Naxalism

The ultra-maoist have been operating at the rate of two districts each week and their activities have gone from just nine states in November 2003 to 15 states in 2005 Naxalities are active in 15 states and 170 districts of the country stretching from areas adjoining Tarai region in Nepal to Tirupati in A.P. and from west champaran in West Bihar to Vidarbha in Maharashtra.

P.W.G and Its Role:

P.W.G is the most dominant naxalite force in India. It was formed by Kondapalli Settaramaiah (KS) on April 22, 1980. It has 54 Dallas (forest squads) in AP alone, 12 others are active in Madhya Pradesha, Maharastra, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, U.P., Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and Kerala, PWG have claimed thousands of lives besides destroying property worth crores. It has links with Pakistan based I.S.I, and Nepal Maoists. They are also, suspected to have links with LTTE for the supply of arms but intellegence dont confirm them.

P.G.A.—the formation of People Guerilla Army (P.G.A) was followed by the exposure of P.W.G. representatives to an international seminar organized by the worker party of Belguim (WPB) in Brussels. They received support from other Marxiest Leninist Maoist parties of Brazil, China, Mexico, Nepal, the Philippines and Senegal. The maoist uprising in Nepal too came as a shot in the arm for the PWG.

The PWG has remained banned in Andhra since 1992. The recent unilateral ceasefire promulgated by PWG provided respite for Civil Society. The AP government also reciprocated to it positively. This incidence was sparked by the surrender of 46 persons belonging to the Janshakti group of naxalities.

The ceasefire declared by PWG applies only in Andhra Pradesh and not in the neighbouring states and this does not represent shift in the strategy of the PWG which has stepped up militant activities in adjacent states.

There are many reasons for the rise and Growth of Naxalbari Movement (i) Mismanagement of forests is the main reason for the spread of Naxalism from just one village in W.B. to 7,000 villages in the last 38 yrs. Different Naxal groups now control 19% of India’s forest over an area two and half times the size of Bangladesh.

(ii) Growing inter and intra-regional disparities. The Naxals lure people with vulnerable livelihood, fishermen, bamboo cutters, farmers and daily labourers. By doing this the naxals have created large social base.

(iii) Tribal alienation, displacement by large projects and the government’s failure to ensure food security is the main reason in Orissa.

(iv)Over the past decade, successive governments have failed to address the problem of poverty and unemployment endemic to the region.

(v) Slack-policing, manpower crunch and lack of sophisticated weapons have adversely affected law and order.

(vi) In absence of proper industrialisation, the caste system has been reinforced and made a tool of mass mobilization. Naxalities organised the landless and marginal farmers on caste lines to take on the rich landlords. This has further disrupted the agriculture production and ultimately the economy.