BURKAPAL MAOIST CASE

• National Investigating Agency court in Dantewada on July 15 has acquitted 121 tribals, including a woman who was arrested in connection with a suspected 2017 Maoist attack that claimed the lives of 25 security personnel in Chhattisgarh Sukuma district.
• All the arrest persons had spent over five years in jail by the time the acquittal order came.
• The failure of the justice system again paves the way for tribes to join the rebel or the extremist or even the Maoist group.

Naxalism in India

• The Naxalism term derives its name from the village of Naxalbari in West Bengal.
• Initially, it originated as a rebellion against the local landlord who bashed a peasant over a land dispute. The rebellion was initiated in the year 1967 with the objective of the rightful redistribution of the land to working peasants under the leadership of Kanu Sanyal and Jagan Santhal.
• Starting in West Bengal this movement has spread across eastern India mainly in less developed areas of states such as Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh.
• Naxalism is considered to be one of the biggest internal security threats which India faces. The Naxal violence is related to the feeling of deprivation of the people and their commitment to take revenge against those who are believed to be responsible for such denial.
• The presence of Naxal in the country highlights the loophole in the law and order of the country, which has failed to curb the menace.
• It is considered that the Naxal support the Maoist political sentiment and ideology.

Causes of Naxalism

Gaps in the socio-economic system of the country

• The poverty and economic inequality and underdevelopment in the Naxal-affected regions.
• Indigenous tribal populations were deprived of their lands and uprooted from their traditional source of livelihood.
• Even the infrastructural problem, for instance, some villages are not yet connected properly with any communication network.

Lack of basic facilities

• Lack of basic facilities like education, freedom, sanitation, and food.
• Inequality, illiteracy, and the lack of opportunities have led the local tribes to support the naxal base.

Tribal discontent

• Forest Conservation Act 1980, deprives tribes who mainly depend on forest produce for their livelihood.
• Due to development projects, and mining operations there has been a huge displacement of tribal people from their traditional dwelling habitats.

Lack of coordination between state police and central forces

• Inadequate training and combat capability of force in the Maoism-affected state.
• The lack of institutionalized intelligence sharing between states and the Centre.

Confusion over tackling the Naxalism as a social issue or as a security threat, even the state government considers Naxalism as the central government issue and thus is not taking any initiative to fight it

The steps were taken by the Government:

• Operation Green Hunt: started in the year 2010 and a massive deployment of security forces was done in the Naxal-affected areas. Initially from the 223 districts that were affected due to Naxalism in the year 2010, the number has come down to 90 in the nine years.
• Relief and Rehabilitation policy was started by the government to bring the Naxalites into the mainstream.
• Special Central Assistance (SCA) Scheme: aims to fill critical gaps in public infrastructure and services of emergent nature in the most LWE-affected districts.

This Scheme was for 3 years 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an outlay of Rs.3000 crore.

• Security Related Expenditure Scheme: mainly to assist the States to combat LWE and the support is being given to 90 districts under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.

The government of India provides funds for Police Modernization to all the States.

Strategy to end Naxalism

• The focus must be on effective good governance in the Naxal-affected area by strengthening the law and order of the country.
• The central government needs to implement a coherent national strategy to end Naxalism.
• Even the dialogue between the Naxal leader and the government official can be a way to work out a solution.

Rehabilitation and resettlement

• There needs to be more emphasis on the rehabilitation of the tribal people who have been displaced due to the development project

Stop the political marginalization of weaker sections

• Weaker sections of the society such as the schedule castes and the schedule tribes still face huge discrimination from the upper caste, even today this downtrodden section does not enjoy participation in casting and contesting politically, making them the soft target of Naxal. So, the reservation policy must be revisited to empower them.

Removing disparity

• The socio-economic disparity and the growing distance between the rich and the poor is one of the main problems that has contributed to the growth of Naxalism, this distance needs to be filed to an extent hastily to stop Naxalism

There is a need for a holistic approach focusing mainly on the development and security-related intervention which will help in tackling the Naxalism effectively.