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| Jun 25 - Jul 02 |
 St. Columba's College (Ested - 1899), Hazaribagh, Jharkhand
Sleeping on the job? Blame militants
Like finicky goldsmiths, six workers use their hammers gently, perched on top of the iron skeleton of a bridge they are building just outside Kashmir's capital. It has been 18 years in the making.
Insurgencies have become an excuse for misgovernance in India. Across the country's militancy-wracked regions, functional schools, medical facilities, even police stations, just do not exist in vast, trouble-torn regions. In many areas, the state and its symbols have long become invisible. When rapes and murders take place, people go to militants for justice, not courts.
In Budgam in Kashmir, citizens got tired of waiting for the bridge and pooled money to build a foot bridge for themselves. Still, life is difficult. "In the rain, this whole area is flooded with Jhelum water. We have to wade through it. When it is not raining, there is so much dust on this mud road that our children fall sick," said shopkeeper Ghulam Nabi.
In Manipur, residents of the state capital Imphal have not had piped municipality water in their taps for decades - they buy it from tankers. Unemployment runs so deep that graduates and postgraduates run cycle rickshaws, and cover their faces with masks out of shame. Many of them turn to the underground because of its macho image - and because it has become, simply, a crucial job opportunity.
"Insurgency creates problems for governance, but that does not mean it becomes an alibi for misgovernance," said Yumnam Joykumar, the Manipur director-general of police.
But that is exactly what has happened, as Hindustan Times found out in travels across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa. "Apart from the police, people in most villages here have never seen a government official in their lives," said Jeevan Masih Topno, munda or headman of Digha village in Jharkhand's Saranda forest, the nerve centre of Naxalite activities.
Across the areas of Naxal influence in Andhra Pradesh along the Nallamala forests in the Telangana belt, deep into the border areas touching Chhattisgarh and Orissa, the squalor is spilling on to the highways. Broken roads, blown up buildings, poor people squatting on roadsides and Koya Adivasi tribe women raising blockades on the roads demanding Rs 5 from each passing vehicle is a common sight in the Khamam, Dantewada and Bargarh areas.
"Nearly 80 per cent of rural households in Bastar are without electricity, toilets and clean drinking water. In the name of fighting Naxalites, the state government is cleverly able to divert attention from its failures," said social activist Pradeep Kumar.
Governments deny the allegations. "NGOs and other activists enjoy the liberty of irresponsible statements. The fact is that the Chhattisgarh government has managed to win back Bastar from the Naxalites," said state Home Minister Ram Vichar Netam. The situation is so dismal that out of 31,900 posts of Chhattisgarh teachers sanctioned by New Delhi from 2001 to 2005, some 22,200 posts were not filled. Local officials have not been able to complete the computerisation of land records even in 17 years.
In Jharkhand, up to 76 per cent of patients left many hospitals against medical advice between 2001 and 2006, fed up of sub-standard medicines, and poor equipment and services. In many state hospitals, major surgeries like Caesarean operations and appendicitis were performed without anaesthetists, the Comptroller and Auditor-General said.
More than 1,020 schools in Jharkhand have no buildings, 3,562 schools have no drinking water facilities, 17,523 schools have no toilets, and 2,965 schools have no electricity.
Staff shortages run deep. "We are working on 50 per cent of strength at all levels," said Jharkhand Chief Secretary AK Chugh.
In several states, top officials privately admit there is a nexus between militants and government officials. Now some citizens are gathering courage to speak out as well.
"Recently we closed down the non-functioning PWD office in protest, but the underground forcibly reopened it. There must be some collaboration," said Tuithing Zingkhai, 27, president of the Young Raphei Conference in the Ukhrul district, a Naga rebel hub bordering Myanmar.
"If the officials related with development were doing their jobs, our jobs would be easier," said Jharkhand police officer Shailendra Prasad Burnwal.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/storypage/storypage.aspx?id=81637a9c-77ab-40 01-a02d-48117992c&MatchID1=4487&TeamID1=8& TeamID2=10&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1120&P rimaryID=4487&Headline=Sleeping+ on+the+job%3f+Blame+militants
Beware of ghost roamers
KOLKATA: Living in West Bengal and using a prepaid cellphone connection? In case you are, and your work involves endless trips to towns on the state's borders with either Assam, Jharkhand, Bihar or Orissa, you'd better keep an hawk's eye on the talktime balance. Especially, when you're in a state border town and choose to receive a call.
You may be totally unaware that your cellphone has silently hooked onto a mobile network across the border as the signal is strong. So what you took for an innocuous free incoming call on your home network, no longer is, since you're suddenly a 'ghost roamer' shelling out Rs 1.75 per minute as inbound roaming charges. Welcome to 'Live national roaming 24 x 7' for prepaid mobile subscribers, where your talktime balance could vanish real quick if you're not careful!
This will hold true for any prepaid subscriber making frequent trips to border towns within their home state. Especially, since 'national roaming' is 'continuously activated by default' for prepaid subscribers.
These days, nearly 90% of the country's 175 million mobile subscribers are prepaid users and the built-in national roaming feature has been a huge draw, especially after Trai scrapped monthly rentals on national roaming.
So, whether you're an Airtel, Hutch, BSNL-CellOne , Idea, Reliance or Spice prepaid subscriber, you could end up roaming within your home turf every time you hit a border town. Things could get really tricky if you're at an inter-state border where your cellular service provider is also the licensed operator across the border.
The same jinx could easily haunt ignorant postpaid mobile subscribers. But in this case, national roaming needs to be activated by requesting the operator. It isn't seamless as in the case of prepaid users.
When contacted, sources at Airtel, Hutch and BSNL-CellOne confirmed the phenomenon , but declined to discuss the tariff impact . "This is precisely why we only activate national roaming when a postpaid subscriber requests for the facility. We've received feedback that customers travelling frequently within West Bengal to towns near the Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar or Assam borders have at times paid roaming charges for receiving what they thought were free incoming calls.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Beware_of_ghost_roamers/articleshow/2168680.cms
SAIL plans big for Chiria mines
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) will engage a reputed consultant to prepare the detailed project report (DPR) for expansion and mechanisation of its mining operations at Chiria mines in Jharkhand.
The SAIL board has allocated Rs 1,800 crore for enhancement of mining capacity up to 7 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2010-11 from the present 1.5 MT. Subsequently, the production would be pushed to 10 MTPA, 15 MPTA and 20 MTPA in phases, highly placed sources in the SAIL said.
The tender for roping in the consultant would be floated shortly, they added.
Mecon has prepared the feasibility report for expansion of SAIL's mining operations at Chiria. The environmental impact assessment has been completed and SAIL has applied for no objection certificate. Preparation of mining plan by Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) is under process.
SAIL has also chalked out plans for a whopping increase in steel production capacity to 29 MT from the present 5.2 MT in Jharkhand. It plans to enhance the capacity of Bokaro Steel Plant to 7.5 MT by 2010 with an investment of Rs 13,000 crore.
The capacity would be later increased up to 17 MT. Mecon has studied the project and the SAIL Board has approved it.
SAIL has requested the State Government to provide land to set up 12 MT green field steel plant. It has submitted the details of its iron ore requirement to the Union Ministry of Mining.
Jharkhand and SAIL have been engaged in a prolonged tussle over Chiria mines, with the State government saying it will not renew the leases to the extent of the PSU's requirement in the State. The reserves are estimated to be 1.7 to 2 billion tonnes.
Some days back, Chief Minister Madhu Koda had claimed that SAIL and Jharkhand Government were heading towards an out-of-court settlement. In a recent interview to a newspaper, SAIL chairman SK Roongta, however, said SAIL would not part with the iron ore leases it held for Chiria. Roongta said SAIL had firmed up its investment plans till 2020 and it envisaged use of the entire 'ore production from Chiria'. SAIL, however, said it was open to other steel makers getting access to the adjacent reserves at Ankua.
The Prime Minister Office's initiative for an out-of-court settlement between SAIL and Jharkhand on Chiria issue is on. The next meeting is expected within a week.
Several private steel players, including Arcelor Mittal and Essar Steel, have been eying the Chiria reserves. Both Chiria and Ankua fall within the Saranda forests. SAIL holds the mining rights for Ajitaburu, McLellan, Dhobil, Sukri and Tatuburu at Chiria. It also holds the rights for 67 acres at Ankua. In all, it holds the rights to 2,350 hectares of leased mining area.
Though Ankua reserves have not been mapped out fully, analysts peg them at about 600 MT.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=f1e05f07-aebb- 47f0-89c9-5951f2c92683&MatchID1 4487&TeamID1=8&Tea mID2=10&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1120&PrimaryID=4487&Headline=SA IL+plans+big+for+Chiria+mines
Blockade shows growing power of ultras in Jharkhand
Jamshedpur The 48-hour economic blockade by Maoists in Jharkhand, which ended in the early hours of June 28, had had the desired impact the ultras had wished to convey.
Besides the burning down of Biramdih station, 55 km from Purulia, and the blowing up of a railway track between Daniya and Dumri Vihar stations, which disrupted movement of both goods and passenger traffic, a low level of confidence in the administration of the road transport community kept most vehicles off the state's highways for the two days.
Most agree that the ultras were making the most of the current political inaction in the state, as allegations that no decision worth its name had been taken by the Madhu Koda-led UPA government (since it came to power in the last quarter of 2006) was common knowledge.
This was also the first time when the economic blockade hugely affected movement of coal and iron ore within the state. The Railways bore the brunt both in terms of damage to property as well as loss of revenue, for not having been able to dispatch the normal quantum of minerals.
"We didn't want to take a confrontationist stance and wanted the economic blockade to pass off," said a senior bureaucrat, adding that such a posture was inadvisable as it could lead to escalation of events and, therefore, casualties among civilians.
That statement notwithstanding, the administration admits there was substantial dearth of police force to counter the rebels spread over as many as 16 of the state's 22 districts.
According to state home secretary Sudhir Tripathy, Jharkhand is in the process of strengthening its security forces "both in terms of manpower and firepower" and has asked for 15 additional companies from Centre to combat the situation.
Again, though the administration claims that the situation had much improved from the days when many police stations in Naxal-infested districts were virtually under their control, sources say there wasn't much difference even today.
Meanwhile, both the police as well as the ultras are said to have changed their strategies in the state during the past few months. While the rebels were now aiming at, instead of the police, at "soft targets" such as personnel of the GRP or the CISF, who primarily were not meant to keep law & order, the police, too, was focusing more on busting rebel hideouts and training camps than chasing the ultras individually.
Many in the bureaucracy feel that an early panchayat election in the state, which is due for several years now, could lead to checking the Maoist menace from growing, as proper development schemes and flow of funds to villages would go against their operations.
Most agree that the present socio-political system in the country was not delivering things the way it should, which in turn was giving rise to such rebellious thinking.
URL: http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=168809
Couple killed for practising witchcraft in Jharkhand
An old couple were killed in Jharkhand for allegedly practicing black magic, police officials said.
Tanekta Bhokta, 60, and his wife Ashamani, 55, were residents of Beti village under Pithoria block, about 40 kms from Ranchi.
Police officials said on Monday that the couple's neighbour Deodhari Bhokta and his brother Surendra Bhokta dragged them out of their house on Sunday. The brothers tied the old couple to a tree and beat them to death with sticks. The men then hacked the dead bodies with sharp edged weapons and chopped off the hands and legs.
Later, they informed other villagers about the crime that they had committed and surrendered before the police.
However, the brothers do not regret having killed the couple. "The couple were practising black magic and due to the impact of their black magic our family members were falling ill. We have no remorse," said Surendera Bhokta.
The couple are survived by their two daughters. One of them, Rupanti Kumari, 19, said: "We tried to save our parents but they did not show any mercy. Not a single villager turned up to help us".
Killing people suspected of practising black magic is common in Jharkhand. In the past 10 years, more than 600 persons, mostly women, have been killed in Jharkhand after they were branded witches.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=d282bc75-6acb-43 34-826c-fdf3d191dac2&MatchID17&TeamID1=8&Tea mID2=10&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1120&PrimaryID=4487&Headline=Couple+killed +for+actising+witchcraft
Jharkhand moots plan to introduce teaching in English
Ranchi: The Jharkhand Academic Council (JAC) is planning to introduce English as the medium of instruction in all Government-run schools in the state.
The Council will identify schools in the state where the medium of teaching can be upgraded to English.
Once this is done, the Council will go ahead with giving recognition to these schools.
Council Chairman Dr. Shaligram Yadav said, "Currently the medium of instruction in the schools affiliated to the Council is Hindi, Urdu, Bangla and Oriya. When students are allowed to answer and interact with their teachers in English, then there is no harm in making English the medium of instruction"
The Council will send its proposal to the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for its approval.
http://www.indiaedunews.net/Jharkhand/Jharkhand%5Fmoots%5Fplan%5Fto%5Fintroduce %5Fteaching%5Fin%5FEnglish%5F1486/
Jharkhand village shocked to know about its huge HIV positive population Hazaribagh, (Jharkhand), June 30: Fear gripped Vishnugarh village in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh District after over 100 people reportedly tested HIV positive.
The victims were those villagers, who had gone out of their village to nearby cities in search of work, only to return with the deadly virus.
The remote village fraught with poverty, illiteracy, unemployment and underdevelopment has been shocked into disbelief, after 35 AIDS deaths were reported in the last four years.Experts say Vishnugarh's case is just the tip of an iceberg and that the HIV problem has assumed alarming proportions, despite awareness programmes.
Village elders were holding public meetings to create awareness about the deadly virus as worried locals were seen scampering to get themselves tested.
Having moved beyond traditionally high-risk groups such as homosexuals, commercial sex workers and drug users, the virus is spreading into families, infecting mothers and children.
The situation is alarming particularly because of the lack of awareness, as most people do not know that they have been infected, resulting in further spread of the disease.
Shuk Yadav a villager whose grandson tested positive blamed the village youths, who migrated to bigger cities in search of work and brought back the "city" disease to their homes. "Many people from the village go to other cities in search of employment and return with the disease. We try to figure them out, but of no use. Over 35 people have died here in the last 4-5 years. But no treatment is available," he said. Those who have survived death are now living a life of seclusion, due to social ostracisation. "In remote villages here, whenever a case is reported, none of the authorities are informed. Even doctors do not care about the victims. Unemployment is the main reason behind the spread of this disease. The cases are not made public because of fear of social boycott," said Nand Kishore, a social worker.
Authorities have stepped in with medical assistance and are planning a slew of measures to educate people about HIV/AIDS, but officials say it will be long before a sense of responsibility is instilled in the region's extremely patriarchal society. "Looking at the situation, one can say that number of HIV cases will rise in future. A lot of people work outside and they keep shifting their base. They come in contact with their relatives back home and transfer the virus. Even small children here have been infected," said Sunil Kumar, a counsellor.
In 2004, the World Bank warned that the disease would become the single largest cause of death in the world's second most populous country, unless there was a change in policy and progress made on prevention. The UN has warned that nations are faced with a disaster, the devastating effects of which go much beyond our imagination, as social stigma and lack of information means that millions of cases are still unreported.
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/153668.php/Jharkhand-village-shocked-to-know-about -its-huge-HIV-positive-population
Naxals damage railway lines, traffic hit in Bihar, Jharkhand
HYDERABAD: Security forces maintained tight vigil in all naxal-affected States as Maoist guerrillas stepped up attacks on railway property on Tuesday to mark the beginning of their 48-hour, nationwide economic blockade against the Centre's economic policies.
The protest call evoked some response in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, which face intense rebel activity. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal remained incident-free.
Iron ore movement hit
The rebels damaged rail lines on Bailadilla Hills in the Bastar forests, bringing to a halt iron ore movement from the Bailadilla mines to the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.
In Jharkhand also, the rail track was damaged in Latehar district, forcing authorities to cancel or divert 20 trains. In Giridh district, the Maoists parked a heavy truck across the rail track and deflated its tyres, leading to traffic disruption for some time, Gauri Shankar Rath, Additional Director-General of Police, told The Hindu on the phone.
Armed skirmishes
Armed skirmishes broke out between the rebels and security forces in Orissa and Chhattisgarh, but there were no causalities.
In Orissa, the police claimed that they foiled an attempt to blast the 360-MW Balimela hydel plant in Malkangiri district.
The rebels retreated on seeing a huge posse of police guarding the unit but later they blew up a BSNL cellphone tower.
In Chhattisgarh, the police engaged the rebels in a gun fight near Bairamgadh in Bijapur district.
Inspector-General Giridhari Nayak said an attempt to blow up a rail bridge between the Bhansi and Bacheli stations was foiled. Security forces on patrol detected and defused mines.
In the same section, the naxals damaged the rail track on Monday night and iron ore movement was hit, Mr. Nayak said over telephone.
Sources in the Intelligence Bureau said that in Bihar, the East Central Railway suspended train services as the blockade call affected normal life in the naxal strongholds of Gaya and Jehanabad. In Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra there was not much of an impact.
Intelligence officials apprehended more rebel strikes, following the killing of Maoist Central Committee member Sande Rajamouli alias Prasad in an alleged encounter by the Andhra Pradesh police in Anantapur district on Friday night.
Vehicles off NH
reports from Patna
Heavy vehicles kept off the national highways while train services were affected in naxalite-hit regions in Bihar and Jharkhand.
The naxalites attacked and damaged a coalmine in Pakur district in Jharkhand and set ablaze eight dumpers.
As a precautionary measure, the Railways cancelled half a dozen trains including the Ranchi-Delhi Rajdhani Express.
In Bihar, train movement was suspended in several sections including Patna-Gaya and Saharsa-Katihar. Consequently, passengers in both States were put to difficulty.
http://www.hindu.com/2007/06/27/stories/2007062750461300.htm
Electrosteel in cash chase for Bokaro unit
Calcutta, July 2: Electrosteel Casting Ltd, the country's largest ductile iron pipe maker, is in talks with domestic and international financial institutions for funds to build a Rs 5,000-crore integrated steel and pipe plant in Jharkhand.
The city-based company plans to set up the plant near Bokaro. The unit which will have a capacity of 1.3 million tonnes will manufacture wire rods, bar and ductile iron pipes.
It has acquired 300 acres for the project and the initial work has begun. However, it has approached the Jharkhand government for more land, keeping in mind future expansion possibilities.
The project, to go on stream by late 2009-10, will have a 3:1 debt equity mix. Electrosteel Integrated Ltd (EIL), an associate company of ECL, has been formed for the project.
An ECL official said of the total equity component of Rs 1,240 crore, the company would provide Rs 500 crore. The remaining will come from private equity players and financial institutions.
"We have signed an agreement for Rs 350 crore already. The balance Rs 390 crore will be tied up in the next two to three months," Ashutosh Agarwal, assistant vice-president (finance), said.
IL&FS Financial Services Ltd has been mandated to act as the financial adviser and sole arranger for project finance. It is expected to pick up some stake in the project as well.
"We are in talks with private equity players and financial institutions," Agarwal said.
Given the fact that the project will be executed over the next two-and-half years, financing is not going to be a constraint. At a later date, EIL may tap the capital market and get listed on bourses.
ECL plans to shovel part of the funds raised through a recent foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) issue into the equity of the new project. The new plant will run on captive coal and iron ore, which will help the company to have control over the raw material cost and their availability.
Electrosteel is in the final stage to get mining licences for 230 million tonnes iron ore and 100 million tonnes coal in Jharkhand. Mining operations are expected to start well before the new plant goes on stream. It plans to produce 700,000 tonnes of bar, 400,000 tonnes of wire rod and 200,000 tonnes of ductile iron pipes at the new plant.
The company is entering into steel making (long products) to tap the booming construction sector.
ECL's present unit is located on BT Road in North 24-Parganas with 250,000 tonnes of ductile iron pipe capacity.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070703/asp/business/story_8008216.asp
LEADER ARTICLE: Landmines Ahead
Unsuspected angst over acquisition is triggering off landmines in dozens of places from Maharashtra to Meghalaya as 'people's movements' protest development projects as diverse as roads, dams, removal of squatters and not least new factories, including those in special economic zones.
The intensity of the resistance is as unexpected as it is violent, provoking the state - in reality local administrations - to retaliate with even greater force. This has set in motion, what seems from the outside, a circle of unreasonable opposition inducing, in turn, intolerable coercion.
The contest is not over the right to property. It goes beyond that into a space where sentiment is cleverly deployed by groups, who are outside the conventional structures of politics and so dismissed as irrelevant in calculations of costs and consequences of the processes popularly described as sustainable growth.
In an earlier era, conflicts between the state and 'victims' of development were organised under banners like Medha Patkar's. These were Gandhian in the sort of tactics used for resistance, including the threat to embrace 'jal samadhi', or death by drowning, if the Sardar Sarovar Dam construction was not stopped.
These were by and large peaceful protests that have now petered out into long-drawn-out agitation for higher compensation or even delivery of the money to the beneficiaries rather than into the hands of those who could siphon it off.
Sentiment then was a weak subaltern response to the inexorable forces of development. Sentiment now is a tool that is being used to nourish a disturbingly militant response that is no less sustained and therefore dangerously volatile. Generous compensation not merely in terms of money but as part of a total package, such as the formula used for acquisition in West Bengal's Singur, is evidently not enough.
Even the temptation of higher compensation is proving insufficient to smooth things over. The explosion of violence over eviction of squatters on Indian Iron and Steel Company land or the resistance by tribals in Jharkhand over expansion of mines or the simmering conflict in Orissa over acquisition for steel plants are intangibly different from similar protests in the past.
Land acquisitions have created conditions for scattered groups of ultra-Left to mobilise and support peasants upset by the pressures of sustainable growth, because the poorest peasants and especially the tribals have been their constituency and support base.
Displacement of peasants and tribals, therefore, is the glue that binds civil society to the ultra-Left. While there is no obvious indication of a convergence of civil society action groups such as Medha Patkar's with that of ultra-Left groups, the common interest in protecting peasants from exploitation and the common identity of the enemy in the shape of the state provides a reason for an alliance that suits both sets of challengers.
The Narmada Bachao Andolan received support from radical groups that were aligned to the Maoists as well as to environmental crusaders. In Singur, in Jharkhand and in Orissa there is evidence that the two groups have no problems over working on the same turf.
For them, the newest front could be the north-eastern states, where a unity of purpose is emerging, between the strongly political and the strongly environmental, over construction of hydroelectric installations that would have a cumulative installed capacity of generating 63,328 MW of hydroelectric power.
Tutored to seeing land as a subject for either reform or acquisition and assuming that compensation would buy off the aggrieved, unwary policymakers and clueless local administrations have stepped on a minefield carefully prepared by Maoist/Naxalite groups with a 40-year history of fighting for peasants' rights.
The Naxalite movement's original strategy of encircling the cities by mobilising the villages failed and it lost momentum by the end of the 1970s. But neither the ideology nor the faith in peasant uprisings completely died out. Instead, the movement that began in the obscure village of Naxalbari in North Bengal seeded dozens of groups that are now spread over 170 of 602 districts in India.
The durability of the movement is founded on the ineluctable poverty of the majority of the rural population, which is landless or has small holdings from which even subsistence is difficult.
Seen from the surface, an apparently untroubled India is briskly growing at the rate of 10 per cent a year. Seen from down below, alongside the movement for peasants' rights, a new consciousness for human rights of the displaced has grown indigenously.
The uncertainty and anxiety that loss invariably produces has fed into the lack of people's confidence in an often callous and corrupt officialdom backed by a political class increasingly perceived as lacking integrity and principles.
Forcing change via what is perceived as alienation from land could be a wanton act of self-destruction.
While a slowdown in the pace of economic activity or a change of direction is unthinkable, ignoring the undertow would be indubitably stupid and expensive. Therefore, finding a creative political solution is the only option. Though seemingly impossible for the almost inert Indian political class, it is nevertheless a fabulous opportunity to finally grow up and step out of the cocoon that colonialism crafted
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Editorial/LEADER_ARTICLE_Landmines _Ahead/articleshow/2155244.cms
ALARMING NOTES FROM THE UNDERGROUND
The use of maximum force in dealing with the Naxalite menace is destined to fail unless it is backed by constructive development that involves the local population. The author is professor, School of International Studies, JNU
Parallel force
The districts of Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, known as the Naxal-affected belts, are areas where the scheduled tribes and castes make up more than 60 per cent of the population. Poverty is endemic in this region. The government is carrying out two types of development. The first is based on industries, mining and commercialization, and the second is linked with the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, the mid-day meal scheme and primary education. As far as the Naxal problem is concerned, the policy is to use 'maximum force'. Which of these development models and policies is working is a critical question for the future of these states and their people.
The first developmental policy regarding the increase of private investment and ownership in mining, forestry, and so on is not new. This type of development was the initial reason behind the alienation of tribals since they saw their communal methods of ownership and freedom being curtailed. As large areas are cordoned off to make mines, large dams and special economic zones, tribals are displaced and turned into migrant labour. Tribal customs, like the making of local brew from Mahua trees, have been banned and foreign liquor shops have come up. The Naxalites have thrived in such an iniquitous environment.
The second developmental model, connected with social and economic schemes, is becoming increasingly popular, although it is using only 25-30 per cent of its capacity. Recent surveys by the Right to Food Group have revealed many problems with these schemes which need correction to make them effective and beneficial to more people. Yet, these schemes work in the 'Naxal-affected' areas and because of their popularity even the Naxals support these programmes, testifying to their importance. The government argues that Naxals "impede development". But when development is positive and supported at the ground level, anyone wanting political legitimacy is forced to support it.
The Naxals work on small-time development issues like running some schools, health centres, dams, foodgrain banks, and so on. This gives them local level support, without which they would not be able to survive. The Maoists levy taxes and extort money from contractors and the locals for such work and for procuring the wide range of weapons that they possess. The level of support to Naxals in Jharkhand, where they are fast spreading, however varies.
In areas where the local population sees that significant efforts are being made by the government for improvement, the Naxals are not popular. Who would want to go to a Naxal school if the government school functioned? But in most places people are fed up with the police. Villagers say that if the Naxals come at night and want to be fed, the police invariably turn up next morning and want to be bribed. The choice then is between the "Maowadi and Khaowadi".
Anyone interested in these areas, from the local member of parliament or that of the state legislature, to contractors and businessmen, has to have some alliance with the Maoists. How else would elections be held? And how else would contracts be completed? The Naxals argue, "In our zones, anyone can pass through if their identity is clear." Maoists, in fact, no longer believe in 'liberated zones' but in 'zones of influence', where they co-exist with others and where they have parallel judicial and executive structures — the jan adalat (peoples' court) and their militia that executes. The smallest unit is the two-man village unit; then there is the area secretary and the area commander. Area decisions are taken together by the area commander and secretary. The sub-zonal committee is overseen by the zonal committee and the zonal commander. They are assisted by a local guerilla squad and a special guerilla squad. Leaders and guerilla squads do not comprise all locals. They can be from any other region. The entire party is underground.
It is known that women have functioned as supporters, couriers and leaders, but very few come up for the 'risky work'. The women's organization, the Nari Mukti Sangh, functions at all levels, including in the armed squad, where women get full military training. Most women join this movement because of poverty and some because of ideology. The major work of politicization is undertaken by them.
The police have little knowledge of the functioning, except when Naxals are caught and then named 'commander', whatever their real status. Thus the local people often suffer police brutalities as there is little to distinguish between them and the Maoists. This is especially so in Jharkhand, where the Naxals are more local.
In the meantime, the police have killed hundreds of alleged Naxalites in 'encounters'. They do not allow first information reports to be registered and give no compensation to families. The fear of the contesting militia has divided villages and caused fear and internal displacement, forcing villagers to evacuate their houses and camps, leading to unending personal tragedies.
Like the special security forces created earlier to deal with insurgency in the North-east and in Kashmir, the Salwa Judam was created in Chattisgarh. This government-sponsored force of well-armed local volunteers comprises former insurgents and the local youth. This state-armed unofficial militia has caused much harm and turned more people towards insurgency. It has helped militarize the society, where children now dream of guns, and the use of force is the accepted method of negotiation. This militia is unable to distinguish between ordinary civilians and insurgents. They see the entire community as 'enemy', similar to the 'bounty killers' who are used in all local disputes.
Many human rights groups have recorded the excesses of this militia. Such reports, however, have been ignored. Instead, journalists and activists have been branded as 'sympathizers'. Meanwhile, the Salwa Judam model is being copied in other areas like Jharkhand, where the Nagrik Rakshak Samiti or Narsu has been working along the same lines and all local sources testify to its unpopularity and criminality.
Maximum force has been officially justified because of the killing and looting by the Naxals. Local officials say that once Naxals are caught, torture is essential to extract information. Figures, however, show that the number of Naxal-related incidents has not decreased, rather the number of human rights violations by both sides have significantly increased. Further, if the incidents and violations decrease in one area they simultaneously increase in another. For example, incidents of Naxalite strikes have gone down in Andhra Pradesh, but if nine out of 16 districts were affected in Chattisgarh, 18 out of 22 districts are affected in Jharkhand today.
In these circumstances, the schemes like the NREGA are all the more important. Yet they are still to be fully implemented. The Right to Food group witnessed that while there was increasing awareness of the act, the staff to implement it was still inadequate. There were delays in wage payments, there was lack of institutional arrangements (for example, Jharkhand has no panchayat elections), a monitoring system and accountability.
The outcome is thus already quite clear. People support ideas that benefit them and involve them. The idea of development based on human rights has become rooted in the minds of the people. To deny this is to lead to more conflict on all sides.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070628/asp/opinion/story_7982241.asp
Delay in new leases hits ore miners
The delay in granting fresh leases to mine iron ore has hit the expansion plans of mining companies, both in the private sector and the public sector.
Litigation and political interference in granting fresh leases are said to be the main reasons for the delay in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Orissa and Goa, which account for the bulk of the proven iron ore reserves (13,912 million tonnes) in the country.
"Only a few mining companies have been granted fresh iron ore leases in recent years. Close to 1,000 applications for fresh mining leases are still pending before various state governments. This has badly hit the expansion plans of major mining companies," said S B Chauhan, adviser to the Federation of Indian Mineral Industries (FIMI).
The country's top two iron ore exporters from the private sector, Sesa Goa and Mineral Sales Private (MSPL), and public sector undertaking Kudremukh Iron Ore Company (KIOCL) are some of the companies whose applications for fresh mining leases are pending approval.
According to Chauhan, Orissa has not issued a fresh mining lease in the last five years. Similarly, Karnataka has frozen the processing of applications for fresh leases for the last 18 months.
It takes from one to three years for a state government to grant a fresh mining lease, which involves clearances from the forest department, revenue department and environment and ecology department. Subsequently, the Centre has to sanction concurrence.
"It is a time-consuming process. We have urged the Centre to streamline the process. The Anwarul Hooda Committee has recommended reforms in granting mining leases. Unfortunately, there is no progress in implementing the recommendations," Chauhan said.
Applications for fresh mining leases from Sesa Goa, MSPL and KIOCL are pending approval in Karnataka. However, they are unlikely to be processed quickly. The Karnataka government has constituted a judicial commission to examine allegations of nepotism in granting mining leases.
The commission sought an extension of its term to complete investigations. However, the extension was not granted after names of Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's relatives surfaced in the 'beneficiaries list'. "The government has issued clear instructions not to grant fresh lease till all issues concerned have been settled," Karnataka officials said.
KIOCL is the worst hit. The company, which had to shut its mining operations a year ago in the ecologically sensitive Kudremukh bio-reserve in the Western Ghats (Karnataka), following a directive from the Supreme Court, is relying on supplies from the National Mineral Development Corporation. The 100 per cent export-oriented company operates a pellet plant in Mangalore.
The company has applied for mining leases in the Kumaraswamy hill range in the iron ore-rich Bellary district of Karnataka. It had applied for a prospecting license in Khandadhar iron ore mines in Keonjhar district (Orissa).
However, the Orissa government is in favour of handing over the Khandadhar area to the South Korean steel giant Posco. KIOCL has questioned this in the court.
http://www.business-standard.com/smartinvestor/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu6&subL eft=11&autono=289760&tab=r
Red-buster road on PMO table
Bhubaneswar/New Delhi, June 29: A decision on 1,700km answer to the Naxalite arson across three states — the Vijayawada-Ranchi corridor — lies with the Prime Minister's Office now.
National highway status, however, eludes the dream project of chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who has been harping on this road project at every meeting of Maoist-affected states and at Prime Minister-Planning Commission discussions.
The proposed highway will pass through 12 districts of Orissa, including the Maoist-ridden Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj.
The Orissa stretch of the inter-state road will start from Motu in Malkangiri district in the south and terminate at Tiring in Mayurbhanj district in the north.
The chief minister felt that if the corridor passing through the Maoist affected states of Jharkhand, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh is constructed, it would usher in economic development in the region and thereby reduce the intensity of Left-wing extremism.
Works minister A.U. Singhdeo said out of the total 1,219km passing through Orissa, 215km would be built by the state government with World Bank assistance, while another 106km would be covered under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna.
Another 237km was proposed to be taken up by the National Highways Authority of India.
Though the state government has demanded national highway status for the project, the proposal is still pending with the Centre, the minister said.
Sources in the national capital said a detailed project report (DPR) is being prepared by the ministry of shipping and transport and the costs will decide whether the highway will be a two-lane or two-lane-with-paved-shoulders.
Implementing agency for the project will be decided when the ministry of finance and Planning Commission finalises the project, sources said.
Giving details of the progress of the 509km construction already taken up, Singhdeo said work on the Phulbani-Bhanjanagar stretch (80km) had already commenced with additional central assistance of Rs 20 crore, while tender had been floated for 64km Malkangiri-Jeypore portion, which would be opened in July 31.
For the rest 610km, tenders will be invited soon for preparation of a detailed project report, he said. Responding to a request of Tara Prasad Bahinipati, Congress MLA from Koraput, Singhdeo said the government would consider setting up an office of chief engineer at Koraput to monitor the work.
"Usually it costs anywhere between Rs 1-2 crore," said an engineer working on the project.
About 314km of the road falls in Andhra Pradesh, 197.13km in Jharkhand and the 1219km in Orissa.
The highway is ploughing funds from the respective governments of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand, the Centre and the Union rural development ministry.
The route is something like this: Vijayawada-Kodar-Khammam-Motu-Malkangiri-Jeypore-Koraput-Rayagada-Digapahandi-Aska-Phulbani-Boudhi-Deogarh-Keonjhar-Tiring-Hata-Chaibasa-Chakradharpur-Khunti-Ranchi.
Since the Naxalites are rapidly infiltrating Orissa, apart from Karnataka, security experts feel the Centre should decide on the project at the earliest and implement it fast.
"After five years, the rebels may not let you work," said an expert from Chhattisgarh working on the project.
He added that some of the stretches like from Koraput to Rayagada are heavily affected by the Naxalites and need security.
In Jharkhand, engineers working on the project disclosed that contractors have been paying the Naxalites regularly in order to progress with work.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070630/asp/frontpage/story_7995397.asp
The Maoists get bolder
New Delhi June 28, 2007: The Maoist challenge gets ever more serious. Across a broad swathe in southern, central and eastern India, spanning half a dozen states including Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand, it is clear that a well-organised extremist force has acquired the muscle to openly challenge the state and now seeks to paralyse the economic system. The last couple of weeks have seen blockades, strikes, bomb attacks on the rail and communications systems and on mining companies, and much else. Previous episodes have included attacks on armed police encampments and jails. It is time someone in the government explained what is the response to this most serious internal security challenge. So far, the modern part of the economy could ignore what was going on in the hinterland, but now the two worlds are on a collision course.
The home minister has typically said almost nothing on the subject in public—but then, few ministers are willing to face the camera when there is serious explaining to be done. Various documents put out by the home ministry have talked about the nature of the security response (more money, better equipment, new high-level posts created to focus on the problem), and of the effort to reach out to disadvantaged and alienated groups. For the easily-convinced, these make satisfying reading because the statistics are presented in such a way as to suggest that the violence is abating and that the situation on the ground is improving.
But inconvenient facts have a way of coming in the way of facile conclusions, and the events of the past fortnight should make it clear that what has been done so far by way of a response to the Maoists, is not good enough. Roughly half the districts in Chhattisgarh now face the Maoist problem. The Salwa Judum (or peace march) campaign in the state is acquiring a bad name because no one sees it as a spontaneous people's response to the Maoists; if anything, the government is rounding up tribals to make them armed activists or vigilantes, disrupting normal life in the process. And in Andhra Pradesh, the (Congress) state government's initial honeymoon with the Maoists ended quite quickly without yielding anything
Everyone knows that insurgencies take root when there is an alienated population. The tribals have been a peaceful set of people so far, but have got the short end of the stick when it comes to development. Mining contracts, for instance, may spell big money for contractors and companies, but what do they do for ordinary people in the area? State governments get substantial revenue by way of cess and/or royalty on the metals and ores extracted from the ground (and the rates have just been increased by the Centre), but little of that gets spent in the same area. Rapacious officials in the forest, police and other departments don't help matters. Perhaps the tribals are not worldly-wise enough, but that is no reason for corrupt local officials to turn the citizen-government interface into a harassment or extortion game. Extremist activity can be contained only if new revolutionary recruits become hard to find—and that is predicated on the presence of a people-friendly local government machinery and evidence of genuine development activity. In short, the Maoist challenge can be met only if alienation is addressed—and that is a challenge facing primarily the state governments concerned.
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=289312 &leftnm=4&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
State of War
New Delhi June 30, 2007: The last years have seen a dramatic rise in Naxal violence, and this week's incidents prove that little is being done to contain it.
It was a warm April afternoon. Humidity rose like a blanket from the jungles around Murkinar, a small hamlet in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh. Murkinar has two claims to fame: it has a police post on the side of the road and it is linked by a bus that plies between this hamlet and Bijapur, a nearby town.
As usual, villagers were waiting at the bus stop when the bus trundled to a stop. Suddenly, the bus stop was seething with people, mostly men holding bags. Passengers — Gond tribals with their weekly haul from the forest — were told to disembark and the men boarded the empty bus and ordered the driver to drive on.
At 3:00 in the afternoon, the police post was inhabited by constables trying to catch forty winks, dressed only in lungis and vests. No one paid any attention to the bus – until the men inside began firing at the police station with light machine guns. The Naxalites killed 11 policemen like they would shoot clay pigeons, kicked the bodies aside and loaded all the weapons and ammunition they could find into their bags. Then the bus drove off again and the Naxals melted into the forest.
This was the story narrated to Brig Basant Kumar Ponwar, Inspector General of Police, Chhattisgarh, and a veteran of Army counter-insurgency operations who is currently involved in training policemen to handle guerilla operations.
"One hundred and seventy districts over 13 states are currently under the influence of the Naxals, though in some states the pockets are small and have been contained. Our interrogations and materials obtained from raids indicate that the target of this group is to bring, by 2010, 30-35 per cent of India under their sway. In order to prevent incidents like Murkinar, India has to train at least 10,000-20,000 policemen in counter-insurgency tactics. This is no small task," he said on the phone from Bastar.
The two-day shock and awe campaign earlier this week by Naxals all over India to protest the "imposition" of special economic zones (SEZs) and the government's economic policies has had the desired effect.
Naxal actions were calculated to be conspicuous and loud. In West Bengal's Purulia district, about 50 guerrillas set fire to the station master's room at Biramdih railway station at around 1:30 am. The attack destroyed the signalling system. Biramdih — on the Jharkhand-West Bengal border — is 285 km from Kolkata. Train services between Bihar and Jharkhand, including the state capitals Patna and Ranchi, were cancelled.
In Chhattisgarh, public transport went off the roads and movement of iron ore from Dantewada district's Bailadila hills to Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh was halted. Maoists blocked interior pockets of Bastar, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Dantewada and Kanker districts by placing wooden logs on the roads. Primitive tactics? Maybe, but no one dared remove the logs.
It isn't just the intensity of the Maoist rage with the system (in their most spectacular attack on a police post in Rani Bodli, 55 policemen were killed, but what shocked the people was that some policemen who had obviously surrendered were also killed — axed to death, their decapitated heads placed neatly by the side of their bodies). It is also that they will not be ignored any more.
Over a two day-campaign, in Jharkhand alone, official estimates put the losses at around Rs 150 crore. The railways lost Rs 30 crore due to cancellation of goods and passenger trains and damage to property — in Latehar district they burnt two engines and damaged 12 goods train bogies.
Around 1,500 buses did not ply during these two days, causing a loss of Rs 1.5 crore. Trucks stood idle, leading to a loss of Rs 3 crore. Coal and iron ore production and transport was disrupted, leading to losses of around Rs 60 crore. In Jharkhand, export-import businesses had to shut down for virtually the whole week, leading to losses of Rs 5 crore. With road and rail traffic coming to a complete halt in the state, nothing could be done.
Since the inception of Chhattisgarh in November 2000, 751 civilians have fallen to the fury of the rebels. Two hundred and twenty policemen have died combating the Red Army. Development work worth Rs 200 crore has been left stranded in Bastar because no one wants to work there. Property and other losses add up to Rs 8,000 crore in six years.
Guerilla groups are territorial in their outlook. They need an area — one hesitates to call it a state — of their own. The Tamil aspiration is for Eelam. What do the Indian Maoists want?
The Maoist "state" is called Aboojhmad. Its exact contours remain a mystery. The area stretches over some 10,000-15,000 sq km — the size of Fiji or Cyprus — with inaccessible terrain encompassing the forest belt from Bastar to Adilabad, Khammam and East Godavari districts in Andhra Pradesh and including Chandrapur and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh and Malkangiri in Orissa.
Parts of this region have never been surveyed, not even by Emperor Akbar who conducted the first revenue survey in the mid-15th century. The first surveyor-general of India, Edward Everest, also failed to map the entire topography of Aboojhmad in his survey conducted between 1872 and 1880.
According to intelligence agencies, Aboojhmad houses all major establishments of the Maoists outfits including arms manufacturing units and guerrilla training. It is also a safe haven for the top guns. "The area is heavily mined and it is near-impossible for security agencies to sneak in," said a senior state police official.
Maoists are also expanding their area of operation. The growing economy of the region has increased the demand for raw materials. Chhattisgarh is the preferred destination for investments in thermal power and steel.
SAIL, Essar, Tata and Jindal are in the race to acquire the biggest coal and iron ore mining blocks. The new tactics in Chhattisgarh appear to be to establish a hold in other mining areas as well. The recent arrest of a top Maoist gun in a diamond-rich belt of Raipur district attests to this. It isn't just the forest for them, it is also mines and industrial areas.
In the bauxite-rich areas in the region they have registered their presence in Siridih and Mainpat areas of Sarguja district where aluminium majors Hindalco and Vedanta-owned Bharat Aluminium have mining facilities.
Besides opposing industries in Chhattisgarh, rebels have also hit at the state economy. Agriculture is impossible in these circumstances. Nor isthe state receiving dividends in the proportion it had estimated from forest produce. The huge budget for the region lapses unspent every year. About 30 per cent of the Rs 450 crore budget for the Chhattisgarh government's home department is spent on anti-Maoist operations.
How do the groups operate? Over the last decade, the Maoist movement has undergone a lot of mergers and acquisitions. Smaller groups have merged with bigger ones, cadres have joined rivals and while factional warfare has claimed the lives of many loyal believers, it has also prompted the Maoists to consider how best to synergise their strengths. To be sure, there is still some griping between old rivals.
For instance, the CPI ML (Kanu Sanyal) had this to say about the CPI Maoists's greatest military victory ever: "CPI (Maoist) action on 15th March at Rani Bodili in Dantewada district fully exposes its anarchist line and calls for severe condemnation. Instead of exposing, challenging and defeating the state terror by mobilising the masses, it is totally counter-productive as it has given further excuse for deploying 8,000 more para-military forces in Bastar district alone to intensify the state terror."
But by and large there is greater coordination among groups than ever before. At the 9th Congress of CPI (Maoist) held after 36 years somewhere in the forests of Orissa-Jharkhand borders in January-February this year, it decided to protest against SEZs and the setting up of industries by acquiring forest and tribal land.
In Chhattisgarh, the Maoists have already warned Tata and Essar against putting up steel plants in Bastar. The Congress, sources said, decided to extend its protests to Kalinga Nagar, Singur, Nandigram, and Polavaram (Andhra Pradesh). Some other specific projects are also in their sights: this makes the challenge all the more terrifying.
How can the Maoists be defeated — and should they be? A former district magistrate in Chhattisgarh, Shailesh Pathak recounts how he supervised the general elections of 2004 in Bastar.
"We couldn't get the electronic voting machines into Bastar because of Naxal propaganda that they'd mined the area and anyone going there would be blown up. So we launched our own counter-propaganda — that we had airborne missiles that would be able to detect Naxals from the air. I even did a couple of helicopter sorties to prove that we had a helicopter. That's how we held the election."
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that Naxals will grow where there is no development or democracy — the turnout in the general election in Bastar was 15 per cent despite Pathak — but their argument is that the economic boom has bypassed them but it is their resources that has aided it.
Ponwar's argument is military logic. "You can defeat the Naxalites militarily. What do they have, after all — explosives they have looted from the National Mineral Development Corporation godowns used for mining, some .303 rifles, LMGs and AK 47s looted from police stations? But having once liberated areas militarily, the state must demonstrate its authority. It must establish itself in these areas — because if it doesn't, the Naxals will just reclaim it."
Economist Jean Dreze's survey in Sarguja district that is under Naxal influence suggests that job-creation is an answer. Organising those who are opposed to Naxals unfortunately only renders them more vulnerable to Naxal attacks. Tribals, used to referring to the forest as their home, are now huddled in camps under RCC sheets to protect them from Naxal reprisal.
One thing is certain: no amount of coordinated police and military action is going to prevent the Naxal movement from growing. "It is not that the military challenge is strong," says Ponwar, "it is that the response is weak."
The Red battle for Orissa
One night in June, a group of armed CPI (Maoist) extremists killed a contractor at Tumikoma village and two persons at Ranigolla village in Deogarh district on the western fringe of the state.
The same night, 600 km away in Koraput, in south Orissa, suspected Maoists blasted the engine of a goods train and burnt down a part of the Padua police station. Three days later, two suspected Maoists entered the conference room of the Orissa High Court Bar Association at Cuttack and dropped bundles of leaflets there pertaining to their two-day economic blockade agitation on June 26 and 27.
The three incidents say it all — the Naxal presence which was limited to its southern tip bordering Andhra Pradesh only a few years ago has now infiltrated across the length and breadth of Orissa. It is estimated Naxals/Maoists now have a presence of some sort or other in 17 of Orissa's 30 districts, but the state government acknowledges their existence in only 11 districts.
The left-wing extremist groups have spread the menace in 11 of 30 districts by indulging in violence in the past seven years, says Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. They had mounted attacks as many as 234 times, killing 103 persons in seven years.
But Patnaik is seeking solace that this is far less compared to the mayhem unleashed in neighbouring states. In Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, in the same period, 941 and 930 people were killed; the casualty figure for Andhra Pradesh is 1,867.
According to government records, the tribal dominated Malkanagiri district in the south is the worst-hit, accounting for 43 per cent of the Naxal related incidents.
Rayagada, Sambalpur and Koraput are three other districts where CPI (Maoist) mounted 50, 27 and 20 attacks respectively in the last seven years. Most of the Naxalite attacks were reported from Malkanagiri district. Apart from Malkanagiri, other southern districts infested by the Naxal menace are Rayagada, Gajapati and Koraput.
Win some, lose some
Activists and students who went to Sarguja for a public hearing on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme recently have come back to report major improvements in the distribution of job cards, the extent of employment, the payment of wages and the quality of work undertaken.
This gives reason for hope in the possibility of making NREGP work, says economist and activist Jean Dreze who organised the hearings. Sarguja is one district not in the thick of Naxal influence and where government programmes have been allowed to run their natural course.
The most heartening finding was "a sharp decline in corruption". This is not to generalise about the state of affairs in Sarguja, for the Dreze-led group reports that the National Food For Work Programme has remained on paper. But on NREGP, says Dreze: "We found that 95 per cent of the wage payments that had been made according to the muster rolls had actually reached the labourers."
Dreze compares Sarguja with other Naxal hit areas of Chhattisgarh in this context.
"It is interesting to consider the growing contrast between this region of Chhattisgarh and the southern region (Bastar and adjoining districts)," he says.
"In the southern region, misguided attempts to suppress the Naxalite movement through brute force have led to a spiral of violence and turned large areas into a war zone. Development is the casualty. In the northern region, which is comparatively free of violent conflict, there has been a noticeable improvement in the reach and quality of public services such as drinking water, health care, elementary education and the public distribution system."
Researcher and economist of the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Tapas Sen, currently working on a report on Chhattisgarh, notes a change in the policy of the radical elements in the state.
Earlier government functionaries were not targetted but now are. Hence government programmes are a casualty in Naxal-hit areas. Doctors, for example, are held in a pincer between the government and the Naxals. Often they are forced to serve the Naxals without the knowledge of the police. They are under threat from both sides, he says. So, who wins?
http://www.business-standard.com/lifeleisure/storypage.php?leftnm=lmnu4&subLe ft=2&autono=289515&tab=r
Making of a militant
The story of the 20-year-old's arrest began with a football match.Shiv Charan Soy had walked all day to meet his sister. He arrived at the Jharkhand village just in time for a game of football the village's favourite pastime with a feast of goat meat awaiting the winners.
That evening set off a dramatic turn of events that catapulted him from being an ordinary village youth to a porter with Naxalites, to an overground worker for the rebels, eventually a police informer and finally arrested with sister Meera on charges of being a terrorist for possessing a camera flash and battery.
It is a story resonating across India. The state and guerrilla groups have ended up pushing hundreds of youths across 12 insurgency-affected states into becoming, or being called, militants.
Hours after the football match – in which Soy's team won — and the goat feast, Naxalites appeared and forcibly took Soy, his sister and seven other youths with them. Many women are also joining the rebels. "The reasons behind this could be dowry demands, oppression by in-laws, sexual assaults and the need for revenge, etc," said Jharkhand's police intelligence chief.
"They said they would take one boy and one girl from every home for their cause," Soy casually said in his video-taped interrogation. He said he soon gave it up. A year later, he helped the police find bombs buried in forests across the Jharkhand-Orissa border. But now Soy finds himself in jail on terrorism charges.
"We know he is not guilty. He actually helped us. But other officers were keen to show results, and he got sucked into the system," a police officer said on condition of anonymity.
In Ghatsila town, on Jharkhand's border with West Bengal, lawyer Deepti Singh has ensured the acquittal of 26 people including three women all imprisoned on fake terrorism charges.
"People are being blackmailed. If someone has resources, he or she is threatened into either parting with money or being labelled terrorists," Singh said.
There is a jigsaw of reasons actually: rage against Indian rule, forced recruitment by rebels, high-handedness of security forces, social discontent, unemployment, poverty, ethnic and tribal rivalries, and the promise of thrill and power for the adventurous.
Many women are also joining the rebels. "The reasons behind this could be dowry demands, oppression by in-laws, sexual assaults and the need for revenge, or the killings of a family member over property," said Gouri Shankar Rath, Jharkhand's police intelligence chief.
But there's another side too. In Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district, when 22-year-old Sunita refused to return to the jungle to resume her "duty" as a Naxalite cadre, her 55-year-old father Lapasodi was killed.
"Lapasodi was murdered by the Naxalites to send a signal to the entire region so that nobody would dare desert them. The militants are getting jittery about retaining their cadres," said local Superintendent of Police Ratanlal Dangi. Sunita fled the village.
In Chintoor in Andhra Pradesh, Firoz (28) lives in constant fear — he was forced to join the Naxalites after he offered them water in his village.
"I pleaded that my parents were old and could not take care of the fields, but they said my parents would be respected in the village if I was a Naxalite," he said.
"I know I can be killed any day by the Naxalites … but I am prepared for that," said Firoz.
And then there are those who join the rebel ranks to feel powerful. "For an unemployed man, if he gets guns, power, an aura and girls swoon over him, what else does he want?" asked a top military commander in Manipur.
M Inao (24) from the state's Thoubal district did odd jobs with a passenger bus service until four and half years ago. His father and uncle taunted him for not earning enough, so he joined a Manipur Valley-based rebel group in sheer anger. Inao was arrested in 2005, released on bail the same year, but went underground again.
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