Table of Contents
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
- The improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Maharashtra’s North Gadchiroli that killed 15 security personnel and a driver.
- The attack scene – Dadapur Road – borders Dandakaranya and the Maoists’ Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone
MMC CORRIDOR
- This MMC corridor covers jungles in the three states and is a source of a new worry for the security forces
- A great hideout for Maoists who are running away from crackdown in Bastar (District in Chhattisgarh)
- State borders are less policed and so, Naxal movement is easy there. It is easy for them to merge with the crowd without being intercepted by the police.
NAXAL MOVEMENT
- The term ‘Naxal’ derives its name from the village Naxalbari of district Darjeeling in West Bengal, where the movement originated in 1967 under the leadership of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal.
- It refers to the use of violence to destabilize the state through various communist guerrilla groups.
PHILOSOPHICAL BACKGROUND
- Naxalites are far-left radical communists who derive their political ideology from the teachings of Mao Zedong.
- Origins – Naxalism in India, like any other leftist movement around the globe draws its ideological basis from the Russian revolution wherein Lenin successfully fought against the Czar through a combination of peasant movement and an armed struggle
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)
- The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a Maoist communist party in India which aims to overthrow the government of India through people’s war.
- In 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh referred to the Naxalites as “the single biggest internal security challenge” for India, and said that the “deprived and alienated sections of the population” form the backbone of the Maoist movement in India
COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MAOIST)
- Status – Under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act designated as terrorist organisation by the Government of India
WHAT CAN WE DO?
- During his May 2017 visit to Naxal (Maoist) hotbed Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi requested that Naxal rebels lay down their weapons and return to the negotiating table, but there hasn’t been much progress
- The few developmental programs, such as training and placement of tribal youth (under Pandit Deen Dayal Upayadhaya Grameen KaushalyaYojana) and skill development centers, are also not able to reduce the spread of Naxalism.
THE WAY OUT
- The continued immense loss of lives and resources warrants that Indian government and policymakers search for new avenues to end this war.
- One of such promising avenues can be bringing the rebels to the negotiation table by creating a holistic process of disarming the rebels, integrating them into society, and ensuring that the socioeconomic conditions are improved.
COLOMBIA MODEL
- The Colombia peace deal can provide a skeleton for developing such an approach. The Colombia peace process was signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC-EP), which ended the approximately five-decade-old civil war.
- The FARC represented the underprivileged and poor sections of Colombian society against the Colombian government. President Juan Santos initiated peace talks with the rebels and was successfully able to sign a peace deal, which has since became a blueprint for tackling any such civil war or insurgency.
COLOMBIA MAP
WHAT INDIA CAN DO?
- Comprehensive rural reform for India would include land access and use reform such as proper implementation of Schedule 5 and 9, a special rural land legal system to resolve land conflicts between government officials and tribals, and improving laws for equitable access to forest produce.
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