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naxalite%E2%80%93Maoist_insurgency#Deaths_related_to_violence

[11] http://archive.indianexpress.com/news/maoists-admit-support-down-strength---weapons-de.../1171085/