Naxals killed 18 policemen

[deckingraj]

D oyou know why we are the most successful democracy in south asia?it's because we don't hide our garbage under the carpet.We know it is their and sanitizing it will take years...while forcing the media to ot report these incidents would be simpler to push our image as an internally stable country at the edge of becoming a superpower of sorts...akin to our shoving the muck under the carpet...
nobody's answerable to anybody here

I cannot agree more on this. Our media reporting these incidents is one of the many examples that shows how much our media is free but then with all due respect "most successful democracy in south asia" is a little misleading in the present context. Isn't it that Naxalism is a direct result of failure of our democracy where a large section of our own people were/are ignored and left on their own?? Isn't the fact that successful governments have used them to fulfill their own selfish interests there by further antagonizing and alienating them further? To add insult to injury even their(Naxals) own leaders have failed them miserably. Reminds me of a phrase from a book the "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga - "The two faces of Modern India - Sunny and Dark". May be i am exaggerating but if we do not solve this problem soon the day is not far when we will see Talibanization of Naxalism(beheading people is one such example).

 

[Spring Onion]

I cannot agree more on this. Our media reporting these incidents is one of the many examples that shows how much our media is free but then with all due respect "most successful democracy in south asia" is a little misleading in the present context. Isn't it that Naxalism is a direct result of failure of our democracy where a large section of our own people were/are ignored and left on their own?? Isn't the fact that successful governments have used them to fulfill their own selfish interests there by further antagonizing and alienating them further? To add insult to injury even their(Naxals) own leaders have failed them miserably. Reminds me of a phrase from a book the "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga - "The two faces of Modern India - Sunny and Dark". May be i am exaggerating but if we do not solve this problem soon the day is not far when we will see Talibanization of Naxalism(beheading people is one such example).

hey what is the exact demand of Naxals ?? i see its been there since 70s.

I heard Rahul Gandhi two days back said the same thing that its our failure to develop them which resulted in this struggle

 

[Spring Onion]

I urge some Pakistani and Bangladeshi nationlas to have a look at THIS LIST OF BOMB BLASTS IN PAKISTAN IN THE YEAR 2009....

Bomb blasts in Pakistan 2009
Mind you this is only 1 year`s bombings and killings

Guys are you are so engrossed with the india that even if someone farts in India some pak/banglas post the news here and start commenting like fart experts..

thinbk about YOUR country how can U make it better .... DONT WORRY ABOUT US..we are coping , and coping good.

you know what ? we are facing one of the most dangerouse terrorism backed by many international players whereas Naxalism is an issue which is there since many decades in India.

Come on you should accept the reality without minding it my dear.

 

[deckingraj]

hey what is the exact demand of Naxals ?? i see its been there since 70s.

I heard Rahul Gandhi two days back said the same thing that its our failure to develop them which resulted in this struggle

well that is a very complex question though it sounds very simple. To be quite honest even Naxals are confused over what they want. As i said in my previous post that they have been failed miserably by their owns leaders and this fact adds a new dimesion to the already complex political problem. Rahul Gandhi summed it up in a layman language "its our failure to develop them which resulted in this struggle". If you are interested to know details i found an article written in 2004(not sure how valid it is in present context)

Demands of the People's War (P.W.), listed under 10 categories.

I. A democratic atmosphere should be created in the State. The government should respect people's right to fight for their democratic demands.

# The government should not prevent agitations, peaceful demonstrations and meetings.
# Lift the ban on the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) P.W. and other organisations.
# Scrap the system of rewards on workers of P.W., People's Guerilla Army and other mass organisations.
# Scrap Grey Hounds, Special Security Forces, and the Special Intelligence Branch (SIB) and withdraw the Central paramilitary forces.
# Release all political prisoners.
# Scrap the system of giving acceleratory promotions and unofficial incentives to police officers who kill naxalites in fake encounters.
# Scrap the informant network in villages. The government should end the practice of winning over P.W. workers and using them as covert agents.
# Control `lumpen' gangs such as Green Tigers, Kranti Sena, Palnadu Tigers, Tirumala Tigers and Nayeem Gang.
# Order a judicial probe into all fake encounters and punish the police officers responsible.
# Lift all cases registered against workers of mass organisations and other revolutionary parties.

II. Implement reforms in the agricultural sector.

# Implement land reforms. Handover to the occupants the endowment, government, and forest land and lands belonging to landlords already occupied by people.
# Implement the Land Ceiling Act.
# Complete all pending irrigation projects. Farmers should be given irrigation facilities and supplied adequate power.
# Waive all private loans taken by the farming community to stop suicides by farmers.
# Prepare a permanent and integrated plan for tackling the drought situation.
# Scrap corporate agriculture.

III. Implement policies of industrialisation and other schemes based on local resources in place of the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies being followed now.

# Withdraw all World Bank projects and schemes supported by imperialists.
# Stop the retrenchment of workers and the privatisation of public sector enterprises (PSEs).
# Protect small- and medium-scale industries from competition by multinational companies (MNCs) and revive cooperative and other PSEs.
# Withdraw user charges on drinking water, education and health services.
# Scrap all agreements with the World Bank, MNCs and other countries.

IV. Recognise the tribal people's rights on forest.

# Announce autonomy for the tribal people.
# Implement the "1/70 Act", which provides protection against the alienation of land held by tribal people in scheduled areas to non-tribal people. Stop settling of non-tribal people in areas inhabited by tribal people.
# Initiate steps to develop and support tribal languages.

V. Form a separate Telangana State.

VI. Formulate an integrated plan for the development of backward regions of North Coastal and Rayalasseema areas.

VII. Punish those who belittle the self-respect of Dalits. Take action against police officers and upper-caste members responsible for attacks on Dalits in Karamchedu, Tsundur, Neerukonda and Vempenta.

# Provide job reservation for Dalits in the private sector.

VIII. Equal property rights for women.

# Reservation for women in the private sector.
# Stringent punishment for those who commit atrocities on women.

IX. Implement total prohibition.

X. Order a probe into the illegal amassing of wealth by officials, politicians and capitalists; corruption scandals by officials and politicians.

# Recover money from the affluent who evade taxes.

 

[DbnReaper]

well that is a very complex question though it sounds very simple. To be quite honest even Naxals are confused over what they want. As i said in my previous post that they have been failed miserably by their owns leaders and this fact adds a new dimesion to the already complex political problem. Rahul Gandhi summed it up in a layman language "its our failure to develop them which resulted in this struggle". If you are interested to know details i found an article written in 2004(not sure how valid it is in present context)

Their demands seem to be reasonable. Why are they being denied what they are seeking ?

 

[deckingraj]

Their demands seem to be reasonable. Why are they being denied what they are seeking ?

Yes their demands seems to be reasonable and that's why Naxals were/are not cosidered Enemy of State even though their activities are not less and getting barbaric day by day. Well it is a very difficult question to answer as to why their demands are not being met but let me give a shot. Please note that this is my opinion which is based on various news that i have listened/read around. I wont be able to back it with source. Though i would request senior members to correct/validate my understanding


One of the biggest problem that india faces today is that major chunk of relief(90%) which is given for upbringing of the deprived socities never reaches them because of corruption at all levels. Our policy makers were busy in making policies but never cared or bothered to ensure that people for whom these policies are being carved out are the actual beneficiaries or not. The irony here is that one of our major poiltical party lost an election becuase they gave a slogen "Shining India" where the beneficiaries of our economic progress war largely limited to Rich and Medium class. On the other hand majority of these(Naxals) people are/were illetrate, extremely poor and thus easy prey for harassment by upper caste people. Governments after Governments made big promises to get votes but never bother to fulfill those promises. Center blames states for the wrondoings and states balme center for lack of funds. This repeated rape of their hopes, exterme poverty and miserable conditions pushed them to Communism and later to violence. To add insult to injury even their leaders are not worth as they use false propaganda to encourage youths to join Naxals but are more interested in keeping the power to them than to have a solution. Also there is no unity on their demands. Different sections within Naxals have different demands. On top of that since that have subjected to violence indian govenrment has no choice but to act against them.

You can get a feel of the situation from the below given expert from an article

Indian government can not stop the growth of Naxalites through police, Salwa Judum or army. It can only do so by erasing the reasons of Naxal movement. The Naxal belt is trapped in a vicious cycle of underdevelopment and violence. The foot soldiers of the movement believe that the Naxalite movement will bring about development and prosperity. So the government can reduce people’s appeal for the movement by providing opportunities to the people of Naxal belt through sound economic and infrastructural development programmes. The 2006 status report on Naxalism made it clear that the government should address the problem in a holistic manner. That include “political security, development and public perception management fronts” A lot many measures need to be taken to make the fight against Naxalism effective. On top of this is improving governance in the affected areas by moving corrupt officials who exploit the local people. It must also be ensured that large scale projects in these areas do not lead to displacement of people, who in any case, live a life of penury.

I hope sanity will prevail in the minds of our policy makes and both center and states will work together to solve this problem which is a direct result of their flawed policies and corruption before it is too late.

 

[paritosh]

I cannot agree more on this. Our media reporting these incidents is one of the many examples that shows how much our media is free but then with all due respect "most successful democracy in south asia" is a little misleading in the present context. Isn't it that Naxalism is a direct result of failure of our democracy where a large section of our own people were/are ignored and left on their own?? Isn't the fact that successful governments have used them to fulfill their own selfish interests there by further antagonizing and alienating them further? To add insult to injury even their(Naxals) own leaders have failed them miserably. Reminds me of a phrase from a book the "The White Tiger" by Aravind Adiga - "The two faces of Modern India - Sunny and Dark". May be i am exaggerating but if we do not solve this problem soon the day is not far when we will see Talibanization of Naxalism(beheading people is one such example).

yep... seems I am not the only one who has a soft corner for these naxals...dwarfs the sorts of phoolan devi...

as far as the point of how we fare out as a democracy is concerned...
if we had a totalitarian quasi-fascist regime in place to handle the over-stressed national resources due to our enormous population ( the example of what China did comes to my mind)...we might have done what these Naxals seek to achieve...but since we chose a much more difficult path of giving the real power to individuals through popular elections and the process of empowerment being governed by supposedly educated bureaucrats through our democracy...we've chosen a successful...fair but hard to apply formula to run a nation of majority poor and agrarian people.
many did not see the fruits of democracy in their lifetimes...our govt. has wasted precious time in bringing the profits to the villages...leading these people to lose faith and believe that much can be achieved on their own...
i have always loved socialism equating it to how an ant nest works...powerless as a singularity..but immensely powerful and effective as a unit....but it's too difficult to apply.

 

[paritosh]

Their demands seem to be reasonable. Why are they being denied what they are seeking ?

they have been neglected.Who's fault?
our fault.
a short lesson in history....
prior to our independence the Mundas of Bihar had planned and executed their bit agaisnt the British in the revolt of 1857..seeing that the villagers can be a threat against their rule...the British promoted the concept of the Zamindari system...where one stooge is empowered and given the ownership of a big chunk of land...he employs labor and collects the profit from their tilled land.
It was an unfair practice to begin with...was made worse by these Zamindars who introduced the concept of "bandhua mazdoor" or bonded labor...
these fat zamindars were big supporters of the Baltani rule...for obvious greed....mahatma Gandhi knew that the key to governing India lied in it's villages with these most down-trodden of our lot...and he made these villagers join the nationalistic struggle to gain theirs as well India's independence.
These Mazdoors were staunch supporters of the freedom movement...simply because they knew that after the British were gone..they would till their lands and make their own money.

we got our independence...we had the Kashmir issue to settle along with numerous other boundary and other political issues...not to mention that our coffers needed money...and that we had more people than we could have ever handled with the size our industrial base....what happened to the Zamindars and the mazdoors?
they sadly still existed.
The GoI forgot...how to deal with this gargantuan problem.We had influences from China...Chairman Mao influenced the some of the thinkers if Bengal who were concerned about the state of these powerless poorest of the poor...they instilled the seeds of communism in these villages(communist parties existed in India since the birth of the first Comintern)
and we had a political movement for the actual abolishment of the Zamindari system...
what happened next?
we got more babus...and corruption only grew...the Zamindars thought of more creative ways of fooling the system...for example after the act was passed where the ownership of a land by one man, bigger than a preset threshold was banned...Zamindars registered bigger lands in the name of their family members...
We had an armed rebellion...

even today many Naxals use arrows and sticks to fight.
The govt has done too little and too late.
but I don't support an armed struggle for anything.these Naxals would be exterminated sadly...but it is all a big mistake....and it's all our fault.

 

[IBRIS]

Anti-Naxal offensive to begin in 11 places

India’s bloody battles against the Maoists will be fought in eleven theatres along borders of Naxal-infested states like Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand besides smaller, simultaneous operations through the vast swathe of dense jungles that the Maoists call the Red Corridor.

India has 2.5 million people living under the shadow of the about 5,600 well-trained and equally well armed Naxals. “This is their fighting core besides thousands of militia,” a senior security officer said.

The government expects to wipe out the military component of the Naxals between 12 to 36 months. Already, there are reports of the Maoists moving deeper into jungles — and their leaders into strongholds like the Ambujmarh jungles of Chhattisgarh — in anticipation of the onslaught.

The anti-naxal surge cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Thursday plans to clear the forests of the heavily armed naxal cadre and deliver a heavy dose of development that will bring schools, health services, police stations and road building exercises.

“We hope that literally within 30 days of security forces moving in and dominating the area, we should be able to restore civil administration there,” Home Secretary G K Pillai declared on Friday.

But this exercise could be painfully slow and cost hundreds of lives. India has 223 districts under naxal influence, only half of them witness naxal violence.

The government has a Rs 7,300 crore infrastructure development plan for naxal-affected areas under various schemes. Pillai expects to spend nearly Rs 1,000 crore on the naxal-infested regions this year.

Senior government sources told HT that the home ministry had received support from the CCS on taking the naxal battle to the next level, into naxal strongholds like the forests of Bastar where the naxal writ runs.

While state police forces assisted by the central forces would carry out operations in their respective areas, the home ministry has drawn up a heavy plans to dominate the eleven tri-junctions and bi-junctions - inter-state borders between two or three states like Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.

To begin with, six districts of four states — Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Maharashtra — have been selected to implement the action plan.

Over the next few weeks, the government hopes to raise the additional strength of central security forces to 35,000 personnel who would clear out territory and hand them back to a mix of paramilitary and state armed police personnel.

Anti-Naxal offensive to begin in 11 places- Hindustan Times

 

[IBRIS]

Maoists ready for talks with Bengal

For the first time in 11 months since the tribal movement began in Lalgarh, the Maoists on Friday said they were ready to speak to West Bengal government , but linked to a series of conditions including release of Maoists, and ceasefire but ruled out laying down of arms.

“We are ready for a discussion but the government should first declare ceasefire followed by us,” Maoist leader Kishenji said from an undisclosed location.

“The government will also have to unconditionally release all prisoners they have arrested from the time when the joint operation started ...,” he said.

Maoists ready for talks with Bengal- Hindustan Times

 

[booo]

Maoists ready for talks with Bengal

For the first time in 11 months since the tribal movement began in Lalgarh, the Maoists on Friday said they were ready to speak to West Bengal government , but linked to a series of conditions including release of Maoists, and ceasefire but ruled out laying down of arms.

“We are ready for a discussion but the government should first declare ceasefire followed by us,” Maoist leader Kishenji said from an undisclosed location.

“The government will also have to unconditionally release all prisoners they have arrested from the time when the joint operation started ...,” he said.

Maoists ready for talks with Bengal- Hindustan Times

same happend with AP' govt. They used the cease fire to strengthen themselves by joining forces with others ststes and renaming themselves as maoists.
rules should be simple.
1. they should put down their weapons
2. anyone guilty of murder etc... should face the trial.

 

[deckingraj]

yep... seems I am not the only one who has a soft corner for these naxals...dwarfs the sorts of phoolan devi...

Soft corner...yes Sir my heart goes out for these poor/deprived people who are being sandwithced between power hungry corrupt people(Govt and their own leaders)

as far as the point of how we fare out as a democracy is concerned...
if we had a totalitarian quasi-fascist regime in place to handle the over-stressed national resources due to our enormous population ( the example of what China did comes to my mind)...we might have done what these Naxals seek to achieve...but since we chose a much more difficult path of giving the real power to individuals through popular elections and the process of empowerment being governed by supposedly educated bureaucrats through our democracy...we've chosen a successful...fair but hard to apply formula to run a nation of majority poor and agrarian people.
many did not see the fruits of democracy in their lifetimes...our govt. has wasted precious time in bringing the profits to the villages...leading these people to lose faith and believe that much can be achieved on their own...
i have always loved socialism equating it to how an ant nest works...powerless as a singularity..but immensely powerful and effective as a unit....but it's too difficult to apply.

Again i agree with you conceptually. I will choose democracy over socialism any day and you have very beautifully mentioned the reasons above. However the point where i disagree with you is your earlier comment where you suggested that "we are the most successful democracy in south asia". With lot of pain i have to say we are a flawed democracy in various aspects and its been 62 years which by no means can be consider a small time frame. Where i see from India lacks a real leader... a visionery one who can bring us back to what should a true democracy. Please don't get me wrong i have lot of respect for Mr. Manmohan Singh but then he is not a politician..

I know its difficult to see the fruits of democracy in your lifetime but not impossible and we do have the potential for that. I guess time to buckle up for so called elite india to bring our own people from the so called dark world of india and show them her sunny side and immense growth potential that she have for them

 

[Nemesis]

I do not have sympathies for Naxals anymore. In the 70s, the naxalite movement was primarily a student oriented uprising in Calcutta. They may have made mistakes but however they were trying to bring real changes in Bengal. But these new generation of "naxals" have forgotten their ideology and now are nothing more than goons. It is ironic that the people that they claim to represent are their biggest victims. What's the difference between them or the hired goons of the landlords aka Salwa Judum? Nothing.

However, let me change a certain misconception of people here. The Naxals are not terrorists. They are political dissidents and the only way to deal with them is not through violence but through improving the economic conditions of the people they claim to represent. The widening of the divide between urban and certain parts of rural India is the primary reason for their influence.

seems I am not the only one who has a soft corner for these naxals

Soft corner for the student revolutionaries of the 70s yes, but not for these people.

 

[deckingraj]

same happend with AP' govt. They used the cease fire to strengthen themselves by joining forces with others states and renaming themselves as maoists.
rules should be simple.

1. they should put down their weapons

Agreed . However it seems to be simple rule but wont let you anywhere unless you hit the nail at the right place. In other words solve the problems that they are facing. The phycology that they have is that its only the arms that can give them any parity with so called upper caste of india. Break this phycology and you will will the war against Naxals.

2. anyone guilty of murder etc... should face the trial.

Agreed. Though we should add a clause here that we will ensure all those corrupt people who have exploited them, killed them, raped them and whatnot will face trial as well.

 

[Nemesis]

Agreed. Though we should add a clause here that we will ensure all those corrupt people who have exploited them, killed them, raped them and whatnot will face trial as well.

In that case, the entire Chattisgarh government should be on trial. They are no better than the Naxals. Actually, as they were elected by us, they are probably worse.