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Posted: 22 May 2012 12:20 AM PDT
Chidambaram is a man in an hurry these days ? Looks like the Indian Army will after all be deployed in 2013. Read Analysis of the situation in 2012.
Chidambaram's days as the Home Minister are numbered, in a few months time he could join Kobad Ghandy in Tihar Jail. That probably explains some of the urgency, he probably want's the Indian Army to babysit his paramilitary troops while he cools his heels in Tihar jail. Chidambaram floats new plans to fight 'losing battle' against Maoists India is fighting a losing battle against Naxalism, urgent measures are required to turn the tide, and the attitude of some state chief ministers is not helpful in anti-Maoist operations. This emerged from a closed-door meeting chaired by Home Minister P. Chidambaram and attended by senior officials of the ministry, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and heads of central paramilitary forces. Home secretary R.K. Singh was also present at meeting, held in the minister's conference room last week. Chidambaram was candid in his assessment that states like Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand were not cooperating in the fight against Naxalism and their chief ministers were not helpful. Even Bihar CM Nitish Kumar had his political compulsions in not taking on the Naxals, the home minister said, expressing his frustration at not being able to get his forces to carry on the anti-Naxal operations effectively. Ministry sources said that with rising casualties among security forces, fewer men were being deployed for the anti-Maoist operations. The minister was keen on the idea of bringing in the army in the Naxal-affected areas. He felt that patrolling duties and securing vital installations could be handed over to the army while the paramilitary forces and state police could carry on the operations. While the officials have been told to prepare a note for the cabinet committee on security, it is unlikely that Chidambaram's proposal will get support from Defence Minister A.K. Antony. Those who were privy to the deliberations said among the suggestions were having a director general (law and order) posted by the MHA to the states for such operations since many state DGPs have cited reservations on certain operations against the Naxals if they are not cleared by the CM. The idea may stem from having a senior official on the ground to supervise anti-Naxal operations. But given the resistance from the states to his proposal of a National Counter Terrorism Centre, it is unlikely that Chidambaram's new ideas will find favour from regional satraps in the states. Source : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/chidambaram-anti-maoist-operations-naxalism/1/189751.html   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 21 May 2012 11:14 PM PDT
Veteran Bollywood actor Om Puri, who drew flak for his controversial comments against parliamentarians, landed himself in another row by calling naxals "fighters not terrorists". The 61-year-old actor who is here to shoot for Prakash Jha`s ‘Chakravyuh’, said naxalites were fighters who did not trouble the common man. Puri said that naxalites kidnapped Sukma district collector, Alex Paul Menon, because he supported the social system against which they are fighting.  "They (naxals) are not terrorists because they don`t resort to irresponsible acts of terror by planting bombs on streets. Naxals are fighters who fight for their rights. They don`t harass the common man and the poor," Puri told reporters here last evening. It is not for the first time that the actor has landed himself in trouble. He was slapped with a privilege motion after making derogatory remarks against politicians at Ramlila maidan during Anna Hazare`s campaign for Jan Lokpal in August last year only to apologise later. Source : http://zeenews.india.com/entertainment/and-more/om-puri-lauds-naxals-calls-them-fighters_111616.htm   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 21 May 2012 10:54 PM PDT
In this video renowned filmmaker Anand Patwardhan, Ratna Pathak Shah, IPS Sudhakar Suradkar and CPI's Prakash Reddy talk about Kabir kala Manch and what their songs mean to them. Jai Bhim Comrade a documentary film by Anand Patwardhan on the continuing atrocities inflicted on Dalits and on their resistance to this through poetry and music, recently won a National Film Award. On the 19th of April the government of Maharashtra further honoured the National awardees, and Anand Patwardhan received Rs.51,000 for Jai Bhim Comrade. A different fate is currently being faced by members of the Kabir Kala Manch (KKM) who feature prominently in the film Jai Bhim Comrade. While Deepak Dengle is in prison, many other members including lead singer-poets Sheetal Sathe, Sagar Gorkhe, Ramesh Gaichor and Sachin Mali and a few others have gone underground after threats from the police. All are all charged with being Naxalites and the ATS is using an uncritical media, like the Indian Express, to plant regular allegations against KKM. Even these allegations do not accuse the KKM of any violence, but is dependent on guilt by association. It is not so long ago that Dr. Binayak Sen was similarly charged and jailed for close to 3 years before the Supreme Court intervened to grant him bail. Binayak Sen had by then become an international cause célèbre. It was hoped that his release on bail would put a brake on the targeting of innocent civilians for the mere "crime" of taking up the cause of the poor. The attack on KKM shows that this is not the case and consequently many Indian citizens have decided to initiate a Kabir Kala Manch Defense Committee.Anand Patwardhan will donate the Rs.51,000 he received from the government of Maharashtra towards this committee and will be amongst the several speakers at the Press Conference. Visit http://kabirkalamanch.wordpress.com for updates.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 21 May 2012 10:56 PM PDT
The CMAS has ejected Savarna Colonizers from Avarna lands for now, but is this campaign sustainable ? Odisha: CMAS occupies non-tribal land More than 500 members of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh (CMAS) on Sunday morning physically occupied land of non-tribal people in Bandhugaon of Koraput district, which they claimed originally belonged to their fathers and forefathers. The CMAS members ploughed around 45 acres of arable land by hoisting red flags in Kumbhariput near Bandhugaon. CMAS members and their sympathisers alleged that the non-tribal people had earlier encroached these lands of innocent tribals by offering them liquor. The tribals marched with traditional weapons and encroached around 20 acres Dhusuraguda village and 12 acres of land in Tikarapada village respectively. Three days ago, CMAS members had also re-occupied 72 acres of land in village Dasini under Bandhugaon block. Source: http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=33833   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 21 May 2012 10:40 PM PDT
AK-47s continue to be the preferred assault weapon for the country's paramilitary forces deployed to neutralise terrorists and Maoists at the frontiers and in the hinterland.
Source : http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/over-29-000-ak-47s-procured-for-paramilitary-forces-213293Over 29,000 pieces of this Russian-origin rifle were imported by forces like CRPF, BSF and NSG over the last three years, leaving behind, by a large margin, other sophisticated assault weapons procured from the US and Israel. The inventory of the assault weapons procured for security forces, including ITBP, CISF and Assam Rifles, during 2010-2013 show that while 29,260 pieces of the 'AK' series were procured, only 17,609 units of other weapons in this category like X-95 and SIG were imported. While the Central Reserve Police Force, deployed extensively in the country for anti-Naxal operations procured 18,000 AK-47s, the Central Industrial Security Force guarding Indian airports got 7,921 pieces and the Sashastra Seema Bal securing borders along Nepal and Bhutan got 2,719 units. The Sino-India border guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police procured 620 pieces of these 'Avtomat Kalashnikova' (AK) rifles. "The AK series rifles are still the best in terms of use and adaptability for Indian security forces personnel. Be it any domain of combat operations like anti-Maoist or counter-terror operations, this weapon has delivered good results," a senior security official said. With the advent of new technology and new dynamics of combat, the country's security establishment has also imported other modern variants of assault rifles. So while the CRPF got 6,382 pieces of X-95 for its troops in Maoist operations, the elite National Security Guard (NSG) got 675 pieces of the Swiss-make SIG assault rifles.
The security forces, through the Union Home Ministry, procured the AK-47s from Bulgaria while the X-95s are procured from Israel. Among the other weapons that these forces procured during the same fiscals are MP-5 guns from Heckler and Koch (Germany), Carbine machine guns (Storm) from Beretta (Italy) and Glock Pistols from Hong Kong and Austria. Related News CRPF gets Israeli Assault Rifles to combat Maoists http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/crpf-gets-israeli-made-assault-rifles-to-fight-maoists/1/158962.html   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 21 May 2012 10:30 PM PDT
US$ 2 Billion package for connecting 6,000 habitations in 78 Maoist-hit districts.
The Centre has initiated the process to connect all tribal habitations and villages in border districts with roads under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The Union Cabinet, at a meeting on Thursday, also approved a Rs. 8,500-crore special package for connecting 6,000 habitations in 78 Left wing extremist-affected districts and entrusted the Union Ministry of Rural Development with the job of preparing the estimates for the two projects. Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs Minister Kishore Chandra Deo underlined the problems of the tribals who lived in scattered habitations of less than 250 people, and hence were still deprived of road connectivity. The Cabinet directed Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh to conduct a survey to establish the number of such habitations in all the Schedule V areas that needed to be covered, and prepare the estimate for taking a final decision on extending this basic facility to the tribals living in remote forests and hills. Similarly, the Cabinet was sympathetic to the problems of the people residing in villages in border areas that Union Road Transport and Highways Minister C.P. Joshi batted for. The Ministry of Rural Development will study all the 362 border blocks located along Pakistan, China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Mr. Ramesh has ordered a survey to establish the number of villages under the two categories, and the money that would be required to construct roads under the PMGSY, the allocation for which has been raised to Rs. 24,000 crore for the current financial year. To cope with the problem being faced by over six States, which have completed their PMGSY targets, the Ministry of Rural Development is evolving new guidelines to put PMGSY II in place, to provide them funds which have, obviously, been stopped. The Ministry of Rural Development intends to address the concerns of Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Nagaland and Rajasthan, by allowing upgradation of rural roads on a cost-sharing basis. While the Centre favours a 50:50 sharing arrangement, the States were willing to meet 25 per cent of the expenditure, and want the Centre to foot the remaining 75 per cent of the cost. In contrast, Bihar was allocated funds after a gap of two-and-a-half years, after resolving the irritants that had stalled the sanction of projects and resources. In the first tranche, Rs 915 crore has been provided for construction of 1,900 km of roads in seven LWE districts of Aurangabad, Gaya, Jehanabad, Arwal, Jamui, Rohtas and Nawada. For the remaining 31 districts, the Ministry is likely to sanction the proposals received for constructing 1,350 roads and 96 bridges, totalling 3,840 kms, at an estimated cost of Rs. 2,440 crore. Accepting Mr. Ramesh's rider, no Central agency will be engaged in the construction of rural roads. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has agreed to appoint engineers to strengthen the State rural roads works department. Source : http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-05-18/news/31765599_1_maoist-hit-rural-roads-naxal-hit-districts   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 11 May 2012 11:58 PM PDT
India’s Anti-Maoist campaign faces training deficiencies, threatens Army strength
By Jonathan Dowdall, Brussels, Belgium – 4 May 2012 A programme of planned offensives waged by India’s Maoist insurgents, including the 23 April high-profile kidnapping of a senior government official, are increasingly overwhelming India’s under-trained and under-equipped security forces. “Overall, the situation is grim due to systemic failures in training and procurement for these forces,” Medha Chaturvedi, a Research Officer at the New Delhi-based Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, (IPCS) told DefenceReport. Between 10 thousand and 40 thousand armed cadres operated by the loosely organised Communist groups, known as “Naxalites,” currently oppose New Delhi rule. They are often supported by local political and militia forces and are estimated to directly govern an area equivalent to 40 thousand square kilometres (25 thousand square miles). According to official figures, fighting between Naxalite guerrillas and state security forces has killed at least four thousand people since 2007. In the same time period, almost 10 thousand attacks were attributed to Naxalite activity. That campaign has also focused on assassinating government officials. The 28 April killing of a district official in the central Indian region of Telangana has led police officials to issue a directive warning all government officials and public representatives to avoid travelling through Naxalite territory. With the Indian Army recently being called on to back-stop hard pressed police units, sources say the anti-Naxalite struggle also threatens to drain the military preparedness of the world’s largest all-volunteer army. Regional analysts like Medha Chaturvedi describe the dense jungles of the Eastern Indian States as being an accelerant to insurgency, allowing Naxalite forces to operate with impunity despite the deployment of up to 50 thousand security personnel to oppose them. Successful anti-Naxal operations in these states, they say, have been few – in between periods of Maoist domination. Tackling the Maoist insurgency is the task of paramilitary formations such as the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Augmented by local state units, the CRPF regularly undertakes operations against Naxalite C2 (command and control), conducting search and destroy missions deep in jungle territory. Counter-Maoist expert Varun Vira calls these operations a “military centric response.” They are supported by military hardware such as drones and helicopters and span wide areas. During 2009 and 2010’s Operation Green Hunt in Chhattisgarh state, some 20 thousand troops participated. Yet, these forces lack the expertise to effectively locate and destroy Naxalite fighters. “The biggest threat is the number of vacancies for trained counter insurgency operations personnel,” Chaturvedi explained. Lacking advanced operational expertise, CRPF and other local formations are often ill-suited for coordinated jungle operations. This is not for lack of equipment. The Indian Homeland Security budget for 2012 is an estimated USD 12 billion (GBP 7.4 billion), with the fight against Naxal-terrorism assigned USD 1.5 billion (GBP 1 billion). An Indian defence sector source also confirmed to DefenceReport that Indian paramilitary forces have recently purchased at least six military mine resistant ambush protected (MRAP) vehicles this year – the first order of its kind and a significant capability boost to Indian counter-insurgents. However, such resources are under-utilised due to a lack of training. A former senior ranking officer in the Indian Army also told DefenceReport that there are critical skill gaps within anti-Naxalite forces. There are gaps in training when it comes to applying force against hostile armed opponents, and with respect to handling communications and identifying and avoiding Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), the former officer explained. When contacted by DefenceRport, the CRFP declined to comment on its training schemes in Eastern India. Penetrating the Maoist jungle In response to these challenges, the Indian Army has been called upon to back-up overwhelmed local forces. According to an early April report published by Delhi’s Asian Age, the Indian Government has for the first time deployed Indian Army personnel to run a jungle warfare training school in the heart of Naxal-contested territory. The Indian armed forces, which have an estimated USD 41 billion (GBP 25.5 billion) annual defence budget, are logically placed to counter the anti-Naxalite campaign. However, there has recently been reason to doubt the effectiveness of such military support. Local media reported that, in January 2012, a combined-arm seek and destroy operation by Indian Army Heron UAVs and MI-17 helicopter mounted forces in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh almost ended in disaster, when previously undetected Maoists nearly downed the assault team. According to military sources, the cause of the scare relates to the inability of the Heron UAV’s infra-red synthetic aperture radar to penetrate the thick jungle foliage of the Naxalite territory. The Indian Army recently announced plans to purchase an additional 50 of the Israeli made drones, at a cost of USD 220 million (GBP 136 million), to augment its existing fleet of 12. Paramilitary forces are also accused of using excessive force during anti-Naxal operations. Maoist sources in Chhattisgarh state say paramilitary forces undertook widespread looting during March 2012’s “Operation Haka” and detained civilians without trial. DefenceReport was unable to reach Chattisgarh state officials for comment on these reports. Indian Army’s real internal security challenge Naxalites are operating in some of the world’s most impoverished and politically disenfranchised geographic regions. According to a 2009 Economist report, in the Naxalite-held Dantewada district, 1,161 villages have no medical facilities and 214 have no primary school while the average literacy rate is lower than 20 percent. This, experts say, has given the Maoist insurgency a socio-economic motivation. In addition, large amounts of the Government’s USD 27 billion (GBP 17 billion) employment and socio-economic support dispatched from New Delhi is misappropriated at the state and district levels. This, say experts, only serves to reinforce the Naxalite’s violent methods and its broader anti-government message. It is a political situation that has only served to complicate any potential strategic solution to India’s internal security issues. Additionally, as that strategic burden increases, Indian Army troops will not have counter-insurgency training to fall back on anytime soon, adding further cause for concern over the nation’s internal security strategy – a weakness many would agree it shares with its regional neighbours. Source : http://defencereport.com/indias-anti-maoist-campaign-faces-training-deficiencies-threatens-army-strength/   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 12 May 2012 12:04 AM PDT
Season III of Truth vs Hype begins with an exclusive investigation into the abduction of Jhina Hikaka, the tribal MLA from Odisha's backward and Naxal - affected Koraput district. Was Hikaka abducted so that the Naxals could free their colleagues, or did a secret deal go wrong between Odisha's ruling party and a group described as a Maoist front organisation? From his mountain hideout, one of Odisha's most wanted outlaw's confirms the explosive truth behind the shaming of an elected MLA. The video includes an interview with Nachika Linga, the former bonded labourer who has now emerged as the leader of the Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh. Watch the Video on the NDTV Website http://www.ndtv.com/video/player/truth-vs-hype/truth-vs-hype-jhina-hikaka-the-inside-story-of-an-abduction/231392   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 11 May 2012 11:26 PM PDT
By K. SRINIVAS REDDY Prolonged captivity of hostages & perceived helplessness of government have adverse impact on psyche of society Maoists may be patting themselves on their back for forcing the Chhattisgarh and Odisha governments to give into their demands in exchange for those abducted by them, but kidnap as a tool of revolutionary warfare could prove to be counter-productive to them. The prolonged captivity of hostages and the perceived helplessness of the government, which fears for the safety of the hostages, have an adverse impact on the psyche of society. Typical is the societal response to the hostage crisis recently witnessed in Chhattisgarh and Odisha. Barring a vociferous intelligentsia, civil rights activists and select representatives of political and bureaucratic circles of the States concerned, the other sections of society have not reacted to the evolving crisis. ‘Silent sanction' The Andhra Pradesh experience, however, shows this silence often metamorphoses into a ‘silent sanction' being accorded to the State for all the extra-judicial acts it commits while trying to toughen its stand against the hostage-takers subsequently. It is this ‘silent sanction' that emboldens the security forces to resort to actions beyond what they are expected to do. And they get away with it too. The case of Andhra Pradesh would perhaps be the best example of how kidnap as a strategy is a failed experiment for Naxalites. The State witnessed many abductions in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The demands made after such rampant abductions could broadly be categorised into: release of arrested or convicted cadres; production of missing cadres (believed to have been killed or arrested by police); permission for public meetings and construction of demolished ‘stupams' (monuments). First kidnap in A.P. The first kidnap in Andhra Pradesh was reported on September 6, 1984, when Naxals took away a senior revenue official at Addateegala of East Godavari district and demanded the release of Perumalla Devudu, a central organiser. A panicked government conceded the demand and the official was set free the next day. Then came the historic kidnap of seven IAS officers in Gurtedu of the same district on December 27, 1987. Immense pressure The abduction of senior bureaucrats led to immense pressure on the government, which was forced to concede the demand of releasing of jailed Naxalites, including Wadkapur Chandramouli, then a division committee secretary, who later rose to be a member of polit bureau. (He was later killed in 2006). With civil liberties leader K.G. Kannabiran holding negotiations, the hostages were released only after the jailed Naxal leaders were handed over to them. So intense was the pressure on the government that it had not allowed the NSG commandos despatched by the Centre to take any action to free the hostages. In 1989 Though there was a lull for the next two years, abductions began in 1989 again, due to an unstable political scenario as the NTR government was to face elections. In June 1989, a mandal parishad president Malhar Rao was abducted and shot dead when the government failed to produce two missing Naxalites — Gopagani Ilaiah and Burra Ramulu. Then came the liberal period during the chief ministership of M. Channa Reddy and kidnaps continued. The most notable was that of legislator P. Sudhir Kumar after a daring raid on his house in the centre of Hyderabad. A stunned government had no other go but to release senior most leader Nemaluri Bhaskara Rao and two others in exchange for Sudhir Kumar. In 1993, tribal legislator P. Balarau and IAS officer Srinivasulu were abducted in the Visakhapatnam agency area and a Naxal leader Kranti Ranadeo was released in exchange. The Naxal leadership indeed revelled in the successes and even justified the ‘kidnap' tactic and termed it a form of struggle. As kidnaps continued, society had more or less viewed it as a problem concerning the ruling party, the police and Naxalites, but never intervened. Vexed with the soft attitude of the governments, the police did act on their own in August 1989. When two policemen were abducted in Karimnagar, the police responded by organising the counter-kidnap of civil rights activist Balagopal by a supposedly civil vigilante group — ‘Praja Bandhu.' Naxalites released the constables and Balagopal too was let off. Dangerous fallout The most dangerous fallout of the overuse of this tactic was to be felt after the Congress government proscribed the People's War Group on May 20, 1992. The police forces let loose a reign of terror and there was not even a murmur of protest from people even when those arrested were shot dead in full public view in what came to be known as ‘encounters.' Peculiar was the societal response to the police behaviour. While there was no protest against any ‘encounter killings' of people believed to be Naxalites, people turned up in thousands and even attacked police stations whenever there were custodial deaths in which innocent people were tortured to death. Perhaps, by observing this dichotomous trend, Maoists had then announced that they indeed erred in treating kidnap as a tactic and even considering it as a form of struggle. Will history repeat itself now in Central India? It remains to be seen. Source : http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3391025.ece   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 02 May 2012 10:46 AM PDT
In Singaram village of Dantewada Chhattisgarh 19 innocent tribal were murdered by State appointed SPO's. The motive behind killings was to clear the land for mining corporations. The Vanvasi Chetna Ashram took the case to Chhattisgarh High Court, but has received no justice so far, instead it's office was bulldozed under CRPF supervision by the Government of Chhattisgarh.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZzhVurwnD0 On 8th January 2009, the Salwa Judum and police gunned down 19 villagers in Chhattisgarh claiming they were Naxals. Here is the villagers account of what happened. Kopa Kunjum, a tribal activist who brought this story to the fore was arrested on false charges of murder later that year. With English Subtitles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0inAy1DvxVo Related Links http://kopakunjam.wordpress.com/ http://www.tehelka.com/story_main50.asp?filename=Ws300911Chhattisgarh.asp   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 02 May 2012 10:22 AM PDT
Union Minister for Rural Development Mr Jairam Ramesh elaborates on the GOI's strategy to win the hearts and minds of the rural population at the inaugural function of the PMRDF.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWeBJxDpTOw Related Videos PMRDF-Speech of Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Hon'ble deputy Chairman Planning Commission http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E68yt0th-QE PMRDF program Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo, Hon'ble minister for PR & Tribal Affairs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRVJq5Icmmo   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 02 May 2012 09:56 AM PDT
By: RAMA BIJAPURKAR It is time to let social scientists take the floor to understand the many maladies afflicting India India has a deeply entrenched knowledge caste system. ‘Science’ is superior to ‘arts’, ‘quantitative’ better than ‘qualitative’; oncology and computer science will benefit the country more than sociology or psychology. Economics is superior to other ‘arts’ because it is quantitative. Consequently even the most pressing problems of national character and society and polity are sought to be solved by technofixes or higher GDP growth rate or understood by some set of quantitative indicators like vote shares or infrastructure outlay or poverty statistics using different measures. Seriously addressing such problems, however, requires rising above the caste system and getting social science disciplines to urgently work on them, or else they will rot the foundations of the country. We need them to urgently put into the public discourse a deep understanding of the real nature of social problems our country is facing, their inter-linkages, seriousness, and possible solution spaces. Citizens need to think about these from their respective vantage points. Social scientists already working on them must be given wider platforms that will amplify their messages. As one prominent business media person said reflectively at a function of the Bombay School of Sociology, “I have had several socialites and socialists on our channel but never really had a sociologist on it”. A few worrisome things are happening. The “if I have a hammer, everything is a nail” school of problem-solving must stop. The techno brigade believes that it can end poverty, identity politics and corruption with one technofix. The innovation brigade feel that they can solve unemployment, income inequality, and promote an economic powerhouse with support to commercialise innovation; and the corporate brigade feel that they can solve everything with market friendly economic reform, stimulating the consumption-investment cycle. As a housewife once said in a group discussion on health, “I know where to go if I have a problem with my heart or bones or stomach. But I really don’t know where to go when I am just not feeling well.” Who do we turn to when our country is just not feeling well? Perhaps it is the changes in values that drive our thought and action which need to be understood, perhaps different institutions we have are working with different dominant logic and hence pulling in different directions, perhaps we are looking through the economy lens rather than through the lenses of society, people or national character at all our social problems and hence are not being able to solve them. We need to urgently seek out those who can discuss these issues in a conceptually sound, intellectually disciplined and broad based way and tell us what ails us as a people, a nation, a society, in our hearts and minds and lives. This is not a job that can be done by journalists, many of who bring brilliant abilities to synthesise but limited conceptual depth to such issues or by business leaders with unidimensional perspectives. This isn’t even a job that can be done any more by our politicians at the Centre who are typically ‘one constituency as stock option’ members of the family firm, and not people who have had a whole lot of grassroots experience and therefore, a well developed understanding and ability to read what aam janta is thinking and feeling. Elections for them are about mergers and alliances and about SMS messages and use of social media. More worrisome is the veil of maya or illusion that is making a lot of things appear misleadingly different. It appears that we have a strong watchdog media that improves governance in politics and business. But is it well governed itself and not above partisan behaviour for certain considerations? This has never been studied and merits further and fuller debate not of ferocity but of depth. Another forgiveable illusion is that we have made progress from the days when we our society was poor, unscientific and riddled with socially backward practices. However we need to investigate, in a conceptually rigorous fashion, whether this istrue. The human sacrifice to appease Gods has given way to new forms of human sacrifices to appease media and the public — high profile jailing of bureaucrats or ministers, matter closed. Village panchayats are designed for balance, with various voices having to be represented, but not many modern institutions practice this. Having regulators is another illusion of progress. Do they serve their political masters or customers? How are they appointed and held accountable? A board majority for independent directors is another maya. Many of them have not explicitly examined their role and position on trading off misdemeanours by management against superior profit delivery. The kangaroo courts of the Maoists do have to be viewed and understood in terms of their similarity or difference with the lynch mob mentality of the media. Cronyism and patronage are back with a bang, but now cloaked in the veil of ‘performance’ but without parameters of what performance entitles one to what rewards. Minority appeasement is back, but in an ad hoc way without the visible systemic rules that governed it earlier. We need to understand ourselves a lot better and deeper, our crisis of values perhaps, our morphing national character. We need to understand society, aspirations, anger, our ticking time bombs. And we need to give the floor to our social scientists ASAP. source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/comments-analysis/time-to-let-social-scientists-take-the-floor-to-understand-the-maladies-afflicting-india/articleshow/12930597.cms   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:29 AM PDT
There is no such thing as Anonymity on the Internet. You can remain anonymous only as long as no one is interested in knowing who you are. Once that changes it is not too difficult to determine the identity, location of individuals provided one has enormous resources at once disposal and sufficient power( i.e government agencies).
To err is human and all one needs to do is wait till the person choosing to be anonymous commits a mistake. Sadly, that is the nature of the Internet, every action of yours leaves an electronic trail than can be traced to a computer, mobile network and region. To rephrase an old quote... You can be anonymous to some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but nobody can be anonymous to all the people all the time.Nobody has learnt this lesson better than our Hacktivist friends at Lulzsec who were unmasked last month after their leader turned out to be an FBI informant. As I have previously posted, Political Activists in India have been tracked over the Internet leading to their arrests and murders. Indian security agencies have been trained and are being assisted by foreign agencies in this effort. A Police academy in Hyderabad has emerged as hotspot for carrying out this training, surveillance along with other centres in Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Chennai. It is believed that One in four US hackers 'is an FBI informer'. The FBI and US secret service have used the threat of prison to create an army of informers among hackers all over the world. In such a scenario it won't be surprising to know that many of the anonymous pro-maoist websites, could have links to security agencies in India and abroad and unknowingly have helped them keep a tab on Maoist supporters and trap the occasional Maoist leader.
Many of these website attract new sympathisers like a honey pot and leave them exposed to surveillance.
Trust no website or person on-line. If you don't understand the Internet stay away from the Internet and people who spend time on the Internet. Kindly read this Disclaimer about visting this website.
This is just a reminder to readers of this website and other blogs.
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Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:43 AM PDT
The documentary contains interviews with former guerilla fighters of the National Liberation Front (Vietcong) where they discuss the strategies used by them to defeat the World's most powerful conventional army - The US Army.
Cu Chi Tunnels - Documentary film on the Vietcong The Cu Chi Tunnels, a Mickey Grant film, is the story of life underground told by the people who lived the experience. It is a story told by a surgeon, an artist, and actress, an engineer, and the few survivors of the guerilla band who left the tunnels each night to fight against an enemy of vastly superior strength. Attached to the guerilla bands were Viet Cong documentary cameramen and camerawomen whose footage of the war from the Vietnamese point of view and of love, life and death in the tunnels has survived and is used in the film. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1919775245219225387 Know more about these tunnels at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cu_Chi_tunnels   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:24 AM PDT
A fake map exaggerating the Maoist presence in various states has been released by SATP.
This map which is supposed to be based on 2009 data, claims that the entire state of Chhattisgarh was highly affected by Maoist activities including it's capital Raipur ! The data on other states is also highly suspect.  This is followed by a map based on 2011 data that claims sharp reduction of the Maoist affected areas.  This is nothing but propaganda to exaggerate the success of the government operations. Moreover none of these maps are to be taken seriously as nobody knows what the terms " Highly affected", "Moderately affected" and "Marginally Affected" constitute. Maoist Conflict Maps http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/database/conflictmap.htm India Maoist Assessment 2012 http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/maoist/Assessment/2012/indiamaoistassesment2012.htm   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:57 AM PDT
The Army man can be heard shouting Operation Kutta is successful at the end. Somebody in Delhi should nominate these guys for a medal.
Mr Chidambaram kindly supply your troops with some rations and meat, or I won't be surprised if they take to cannibalism in Dantewada. On the one hand the mongrels of Dantewada / Bastar save the lives of hundreds of Paramilitaries by sniffing out IED's and paramilitaries repay this favour by consuming more than 5000 of these dogs over the last few years ? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw1-8AMoBlM This video was posted online in June 2010.
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Posted: 27 Apr 2012 09:22 AM PDT
Even as the second round of talks between interlocutors was set to begin at Raipur, outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) circulated a three page note early on Friday morning, listing in detail their perception about the problems being faced by the tribals and incidents of alleged atrocities by the security forces in tribal Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. A three page note "why we detained the collector", issued by CPI (Maoist) South Bastar regional committee secretary Ganesh Uike said they were forced to issue such a statement to set the record straight after a group of so-called intellectuals, supported by vested interests, unleashed a propaganda to whip up sympathy in favour of the Sukma collector. "These people need to understand the reality on the ground and the manner in which the people are suffering state's repression and the role of district collector in it", Uike claimed alleging that it was during the tenure of Alex Paul Menon that a tribal youth Podium Mada was first tortured in police custody and later murdered. Later, this murder was passed off as a suicide in police custody, he alleged. According to the Maoist release, another youth Podyam Sanna was picked up from his house at Pollampalli on February 11. Before the formation of Sukma district, police in erstwhile Dantewada district picked up a woman Soni Sodi from village Jabeli and subjected to third degree methods. But the district collector Alex Paul Menon did not utter a word when the then superintendent of police of Ankit Garg was bestowed with the President's police medal on Republic Day, it alleged. Describing Chhattisgarh government's on-going "gram Suraj'-a village outreach programme-- as a farce, the Maoist leader alleged that such a campaign was being carried out at the behest of the World Bank. He said the CPI (Maoist) had earlier given a call for boycott of gram Suraj campaign. He also alleged that the government machinery, which also includes the district collector, were in fact trying to extend benefits to corporate houses by trying to hand over Bastar's rich natural resources to them. Alleging that nearly 2000 villagers were languishing in jails of Dantewada, Jagdalpur, Raipur, and Rajnandgaon, Uike said 700 people were stuffed inside the Dantewada prison, which has a capacity to accommodate only 150 inmates. Besides, the rebels also alleged that the police had slapped false cases against a large number of people and the security were continuously violating human rights in the tribal areas. Uike alleged that the security forces had launched an operation code named as "Operation Vijay " in Abujmarh in March this year and attacked the houses of villagers and destroyed their houses. He said the so-called intellectuals and others, demanding release of collector Menon, should first study whether the report submitted by the district collector at the meeting of "left wing extremism affected districts", organised by the Centre, was in the interest of the poor tribals of the region. Source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Maoists-justify-abduciton-of-Chhattisgarh-collector-Alex-Paul-Menon/articleshow/12893876.cms   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 25 Apr 2012 01:34 AM PDT
https://www.coursera.org http://www.udacity.com http://www.codecademy.com The course on Applied Cryptography seems interesting... began on the 16th April http://www.udacity.com/overview/Course/cs387/CourseRev/apr2012 & Game Theory too.. https://www.coursera.org/course/gametheory Note : All courses are free...   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 25 Apr 2012 01:33 AM PDT
A few words of advice from the Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. For just about anyone...
Making a Leader Excerpts from a lecture on leadership and discipline  The first, the primary, indeed the cardinal attribute of leadership is professional knowledge and professional competence. Now you will agree with me that you cannot be born with professional knowledge and professional competence even if you are the child of the prime minister, or the son of an industrialist or the progeny of a field marshal. Professional knowledge and professional competence have to be acquired by hard work and by constant study. In this fast-moving technologically developing world you can never acquire sufficient professional knowledge. You have to keep at it, and at it, and at it. Can those of our political masters who are responsible for the security and defence of our country cross their hearts and say they have ever read a book on military history, on strategy, on weapons developments? Can they distinguish a mortar from a motor, a gun from a howitzer, a guerilla from a gorilla, though a vast majority of them resemble the latter. Professional knowledge and competence are the sine qua non of leadership. Unless you know what you are talking about, unless you understand your profession, you can never be a leader. The next thing you need for leadership is the ability to make up your mind and make a decision and accept full responsibility for that decision. Have you ever wondered why people do not make a decision? The answer is quite simple. It is because they lack professional knowledge and competence, or they are worried that their decision may be wrong and they will have to carry the can. According to the law of averages, if you take ten decisions, five ought to be right. If you have professional knowledge and competence, nine will be right and the one that might not be correct will probably be put right by a subordinate officer or colleague. But if you do not take a decision you are doing something wrong. An act of omission is worse than an act of commission. An act of commission can be put right. An act of omission cannot. Take the example of the time when the Babri Masjid was about to be destroyed. If the prime minister, at that stage, had taken a decision to stop it, a whole community—180 million people—would not have been harmed. But, because he did not take a decision, you have at least 180million people in this country alone who do not like us. What comes next for leadership? Absolute honesty,fairness and justice—we are dealing with people.We in India have tremendous pressures—pressures from the government, pressures from superior officers, pressures from families, pressures from wives, uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews and girlfriends, and we lack the courage to withstand those pressures. That takes me to the next attribute of leadership—moral and physical courage. What is the moral courage? Moral courage is the ability to distinguish right from wrong and having done so, say so when asked, irrespective of what your superiors might think or what your colleagues or your subordinates might want. A ‘yes man’ is a dangerous man. He may rise very high, he might even become the managing director of a company. He may do anything but he can never make a leader because he will be used by his superiors, disliked by his colleagues and despised by his subordinates. So shallow—the ‘yes man’. I am going to illustrate from my own life an example of moral courage. In 1971, Pakistan clamped down on the province, East Pakistan, hundreds and thousand of refugees started pouring into India. The prime minister, Mrs Gandhi had a cabinet meeting at ten ‘o clock in the morning. The following attended: the foreign minister, Sardar Swaran Singh, the defence minister, Mr Jagjivan Ram, the agriculture minister, Mr Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, the finance minister, Mr Yaswant Rao Chavan, and I was also ordered to be present. There is a very thin line between becoming a Field Marshal and being dismissed. A very angry prime minister read out messages from chief ministers of West Bengal, Assam and Tripura. All of them saying that hundreds and thousands of refugees had poured into their states and they did not know what to do . So the Prime Minister turned round to me and said, “I want you to do something.” I said, “What do you want me to do?” She said, “I want you to enter East Pakistan.” I said, “ Do you know that that means war?” She said, “I do not mind it is war.” I, in my usual stupid way said, “Prime Minister, have you read the Bible?” and the Foreign Minister, Sardar Swaran Singh in his Punjabi accent said, “What has Bible got to do with this?”, and I said, “The first book, the first chapter, the first paragraph, the first sentence, God said, “let there be light” and there was light. You turn this round and say “let there be war and there will be war. What do you think? Are you ready for a war ? Let me tell you— it’s the 28th of April, the Himalayan passes are opening now, and if the Chinese give us an ultimatum I will have to fight on two fronts.” Again, Sardar Swaran Singh turned round and in his Punjabi English said, “Will China give ultimatum?” I said, “You are the foreign minister. You tell me.”Then I turned to the prime minister and said, “Prime Minister, last year you wanted elections in West Bengal and you did not want the Communists to win, so you asked me to deploy my soldiers in penny pockets in every village, in every little township in West Bengal. I have two divisions thus deployed in sections and platoons without their heavy weapons. It will take me at least a month to get them back to their units and to their formations. Further, I have a division in the Assam area, another division in Andhra Pradesh and the Armoured division in the Jhansi–Babina area. It will take me at least a month to get them back and put them in their correct positions. I will require every road, every railway train, every truck, every wagon to move them. We are harvesting in the Punjab, and we are harvesting in Haryana, we are also harvesting in Uttar Pradesh. And you will not be able to move your harvest.” I turned to the agriculture Minister, Mr Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, “If there is a famine in the country afterwards, it will be you to blame, not me.” Then I said, “My armoured division has only got thirteen tanks which are functioning.” The finance minister, Mr Chavan, a friend of mine, said, “Sam, why only thirteen?” “Because you are the Finance Minister. I have been asking for money for the last year and a half, and you keep saying there is no money. That is why.” Then I turned to the Prime Minister and said, “Prime Minister, it is the end of April. But the time I am ready to operate the monsoon will have broken in the East Pakistan area. When it rains, it does not just rain, it pours. Rivers become like oceans. If you stand on one bank, you can not see the other and the whole countryside is flooded. My movements will be confined to roads, the Air Force will not be able to support me and, if you wish me to enter East Pakistan, I guarantee you a hundred percent defeat.” “You are the government”, I said turning to the Prime Minister, “Now will you give me your orders?” Ladies and Gentlemen, I have seldom seen a woman so angry, and I am including my wife in that. She was red in the face and I said, “Let us see what happens.” She turned round and said, “The cabinet will meet this evening at four o’ clock.” Everybody walked out. I being the junior-most man was the last to leave. As I was leaving, she said, “Chief, please will you stay behind?” I looked at her. I said, “Prime Minister, before you open your mouth, would you like me to sent in my resignation on grounds of health, mental or physical?” “No. Sit down, Sam. Was everything you told me the truth?” “Yes. It is my job to tell you the truth. It is my job to fight and win, not to lose.” She smiled at me and said me, “All right, Sam. You know what I want. When will you be ready?” “I can not tell you now, Prime Minister”, I said, “But let me guarantee you this that, if you leave me alone, allow me to plan, make my agreements, and fix a date, I guarantee you a hundred percent victory.” So there is a very thin line between becoming a field marshal and being dismissed. Just an example of moral courage. Now, those of you who remember what happened in 1962, when the Chinese occupied the Thag-la ridge and Mr Nehru, the prime minister, sent for the army chief, in the month of December and said, “I want you to throw the Chinese out.” That Army Chief did not have the moral courage to stand up to him and say, “I am not ready, my troops are acclimatised, I haven’t the ammunition, or indeed anything.” But he accepted the Prime Minister’s instructions, with the results that the Army was beaten and the country humiliated. This takes me to the next attribute: physical courage. Fear, like hunger and sex, is a natural phenomenon. Any man who says he is not frightened is a liar or a Gorkha. It is one thing to be frightened. It is another to show fear. Finally, for leadership, men and women like their leader to be a man, with all the manly qualities or virtues. The man who says “I do not smoke, I do not drink, I do not (No, I will not say it), does not make a leader. Edited extract from Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw’s lecture at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington,November 11th 1998. Quoted inField Marshal Sam Manekshaw: Soldiering with dignity by Lt Gen Deepinder Singh (Natraj Publishers, Dehradun, 2nd Ed, 2002)   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 25 Apr 2012 01:25 AM PDT
Take a different route
 By Nandini Sundar - nandinisundar.blogspot.in Bitterness. When I started receiving calls that Alex Paul Menon, the collector of Sukma, had been kidnapped, that was my over-riding feeling. Bitterness and a cold anger. Menon is one of the best collectors I have met, and doing what he could to make life better for the people of his district, even in the face of an overall counter-insurgency policy designed for the opposite. Though kidnapped by the Maoists, Menon joins the ranks of several other hostages who have paid the price for their efforts to bring about peace. Take for instance, my co-petitioner in the Supreme Court in the Salwa Judum matter, Kartam Joga, an elected representative who believes in democratic means. He has been held hostage by the Chhattisgarh government since August 2010, in jail on a variety of trumped up charges. Podiyam Panda, the former sarpanch of Chintagufa, who was singlehandedly responsible for getting seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) men released in an earlier hostage crisis, and who ensured that through the worst times the school in his village was not blasted and continued to function, is now accused of over a dozen heinous crimes. It is men like Menon, Joga and Panda, who can broker peace at an everyday level, and yet these are precisely the men who are being turned into hostages by ruthless revolutionaries and an equally ruthless security establishment, both of whom see nothing beyond the use of military force. Maj Gen (retd) GD Bakshi’s plea in the Supreme Court that prisoners should not be released in a hostage crisis because the security forces risked their lives to arrest Maoists is, at best, a very partial truth. In truth, the vast majority of people in the jails of central India arrested as “Maoists” are ordinary adivasis, who have been incarcerated on flimsy grounds and whose families cannot muster the amounts needed to pay lawyers or file for bail. The government and judiciary should take urgent steps to release them, not because of the Maoists, but because it is what the Constitution demands. The Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh, now synonymous with a Maoist front, started off as a legitimate movement for adivasi land rights. Yet, the State’s preferred response was to side with the oppressors and file cases against its leaders. Manish Kunjam, CPI leader in Sukma and I met Menon in his office in January. I had just come back from Tadmetla, where the CBI was investigating attacks on villages by Special Police Officers (SPOs) in March 2011. While the villagers were incredibly brave in testifying, despite the intimidating presence of security forces, frustration is inevitably building up. People have no hope of legal redress because the State refuses — despite many directions from the Supreme Court — to recognise the crimes that were committed by the security forces and their proxies. Far from disbanding the SPOs after the Supreme Court declared their use unconstitutional in 2011, the Chhattisgarh government has renamed them an “armed auxiliary force’, and given them better guns and more money. Emboldened by this, in February, the SPOs even attacked the CBI team. The superintendent of police who tried to stop them was physically manhandled by his own SPOs. Manish and I said how, in this kind of context, “development” through the “integrated action plan” (IAP) was beside the point. Moreover, it was doomed to fail in the interior villages, because none of the sarpanches lived in the villages, and the money was being spent on paper. Menon said he was interested in some basic changes — especially agricultural improvement — not because it would win hearts and minds, but simply because it was the right thing to do, and his duty as a collector. He described how, in his first posting in Bijapur, he had slipped away and attended a Maoist meeting incognito, but could no longer do so, because after Vineel Krishna had been kidnapped, the government had issued instructions to all its officers not to travel alone. We agreed that by kidnapping officials, the Maoists are doing the villagers no favour, because there is no one to monitor whether schools are being restored in the villages or anganwadis are functioning, even if the teachers agree to go. However, it is not as if the top security establishment is keen to restore normalcy — they have been resisting peace talks by killing off Maoist leaders, and for two years, stalling any discussion of a rehabilitation plan for Dantewada in the Supreme Court. The IAP then becomes not only irrelevant, but also appears a form of low intensity counterinsurgency. This, in turn, has hardened the Maoist attitude towards what villagers are allowed to access from government. While schools, handpumps, anganwadis and PDS are allowed, the Maoists do not want the villagers to accept any other funds from government, including compensation, unless it comes with criminal prosecution of Salwa Judum leaders. They argue that this would be tantamount to accepting blood money. The villagers themselves want both the state and the Maoists, since they bring benefits of different kinds: they want National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) but not the police and forest guards. Where does that leave people like us, who are struggling for justice under the Constitution? The Centre’s first statement is not encouraging, with its offer to send more troops. They can send all the paramilitary forces they want, to die as cannon fodder. There are also plenty of half-starved adivasis waiting to be killed. Perhaps some mediators will come forward, but at best, this will be piecemeal. Rather, since the CRPF claims that the kidnappings are an indication of their success in putting the Maoists on the back foot, such incidents are bound to increase. As against the government’s two pronged strategy of security and development, therefore, I would suggest a three pronged strategy — peace talks, reparations and genuine devolution of control over resources. Only then will our collective bitterness begin to thaw. Under the ice, there is always clear water. Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/editorial-views-on/Edits/Take-a-different-route/Article1-845110.aspx   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 25 Apr 2012 01:22 AM PDT
My name is NOT red By Deepak Tiwari Listen to the voice of imprisoned innocents branded as Naxals
http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=11313795&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&categoryId=-174121 Fettered dreams He dreamt of being a journalist and ended up a newsmaker. Vittal Malekudia, 22, was arrested from his home in Kuthlur hamlet of Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district by the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) of Karnataka on March 3. Currently in custody, he has been charged with waging war against the state.Teachers said that the postgraduate student of mass communication and journalism at Mangalore... http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=11313796&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&BV_ID=@@@&categoryId=-174121 War against words Sudhir Dhawale was arrested for alleged Naxal links in January 2011. A Dalit activist and freelance journalist, he wrote and published booklets on oppression of Dalits. He was arrested at Wardha railway station while returning from a Dalit literature conference. When he was in jail, his two sons and wife were dependent solely on her salary as a nurse.The police said Bhimrao Bhoite, an... http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=11313797&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&BV_ID=@@@&categoryId=-174121 A cobbled charge Sitaram Meher, 32, said he was the first lawyer from western Orissa’s cobbler caste. But today his identity is that of a Naxal sympathiser. The Gangadharnagar police picked up Meher on May 17, 2011, after he was allegedly seen with a known Naxal at Bargarh railway station. He spent 80 days in jail under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.Active with the Bahujan Samaj Party,.. http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?contentId=11313798&programId=1073755753&tabId=13&BV_ID=@@@&categoryId=-174121   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 14 Apr 2012 10:32 AM PDT
 War is an area of uncertainty; three quarters of the things on which all action in War is based on are lying in a fog of uncertainty to a greater or lesser extent. The first thing (needed) here is a fine, piercing mind, to feel out the truth with the measure of its judgment. The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonlight — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance. - Carl von Clausewitz   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted: 14 Apr 2012 10:53 AM PDT
Give below is my analysis of the current situation. This is a purely hypothetical article.
Disclaimer My knowledge of Maoist and communist theory is limited. I am not trying to fit my analysis into any particular ideological framework. Analysis of the situation in 2012
As the Home Minister P Chidambaram has stated repeatedly over the last several years, the Government Of India (GOI) has come up with atwo-pronged strategy to deal with the Maoist insurgency "Appropriate police action led by state governments in collaboration with central forces and development works in the affected areas to deal with the Maoist rebellion. He also makes it clear that he is confident this strategy will show results in the medium term." (CNN-IBN, March 14th, 2012). This two pronged strategy of the Central Government translates into the "Clear, Hold, Develop approach to tackle Naxalism". This doctrine is derived from the Clear, Hold and Build model used by the US Army in Iraq and Afghanistan.It is not clear what time frame "Medium Term" constitutes but my assumption based on various factors, reveals that this could be in the range of 2-3 years (750-1100 days). Now this two pronged Carrot and the Stick approach which has been under development over the last few years, has acquired a broad outline, structure and purpose. 1. Operation Green Hunt (OGH) and it's coming successors : Operation Haka, Octopus etc, which will climax with the entry of the Indian Army in direct operations by as early as 2013. (The Stick) 2. Integrated Action Plan (IAP) , Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship Scheme (PMRDFS) and other related schemes. (The Carrot) Let us now analyse the first part of this strategy 1. Operation Green Hunt (OGH). Operation Greenhunt is a new phase in a very old war being fought since millennia , the actors have changed, the stage has changed but the purpose remains the same - Appropriation of Avarna Resources. Savarna's Vs Avarna's For centuries the Avarna's in India, have retreated deeper and deeper into the forests under the onslaught of Savarna rule. The Avarna's whose population once spanned the entire length and breadth of the Indian sub-continent, today find themselves encircled in a few forest pockets in central India. Over centuries the more that the Avarna's acquiesced to Savarna demands , the more sacrifices were demanded from them. Today it has reached a point where the Savarna's are demanding nothing less the total annihilation of the Avarna's, their way of life and transfer of all their lands, rivers, forests into the hands of corporations owned by puppet Savarna individuals and their foreign masters. As Arundathi Roy has stated in an article " There’s an MoU on every mountain, river, forest glade. What the media calls the Maoist Corridor—the Dandakaranya—could well be called the MoUist Corridor." Chidambaram’s War - Outlook.OGH is a product of a Savarna mindset and has been planned by the Bania's and Brahmins who rule over India. The execution of OGH will be done by the Indian Army and security forces comprising of Kshatriya's and Avarna's.
Depending on the definition, Green Hunt either began in July 2009, September 2009 or November 2009. Speaking off record, senior policemen have confirmed that the intensification of “search and comb” operations in Maoist dominated districts in Central India began as early as July 2009. In September 2009 the press reported on the progress of “Operation Green Hunt” : a massive 3 day joint operation in which the central CoBRA force and state police battled Naxal forces in Dantewada. "By November 2009, the press was regularly reporting on the planning and progress of Green Hunt, prompting Home Minister, P. Chidambaram to term the operation a “media invention.” Since then, the security apparatus has scrupulously avoided all mention of Green Hunt." (The Hindu February 6, 2010)The seeds of operation Green Hunt were sown as early as in 2006 , when India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh first made efforts to project Left Wing Extremism as the greatest threat to India, since then the tape recorder has been playing ad nauseum for good effect and was last heard repeating the message in February, 2012.
The deployment of OGH has also been influenced by the Sri Lankan military's total annihilation of the Tamil Tigers in Eelam War IV which ended in May 2009. The general chorus in the security establishment at that time was that if the tiny island nation of Sri Lanka could rout the LTTE (A non-state actor which had it's own navy, air force and was building it's own submarines) then what's stopping India a nation of 1.1 Billion with theworld's largest standing volunteer army from taking the Maoist bull by the horns ? Moreover unlike India which has a US$ 1.8 trillion economy to fund and sponsor the war, the Sri Lankan economy and military were in shambles and the Lankan government had to depend on borrowed bullets, planes and foreign military aid from Pakistan, China to defeat the LTTE. Soon some of these experts were heard tom-tomming the Sri Lanka Model as the solution to India's Maoist problems at various forums. Before the Sri Lanka Model caught the fancy of the Security establishment, the Kashmir Model was explored for some time. The Kashmir insurgency as we know, started in 1987, after wide spread fraud was reported in the elections to state assembly, the Indian army was later moved in and had to evolve a different doctrine containing grid based deployment to contain the insurgency. The Origin of the Grid in Jammu and Kashmir By May 1990 it was clear that Kashmir valley was in the grip of an insurgency of intensity not seen before. It started out in the urban areas and then spread to the countryside. The army which till then was the guardian of the international border (IB) and the line of control (LOC) was called in to assist in Counter Insurgency (CI) ops. By 1993 the army had got together a doctrine for the low intensity conflict in Kashmir. In Nagaland for example, the army had learnt that physical domination of each and every village was one way to combat insurgency. Long experience had taught the army the value of the grid system. In this system the whole terrain was divided into a grid. Each node at any given time would have a platoon worth of ready to move soldiers, the so called quick reaction team which would mutually reinforce other nodes. All would be covered with heavier fire support and have adequate logistics. However the grid often looked better on paper than on the ground. The obvious reason for this was the terrain. In the Wanni jungles of Sri Lanka where the grid had been successfully applied, civilians and villages were few and far between, and so attack helicopters and artillery could be used. This enabled heavy firepower to be brought in to support troops in the grid in minutes. Now the Kashmir valley is very densely populated and there is fear of collateral damage from using heavy fire support. So troops fighting CI had to do without it. To makeup for that the grid had to be more densely packed. This is where the army saw the need for additional forces such as the Rashtriya Rifles (RR). Wikipedia.The same Rashtriya Rifles (RR) which enforced the Grid in Jammu and Kashmir is now being deployed in the Naxal-affected areas of the country particularly Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Rashtriya Rifles to move from Kashmir into Red zone. In 2009, an attempt was made to induct the Rashtriya Rifles into anti-naxal operations but the Army was reluctant to redeploy them for various reasons. What suffering awaits the Adivasi's at the hands of the RR nobody knows but a look at it's record in Kashmir is quite indicative. The British Counter-Revolt Model For three centuries starting from 1778 AD , the East India Company and later the British Raj brutally suppressed hundreds of big and small tribal revolts all over India. For details refer to wikipedia List of revolts by Adivasi's in India. One of the key strategies used by the British was to recruit and organize Tribal Battalions who would then be unleashed on the revolting communities. These tribal battalions were highly successful and extremely loyal to the British empire. The Bhil Battalion for instance which was constituted in early 19th century to suppress the revolt by Bhil tribals stayed loyal to the Britishers even during the Revolt of 1857 when Sepoys of the East India Company revolted nation wide. The current administration seem to have taken a leaf out the British experiences and there is currently large scale recruitment and deployment of tribal personnel on similar lines as a part of Operation Green-hunt. It can be said that Salwa Judum was merely a 21st century manifestation of an 18th century idea. Both the Indian Army and various state governments intend to recruit Avarna's and engage them in a fratricidal war. Maharashtra: state to form tribal battalion to fight Naxals - March 2012 To beat Maoists, Centre plans an army of tribals : March 2012 Thus OGH has been planned based on the direct experience in suppressing revolts and lessons learnt in four broad theatres of War. 1. The Tribal revolts during British Raj. 2. The Counter insurgency in North East. 3. The Counter insurgency in Kashmir. 4. The Eelam Wars (Sri Lanka Model). OGH and it's successors will use elements from all these four theatre's of war to bleed the naxalite movement in India. It is imperative that those bearing the brunt of this offensive should study and learn from the experiences of these 4 conflicts in which the victor has always been the State.
Operation green hunt will be focussed on 78 IAP districts spread across 9 states identified by the GOI. These districts form a ring in central India and are the most affected by Maoist Insurgency. OGH aims to clear these areas of Maoists and then launch so called developmental activities. One key strategy of OGH remains to first break the contiguous ring and then box the Maoists into areas isolating them from their comrades in other districts. This will lead to the fragmentation of the Maoist controlled areas and cause complications to the Maoist leadership in the long run. Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) As part of PMGSY, roads have been planned and are being constructed at strategic locations to fragment the ring of fire and provide support to security forces. These all weather roads once built will divide and weaken the hold of Maoist forces in these 78 districts. OGH aims to inflict heavy losses and increase the body count of Maoists substantially. The Intelligence Bureau will complement the effort by going after top Maoist leaders in urban areas and those leaders who venture out of their jungle bases.
Last year , the Indian Army came out with an assessment saying it needs 65,000 troops to fight Naxals. The Indian Army has already completed the training of at-least 5000 Army Personnel at it's newly acquired training bases in Greater Bastar, Chhattisgarh. These trained personnel will eventually be deployed some years from now in Anti-Maoist operations. The Indian Army has played an important role in the formulation of OGH. A whole host of capacity building initiatives are also under way under their direct supervision, most of which has not yet been made public. This week, the Indian Army chief General V.K. Singh travelled to Chhattisgarh's Bastar region and spent a few hours at Kondagaon area, some 220 km of from capital Raipur, and held discussions with jawans about the coming operations. Infiltration of IPS The Indian Army has allowed it's officers to be inducted into the Indian Police Service with the primary intention of putting them in command of OGH. More than 120 IPS officers will be recruited this year from the Indian Army. Over the next two years, the stage will be set for a final brutal assault on the Maoist movement during which the Indian Army will play an active and crucial role like it did in "Operation Steeplechase" which broke the back of the Naxalite movement in West Bengal during 1971. In fact, there is loose talk that the current Anti-Maoist operation is based on the 1971 template.
With logistics in mind a seperate Air-Wing for Anti-Maoist operations has been planned and will be given shape this year. Air wing to help in anti-Maoist ops - MHA. This Air Wing could be functional within the next 700 days. In 2009, a 1,300-m airstrip was constructed in the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College Campus without DGCA (Director General of Civil Aviation) approval. Indian Express More such airstrips are being built in the IAP districts as the battle for India's heart intensifies. Air support played an important role in the defeat of the LTTE in Eelam War IV, it is not yet clear if the Indian Government has acquired the will to carry out aerial bombardment of Maoist dominated districts. But yes they can now fire in so called self defence. As the late Gen Dwight D. Eisenhower once said “You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars haveThe government is aware that getting the logistics of troop deployment right and ensuring the supply chain functions will play an important role in the success of this campaign. Unlike the Maoists who mostly live of the land with support from the local population , the Paramilitary has to ensure a regular supply of food and rations from a hostile population and access to medical facilities in case of injuries. 5 Years of Mobilization The GOI had realized that the merger of the PWG and MCC in late 2004, would lead to an expansion in Maoist capabilities and operations. Since 2007/08 the GOI began making serious efforts in augmenting the capabilities of the security forces. This is reflected in thereport released by the Ministry of Home Affairs in December 2011. 3 Year Report on Major tasks accomplished by Ministry of Home Affairs Extract from the Report Left Wing Extremism : LWE 29.The following interventions have been made to contain the growth of Naxalite movement in the country:
While all the above initiatives look good on paper, the ground realities we find convey a different picture as Ajay Sahni writes in the Eurasia Review :
Also when IPS officers over-looking Anti-Maoist operations regularly succumb to heart attacks (i.e O P Rathore, B.S. Maravi ) it hardly evokes confidence in the ability of the police force. The fog of war has only started rolling and will only get thicker from now on. A lot of the media reports on the offensive has been released to create disinformation, confusion and contain half-truths. No media report linked in this article can be taken at face value as most of us are aware that the first casualty of any war is the Truth, OGH is no different. Thus the dis-separate parts of the security machinery that has come together to constitute OGH is yet to reach a level where they pose a serious threat to the Maoist's and there continues to exist severe deficiencies, anomalies and incongruencies in the state mobilization. However, the broad general trend among the security forces seems to be an increase in co-operation, capacity building, training and co-ordination but they are still far from finding their mojo.
2. IAP , PMRDFS and other SchemesWe now move the second part of the two pronged strategy , the so called development activities under the Integrated IAP, PMRDFS and related schemes. ( The Carrots)War of Attrition The war between the Maoists and the Indian state is a War of Attrition. While OGH will try to inflict heavy casulties on the PLGA and People's Militia's, IAP and PMRDF will seek to prevent fresh recruitment to the Maoist fold by providing incentives, alternate sources of livelihood to the local population. It will also try to alienate the support base of Maoists by providing civic amenities and financial benefits. This is the only purpose of the IAP and PMRDF, prevent fresh blood from joining the Maoist fold and keep their attention diverted towards other illusions. If the IAP is implemented as planned it will affect the ability of the Maoists for fresh recruitment in the coming years in these districts. IAP as a Money Circulation Scheme IAP could serve as a money circulation scheme , where in money will be first transferred from the GOI's bank accounts in Delhi to bank accounts in IAP districts after which some dust will be raised to serve as a smokescreen of development, expenditure etc after which the the bulk of the money will be siphoned back to Delhi from where it will take flight to foreign bank accounts. Jairam Ramesh has asked the Prime Minister for an additional allocation of Rs 35,000 Crore for the IAP districts over the next three years. Lots of money to be made ! ! This plan has been in operation for the last 2 years but the results are sketchy and mixed.A revamp has been planned this year. The number of IAP districts now stands at 78, after more districts were added this year. The expansion of the IAP to districts that have only a marginal presence of Maoists shows that it is also being used as a pre-emptive measure. An overview of the IAP is given below : Integrated Action Plan to Develop Tribal and backward Districts in LWE Areas Introduction The 33 districts (later expanded to 34) referred to in the Finance Minister’s announcement were a sub-set of the 83 LWE affected districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs for coverage under its Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme. This sub-set consisted of those districts where more than 20% of the Police Stations experienced some incidents of naxal violence. Subsequently, West Medinipur district of West Bengal was added to the list due to the situation prevailing there, taking the total to 35 districts. Implementation of IAP IAP was formulated as an additional central assistance scheme on 100% grant basis in November 2010. To begin with, the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 60 tribal and backward districts was to be implemented with a block grant of Rs.25 crore and Rs.30 crore per district during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively for which the funds were to be placed at the disposal of the Committee headed by the District Collector and consisting of the Superintendent of Police of the district and the District Forest Officer. The district level committee will have flexibility to spend the amount for development schemes according to need, as assessed by it. The Committee would draw up a Plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as School Buildings, Anganwadi Centres, Primary Health Centres, Drinking Water Supply, Village Roads, Electric Lights in public places such as PHCs and Schools etc. The concerned Development Commissioner/ equivalent officer in charge of development in the State shall be responsible for scrutiny of expenditure and monitoring of IAP. The Planning Commission will undertake macro level monitoring of the scheme and implementation of the scheme will be reviewed and suitable decisions taken on the modalities for implementation of the scheme as a part of the 12th Five Year Plan. The salient features of the guidelines are: (i)The district level committee should draw up a plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as school buildings, Anganwadi centres, Drinking Water supply, Village Roads, electric lights in public places such as PHCs and schools etc. The schemes so selected should show results in the short term. (ii)A suitable form of consultation is to be ensured with the local Members of Parliament on the schemes to be taken up the under the IAP. (iii)The expenditure on the projects should be over and above the expenditure being incurred for the regular State/Central/Centrally Sponsored Schemes. The district level committee should ensure that there is no duplication of expenditure on the same project. (iv)The State Government will release the funds directly into the bank account opened for this purpose by the District Collector or District Magistrate. The State Government will ensure that funds are transferred to this bank account within 15 days of the release of the funds to the Consolidated Fund of the State Government failing which the State Government should transfer to the district penal interest at RBI rate. Achievements Under IAP The implementation of the scheme commenced in the year 2010-11 and Rs.25 crore per district i.e. total Rs.1500 crore for the year 2010-11 was released in December, 2010. The districts immediately finalized the works to be taken up, completed the tender processes wherever required and the works on the ground commenced immediately in all the 60 districts. Currently, the implementation of IAP in the districts is in full swing. The total funds released so far for the year 2011-12 is Rs.1090 crore and the total funds released so far since the commencement of the Scheme is Rs.2590 crore. Against the total amount of Rs.2590 crores released so far to the 9 States, the expenditure as on 27.12.2011 is Rs.1468.83 crore i.e. 56.71% of the funds released. Under the IAP, so far 62327 projects for an amount of Rs. 3230.02 crore have been taken up in the 9 States. These include construction of School Buildings/School Furniture, Anganwadi Centres, Drinking Water facilities, Rural roads, Panchyat Bhawan/Community Halls, Godowns/PDS shops, livelihood activities, skill development/trainings, minor irrigation works, electric lighting, health centres/facilities, Ashram Schools, construction of toilets, construction of multi-purpose chabutra, construction of passenger waiting hall, special coaching classes for students, construction of ANM centres, development of play grounds etc. 44.42% of projects taken up so far have been completed i.e., 27687 projects have been completed so far. State-wise details of physical progress as on 27.12.2011 vis-à-vis projects sanctioned are: Andhra Pradesh- 702 (1140), Bihar - 2367 (12889), Chhattisgarh - 6115 (14718), Jharkhand- 5621 (11769), Madhya Pradesh - 1446 (5352), Maharashtra - 2667 (4398), Orissa - 6829 (15087), Uttar Pradesh - 1337 (1548) and West Bengal - 603 (1272). Parameters to Qualify under IAP While formulating the scheme, the Planning Commission considered that the scheme should not be limited only to the severely LWE affected districts. It was proposed by them that the scheme should cover other tribal and backward districts also and the following criteria was adopted to identify districts for inclusion in the scheme: (a) Whether the district is included in the list of 83 SRE districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs; Districts meeting four of the above-mentioned five criteria and forming a contiguous block were selected for coverage under the proposed scheme. Thus, with this criteria, a total of 60 districts were selected for coverage under the scheme. Monitoring The Development Commissioner of the State/equivalent officer incharge of development in the State is responsible for scrutiny of expenditure and monitoring of the IAP in the State. In order to facilitate the monitoring, the States are required to send district-wise monthly progress reports in the prescribed format and also upload the information on the Management Information System(MIS) along with photographs of the works. Provisions for change in IAP The Ministry of Home Affairs has also constituted an Empowered Group of Officers with Member-Secretary, Planning Commission as its Chairperson. The Empowered Group, inter-alia, has overriding powers to modify existing norms/guidelines on implementation of various development programmes and flagship schemes in consultation with the Ministries/Departments concerned. States’ Response to IAP The implementation of IAP has been successful and the scheme has had a very good response. A number of requests had been received from the Chief Ministers, Members of Parliament and State Governments for inclusion of more districts under the IAP. On the basis of requests received from the State Govts., the Govt. of India has decided on 07.12.2011 to include additional 18 LWE affected districts under IAP from the financial year 2011-12 onwards and to provide block grant of Rs.30 crore to each of these districts during the current financial year. Conclusion: The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism activities in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, rights of local communities, administration and public perception. In dealing with this decades old problem, it has been felt appropriate, after various high-level deliberations and interactions with the State Governments concerned that an integrated approach aimed at the relatively more affected areas would deliver results. With this in view, a detailed analysis of the spread and trends in respect of LWE violence has been made and 83 affected districts in nine States have been taken up for special attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of security situation and development schemes.Source : GOI Prime Minister's Rural Development Fellowship Scheme (PMRDFS) The Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh who is the force behind the scheme made it clear as to what PMRDFS is about when he spoke to the Hindu this month: The aim of the unique scheme is simple. “If the Maoists attract youth through their ideology, then the government has to counter that in a similar way." The HinduThe PMRDFS seems to be loosely based on the US based Peace Corps and Presidential Management Fellows Scheme. The first batch of 156 candidates were selected this year from a pool of 8,000 applicants. The youth selected will spend the next two years assisting district collectors in implementing welfare programmes across the 78 most-affected Maoist districts (Ring of Fire). The Ministry of Rural Development in collaboration with the Tata Institute of Social Science will implement this program and the candidates have just begun their training in April 2012. The Ministry is set to spend Rs 60 crore on the scheme, with stipends amounting to Rs. 53 crore and the training cost Rs 6.5 crore.The Fellows will be paid Rs 50,000 in the initial two months of training to be organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, and then Rs 75,000 for the rest of the fellowship period. Profiles of PMRDFS Candidates selected
A blog is also in the offering : http://pmrdfs.blogspot.in.The job profile of PMRDF's as given on the website is as follows PMRDFs will basically function as development facilitators, assisting the Collector and his/her colleagues by actively pursuing a district programming approach that follows three key strategies given below: What impact the PMRDFS will have and how will the Maoists deal with this incursion, has to been seen ? My only advice would be "Fragile - Handle with care". Other Schemes Along with IAP and PMRDF's, there are various other schemes like Job Schemes etc which have been rolled out and many more which are components of the IAP and currently in stealth mode. Tackling Naxal issue: Govt plans Rs. 1000-cr body with help of India Inc http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/Mumbai/Tackling-Naxal-issue-Govt-plans-Rs-1000-cr-body-with-help-of-India-Inc/Article1-840639.aspx Conclusion :The Government of India's strategy is broadly in line with that of LIC strategy developed by US Imperialism. Low Intensity Conflict (LIC) 1. Conducting military, social, economic, political and psychological wars in co-ordination 2. Winning the hearts and minds of the people. 3. Using intelligence as a strategic weapon. 4. Special Forces. To know more about the shape of things to come, kindly read the booklet below : Low Intensity Conflict - The Cruelest counter-revolutionary war of the Imperialists A Booklet authored by Mupalla Laxman Rao alias Com Ganapthy, GS of CPI(Maoist) https://sites.google.com/site/sakethrajan/book-lic-is-the-cruelest-war-on-revolutionaries.pdf?attredirects=0 Anticipation is the Key to Victory The key to winning any battle is knowing what your opponent is going to do before he does. This comes from experience and pattern recognition.When you can anticipate, you can place yourself in the ideal position to bury your opponents before they have the time to adjust. The current rate of mobilization suggests that the Maoist's have 2-3 years before the current government's strategy could lead to atipping point after which the Maoists could face serious reversals and heavy assaults on their strongholds unless they can match the build-up (which seems unlikely considering the resources at their disposal and heavy losses incurred at the top.). Preliminary incursions have already begun in their liberated zones. The government has a greater capacity and staying power than the Maoists and can take greater losses and incur a higher expenditure over a sustained period. India has an unemployment rate of 7-10%. Which means there are an estimated 70-100 million idle minds and hands in this country at any point of time. It is very easy for the GOI to train some of these and put guns in their hands, unlike the Maoists who have to operate, recruit and train under severe constraints. The Avarna's under the leadership of the Maoists will then have to face the question of whether they will make their stand militarily or whether they can counter the offensive through non-military means ?
All that is needed is that the Maoist's control a few strings of the puppet and it should be enough to throw a spanner in the puppet-works and de-stabilize it. How could this be done ? .... Is another post for another day.... |
मंगलवार, 22 मई 2012
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