Urban Naxalism

Urban Naxalism

The term ‘Naxal’ derives its name from the village Naxalbari of district Darjeeling in West Bengal, where the movement originated in 1967 under the leadership of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal.

It refers to the use of violence to destabilize the state through various communist guerrilla groups.

The phrase of Urban Naxals is loosely attributed to the people with a Naxalite bent of mind residing in urban areas and working as activists, supporters and protectors of the ideology while the active Naxals battle it out in the jungles and vast swathes of Maoist-dominated areas.

Origin of Naxalism in India:

The Naxalism in India was an offshoot of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) wherein a small group of the party workers decided to break away to launch an armed struggle against big landowners and establishment.

The objective of this small breakaway group was to capture additional lands of big zamindars and distribute the same among the tilling farmers and landless labourers. The leadership for the first Naxal movement was provided by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal.

How Naxalism spread?

Naxalism spreads by assuring to uphold the interests of the suppressed ones against the prevailing injustices of the establishment, harassment by petty government functionaries, extortion by policemen, and callousness of officers in addressing their grievances.

Naxalism is a sign of poor governance. It is not a coincidence that Naxalism is more dominant in the under-developed areas and has greater influence among those who have faced repercussions due to the faulty socio-economic and political policies of governments.

The Red corridor from Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh to Pashupati in Nepal where Naxals have an overarching influence is one of the under-developed regions of the country. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Naxalism is also a sign of poor governance.

Factors responsible for Urban Naxalism:

• India’s Land Reform Policy:-  Post-independence, the land reform policy of India could not be successful in some parts of the nation, leading to the birth and growth of Naxal movement in India.
• Development Projects and Tribal Alienation: – The tribals are driven by grievances with the Indian Government over decades-long resource mismanagement and systematic marginalisation beginning with a series of development projects in the 1980s that removed tribals from their lands in the name of public good. The conflict between economic progress and aboriginal land rights continues to fuel the Naxalite’s activities.
• Forest Protection Act of 1980:- Although the legislation was an attempt to protect country’s natural resources from exploitation, the law essentially outlawed the existence of many tribal villages that had been in place for centuries. As areas were delineated as reserve forests, traditional occupations of even gathering twigs were forbidden. People who earned their livelihood through access to forest resources in a sustainable manner suddenly found themselves outside the law.

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It was only in 2008 that amendment to forest rights act recognized the tribals’ rights over forest land and forest produce but animosity towards the government had already grown substantially exacerbated by the lack of basic development support to tribal villages.

• The governance deficit:
• Lack of education facilities and basic sustainable employment
• Lack of basic healthcare facilities
• Infrastructure deficit
• Issues related to law and order, grievance redressal
• Lack of routine administration and poorly motivated public personnel
• Mismanagement and corruption in government schemes like the Public Distribution System.
• Poor implementation of special laws
• High handedness of the local administration

Solutions:

• There can be no place for violent armed struggle in Democracy. The government must adopt a twin strategy of dealing in iron hand with the agents of violence and talking to those who are heading a non-violent struggle against the gaps in governance.
• To tackle the armed struggle there must be capacity building of state police forces so that they can take on the challenge posed by the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army with minimal assistance from the Central Armed Police Forces, improving intelligence and ensuring better inter-state and Centre-state coordination.
• Development and peace have to go hand in hand. The government must take steps to win the hearts of people in the affected regions. This together with increasing the trustworthiness of the government aids in breaking the forward and backward linkages of the Naxal movement.

Government strategies to address Naxalism:

• Ban on CPI Maoist, along with all its formations and front organizations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.
• Assistance to the LWE States: ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ being State subjects, action with respect to maintenance of law and order lies primarily in the domain of the concerned State Governments. However, the Central Government closely monitors the situation and coordinates and supplements their efforts in several ways to deal with the LWE problem. These include:
• Providing Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA),
• Setting up of Counter Insurgency and Anti Terrorism (CIAT) schools;
• Modernization of the State Police and their Intelligence apparatus etc.
• Assistance is also provided by the central government under the following schemes:
• Security Related Expenditure Scheme (SRE)
• Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS)
• Central Scheme for assistance to civilian victims/family of victims of terrorism, communal and Naxal violence
• Civic Action Programme (CAPs)

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• Strengthening the intelligence mechanism: This includes intelligence sharing through Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) at the central level and State Multi-Agency Centre (SMAC) at the subsidiary level on a 24×7 basis.
• Media plan: The media has proved to be a potent instrument in creating awareness among the target population about the socio-economic developmental schemes of the Government and their rights & entitlements. The media has also helped to highlight LWE activities to make people aware as to how LWE violence is preventing implementation of the welfare and development schemes, policies and initiatives of the Government.
• Roshani Scheme(Ministry of Rural Development): It is a placement linked skill development scheme for rural and tribal population, in worst-affected districts. It emphasizes on special efforts to proactively cover the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) on a priority basis.

Way forward:

Naxalism is not merely a law and order issue. To truly eliminate Naxalism, we must undercut its reason for existence. While the methods of Naxalites may be abhorrent, most of their goals (apart from overthrowing the government) are not. The government must fulfil these goals for them so that they have nothing to fight for.

The government must adopt a multipronged composite strategy. We can broadly divide the strategy as follows:

Development strategy:

• Better infrastructure in core Naxal areas
• Special forces on political security and accelerated socio-economic development in a holistic manner
• Political parties must strengthen their cadre base in Naxal areas
• Decentralisation and participative democracy
• Better implementation of government schemes

Security strategy

• Promote local resistance groups on lines on ‘village defence committees’ in J&K
• Formation of specially trained special task forces on the pattern of Greyhounds in affected states
• Professional dominance by security forces with the primacy of state police at all levels
• Modernisation and up-gradation of state police infrastructure, weapons and technical equipment
• Strengthening local intelligence units
• Tightening control on the availability of explosives
• Posting of competent and motivated police officers in LWE affected areas

Psychological Operations

• The administration should engage with the public at large, civil society, NGOs to restore people’s faith and confidence in the government machinery
• Media and public perception management

Other measures

• The doors for peace talks should always be open
• There should be genuine attempts to win the hearts and minds of people
• Time-bound conviction of arrested cadre must be ensured through vital reforms in the criminal justice system
• Effective surrender and rehabilitation policy ensuring proper safety and care of their families
• Better adherence to law legislated for protection and development of tribals