Naxalite problem in rural India

Abstract

The seriousness of Naxalite problem in India has been expressed by not less than a Prime Minister of the country. Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in his statement in a national press conference in May 2010 had stated that Naxalism remains the biggest internal security challenge facing our country and it is imperative to control the same for the country s growth.The problem of naxalism has been continuing in this country for more than 4 decades. Over 12,000 people, including security force personnel, have been killed by Naxals in nine Left Wing Extremism-hit states (i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal) during last 23 years, i.e. from year 1993 to 2015.The Government of India claims to believe in a holistic long-term policy in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, improving governance and perception management to combat LWE (Left Wing Extremism). The salient features of government policy to deal with the Naxal problem, as outlined in the Ministry of Home Affairs Status Paper brought out in May 2006, are summarized below:(i) deal sternly with the Naxalites indulging in violence;(ii) address the problem simultaneously on political, security and development fronts in a holistic manner;(iii) ensure inter-state coordination in dealing with the problem;(iv) accord priority to faster socio-economic development in the Naxal affected or prone areas;(v) supplement the efforts and resources of the affected states on both security and development fronts;(vi) promote local resistance groups against the Naxalites;(vii) use mass media to highlight the futility of Naxal violence and the loss of life and property caused by it;(viii) have a proper surrender and rehabilitation policy for the Naxalites; and(ix) affected states will not have any peace dialogue with the Naxal groups, unless the latter agree to give up violence and arms.These salient features of the government policy (as mentioned above) constitute mainly ingredients of internal security and thus the policy is security-centric. The removal of other insecurities like land insecurity, livelihood insecurity, food insecurity and security against economic and social oppression are not being addressed properly. These issues have to be responded to fairly and justly, otherwise permanent / sustainable solution of Naxalite problem cannot be achieved.There can be 3 approaches to tackle the naxalite problem:Security centric approach,Ameliorative approach and? Combination of security and ameliorative approach. Security centric approach of dealing the naxalite problem is considering it as only the law and order problem and thereby focusing on the security measures to deal the same by strengthening security forces and machineries in naxal affected areas through creating more police posts, modernizing police force with modern arms equipments and intelligence, deployment of para military forces, carrying out operations (even to the extent of using Army and Air Force) to eliminate naxal cadres, etc. However, since naxalism is merely not a law and order problem, hence security centric approach cannot be the permanent and sustainable solution. By this approach, the naxal movement can be suppressed for a while but the same cannot be eliminated permanently. Moreover, a very large portion of rural area is infected with movement and hence it is difficult to provide security cover in these entire areas.Ameliorative approach on the other hand includes measures to address all root causes which result in the naxal problem. This includes providing land security, livelihood security, food security and security against economic and social oppression, accelerating developmental works / projects, etc. These activities require time as well as resources for their completion. Moreover, some extremist groups consider developmental activities as threat for their existence. So they obstruct the developmental activities through violence, threatening, kidnapping, extortion, etc. Hence, security cover is needed to carry out the developmental activities / projects.Thus combination of security and ameliorative approach including dialogue with naxal leaders is the only practical, sustainable and permanent solution for eliminating naxalite problem.Permanent and sustainable solution of this problem can only be achieved by taking following measures:Land related measures.Displacement and forced eviction related measures.Livelihood related measures.Social oppression related measures.Non/mal-governance related measures.Policing and State Response related measures.Universalizing Basic Social Services and facilities to Standards in naxal affected districts.Effective implementation of PESA (Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas))Discontents amongst rural people can be removed through above measures only and thereby government can win confidence of the people for coming to the main stream of the country