Date: 10/05/2023

Relevance: GS-3: Linkages between Development and Spread of Extremism.

Key Phrases: Maoism, Human Rights, Online Radicalization, Tactical Counter Offensive Campaigns (TCOCs), Permanent communication channel, Real-time information, intelligence, Criminal syndicate, anti-Naxal strategy.

Context:

• Recently, the ambush of the convoy in which 10 personnel of the District Reserve Guards (DRG) and their civilian driver were killed in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district shows that the Maoists retain the capacity to launch lethal attacks on security forces.

Key Highlights:

• The timing of the attack fits with the Maoist strategy of heightened military activity and more attacks on security forces every summer.
• The CPI(Maoist) carries out Tactical Counter Offensive Campaigns (TCOCs) between February and June every year, in which the focus of its military wing is to inflict casualties on security forces.
• This period is chosen because with the onset of the monsoon in July, it becomes difficult to conduct offensive operations in the jungles.
• Almost all major attacks by Maoists on security forces, including the 2010 Chintalnar massacre of 76 CRPF personnel, have taken place during the TCOC period.

Current LWE situation in the country:

• The influence of Maoists and associated violence has been falling consistently in the country because of multiple factors, including a stronger push by security forces in Maoist strongholds, roads and civic amenities reaching the interiors to a greater extent than earlier, and a general disenchantment with the Maoist ideology among the youth, which has deprived the insurgent movement of new leadership.
  • According to the government, Maoist violence in the country has gone down by 77% since 2010.
  • As per the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) data, The number of resultant deaths (security forces + civilians) has come down by 90 % from the all-time high of 1,005 in 2010 to 98 in 2022.
• The government has cut the number of districts declared to be Naxal-affected from over 200 in the early 2000s to just 90 now, and claims that the geographical spread of violence is actually restricted to just 45 districts.
• The presence of Naxals is said to be minimal to zero in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Odisha, Jharkhand, and Bihar, which were at one time their strongholds.
• Situation in Chhattisgarh:
  • It is the only state in the country where Maoists continue to have a significant presence and retain the capability to mount big attacks.
  • According to government data provided to Parliament, in the last five years (2018-22), 1,132 violent incidents were perpetrated by Left Wing Extremists.
    • Chhattisgarh accounted for more than a third of all Maoist-related violence in this period

Fundamental flaws in anti-Naxal strategy:

• The Maoist problem is multi-dimensional; it has social and economic aspects.
  • Unless the problem is tackled in its entirety, it is unlikely to go away.
• It is a widely accepted principle in counter-Maoist strategy that the war against Left Wing Extremism can only be won by the state police and not central forces.
  • This is because the state police have local knowledge, understand the language, and have local networks that are essential for the generation of intelligence.
  • It was through the active involvement of local police in the leading role that states such as Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand were able to end their Maoist problem.
• All these states formed special units of their police forces with personnel and officers drawn from the state, gave them special training, and won the battle with concerted security and development efforts.
  • This process started late in Chhattisgarh.
  • By this time, police of neighboring states had pushed Maoists from their states to Chhattisgarh, making it a concentrated zone of Maoist influence.
• As pointed out by an Expert group of the Planning Commission in 2008, “the development paradigm pursued since independence has always been ‘imposed’ on the tribal communities and has been insensitive to their needs and concerns”.
  • As a result, government plans have ended up in destroying their social organization, cultural identity, and resource base and generated multiple conflicts.
  • The tribals want schools and hospitals, but they neither need nor want capital-intensive plants or factories, which are inevitably accompanied by deforestation and displacement.
• There is no overall strategic plan against the Naxals.
  • States have been carrying out anti-Naxal drives according to their individual understanding.
  • Territorial domination is essential and security forces are able to achieve that, but that should be followed by the administrative apparatus establishing its network in the affected areas.

Way Forward:

• The Centre has unleashed the counter-terrorism National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the Enforcement Directorate on CPI(Maoist) cadres, leaders, and sympathizers with the aim to choke their funding.
• Both central agencies have registered multiple cases, conducted hundreds of raids, and confiscated property worth several hundred crores of rupees so far.
• The government should seriously think of applying the healing touch.
  • If it can have peace talks with the Nagas and several other insurgent outfits in the Northeast, there is no reason why it should not take the initiative to have a dialogue with the Maoist leadership.
  • This would not be seen as a sign of weakness - on the contrary, it would be taken as a magnanimous gesture.

Conclusion:

• Therefore, a conscious effort must be made to win the hearts and minds of the people.

Source The Indian Express

Mains Question:

Q. What is Left-wing naxalism? What are the major flaws in anti-naxal strategy? Suggest measures to address these issues. (200 Words).