Re: Troubled Tribal: Sid Harth
chhotemianinshallah
conference in New Delhi. PTI Photo Photograph (1)
'No talks with Naxal groups till violence persists'
STAFF WRITER 13:42 HRS IST
New Delhi, Dec 2 (PTI) Home Minister P Chidambaram today said there
can be no talks with Naxal groups till violence persists.
"I have offered talks with Naxal groups provided they abjure
violence," he said replying to questions in Rajya Sabha.
"We can talk about any subject - development, infrastructure,
governance - we can talk any subject provided the Naxals abjure
violence. ...but, as long as violence persists, I see no scope for
talks," he said.
Chidambaram said some civil society organisations had indicated that
they could facilitate talks with Naxal groups but no concrete proposal
has come so far.
"We are willing to hold talks with Naxal groups, facilitate their
talks with state governments. But the condition is they should
formally abjure violence," he said.
"I have said that if they abjure violence, I will respond within 72
hours."
"There is no dialogue at the moment with Naxal groups," he said.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/403687_-No-talks-with-Naxal-groups-till-violence-persists-
...and I am Sid Harth
chhotemianinshallah
Top naxal among two killed in Andhra Pradesh
K. Srinivas Reddy
Two top naxalites were shot dead in a gun battle with police in the
remote Kerameri village in Adilabad district on Wednesday evening.
Four weapons, an AK-47, an SLR, a sten gun and a pistol were recovered
from the scene of gunfire.
Police suspect that one of the slain was Bhaskar, secretary of the
Adilabad district committee of the Maoists.
Kerameri village is on the borders of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Of late Maoist presence has increased in Adilabad district which
borders Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.
It was only last week, Maoist cadres attacked and burnt vehicles of
Singareni Collieries Company Limited opposing the government policy of
taking up open cast mining.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article58932.ece
bademiyansubhanallah
Express News Service
First Published : 03 Dec 2009 03:15:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 03 Dec 2009 09:20:17 AM IST
HYDERABAD: After a lull, intense exchange of fire took place between
Greyhounds and Maoists in the dense forests of Adilabad, close to the
Maharashtra border, which left at least three Naxalites dead on
Wednesday.
The Andhra Pradesh police suspect that they could be part of the same
group of rebels, which had ambushed C-60 commandos of Maharashtra at
Gadchiroli killing 17 personnel.
One of the Naxals killed was said to be responsible for setting on
fire seven vehicles of Singareni Colleries limited at Dorli open cast
mining project. According to police sources, the exchange of fire
began around 6.30 p.m as Greyhounds personnel were combing the area at
Kallaygaon village in Kerameri mandal, north of Bheemangudi forests in
Adilabad district. The exchange of fire took place four kilometres
inside Adilabad district. The Greyhounds commandos had been combing
the area for the last two days. Even as it was getting dark, the
firing continued from both sides and as the police inched forward,
they came across two dead bodies of extremists. Though some locals
told the police about another dead body lying some two kilometres
away, the police took no chances fearing it could be a trap. They will
move forward only tomorrow morning.
‘‘One of them has been identified as District Committee Secretary
Bhaskar alias Adellu (50) while we are trying to identify the other
extremist,’’ sources said.
Though sources said that the second extremist could be district
committee secretary C Ravi, the police did not confirm it.
’’In all, we found 18 kit bags which means that the Maoists were
moving in large numbers,’’ the sources said not ruling out the
possibility of another exchange of fire as the Maoists had headed
towards another area being searched by the Greyhounds
bademiyansubhanallah
PTI First Published : 03 Dec 2009 10:41:56 AM IST
Last Updated : 03 Dec 2009 11:47:45 AM IST
NEW DELHI: ULFA Chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa today claimed that reports
of his arrest were aimed at creating confusion and derailing the peace
process in Assam.
“I am speaking to you from the same location in Bangladesh from where
I normally speak from. Those who say that I have been arrested are
deliberately trying to create confusion. They want to derail the peace
process in Assam even before it can begin”, he told north East TV
channel.
53-year-old Rajkhowa said they people opposing him don’t want a
political and peaceful solution to the problem.Such people don’t want
to take the peace process to succeed. Every time we want to take the
peace process forward such people spread wrong information.
Intelligence sources had yesterday said that Rajkhowa had surrendered
to Indian security forces in Agartala and taken to New Delhi by a
flight from the Tripura capital late last evening.
Top government sources in New Delhi had said that Rajkhowa was picked
up by sleuths of Bangladeshi security agencies and kept in a secured
location in Dhaka.
National security advisor MK Narayanan said earlier in the day that if
at all Rajkhowa is arrested, he would probably surrender first.
chhotemianinshallah
NISHIT DHOLABHAI
P Chidambaram
New Delhi, Dec. 1: The Centre is carefully observing the split in
Ulfa, waiting for the rest of the outfit to come forward for talks,
isolating commander-in-chief Paresh Barua.
Union home minister P. Chidambaram said the Centre has not yet
received an offer from the militant outfit for a dialogue but
indicated that it could go ahead without Barua’s participation.
“So far we have no offer, let them come forward,” he told reporters
when asked if the Centre would hold talks without Barua as suggested
by members of the pro-talks companies of the outfit’s 28 battalion.
Peacenik Mrinal Hazarika had recently said the Centre could hold talks
even without Barua.
The Ulfa commander-in-chief, currently believed to have shifted base
on the China-Myanmar border in Yunnan province, is understood to have
fallen out with chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and deputy Raju Barua.
Chidambaram did not hide the fact about Ulfa’s internal wrangle in
Parliament last week.
“Owing to the counter-insurgency operations, Ulfa has come under
tremendous pressure. Its leadership is in disarray. Key Ulfa leaders
are in prison. Recently, two Ulfa leaders surrendered to the Indian
security forces. Three Ulfa leaders are believed to be abroad and
there are reports of serious differences among them,” Chidambaram had
said.
Two Ulfa leaders, Chitrabon Hazarika and Sasha Chowdhury, were handed
over to BSF in Tripura on the Indo-Bangladesh border, apparently
following fissures within the outfit, a source said.
Rajkhowa and Barua have apparently fallen out with each other.
But the home minister made it clear that the talks would be held only
if the demand of sovereignty is not raised and the outfit “abjures
violence”.
Chidambaram also clarified the difference in policy while dealing with
the Maoists and Northeast militants. “Abjuring violence,” home
ministry sources said, indicates laying down of arms for Northeast
rebels. In case of Maoists, it means “halt violence”.
Chidambaram also announced 202 posts of a field intelligence unit for
Assam Rifles today.
The home ministry has also strengthened the subsidiary multi-agency
centre in the region for inter-state intelligence sharing.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091202/jsp/northeast/story_11811320.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
Fri, Dec 4 11:00 AM
New Delhi, Dec. 4 -- In a year that saw the government plan its
biggest surge of central police forces in Naxal-affected areas,
Maoists have hit back hard.
There was a 40 per cent increase in the number of Maoist incidents
this year, pushing the violence profile of the Naxals to a new high.
By October-end, the Maoists were responsible for 1,817 incidents that
killed 455 civilians and 287 policemen.
Over the next 20 days alone, they carried out more than 100 attacks
that killed 30 villagers and tribals. Ajay Maken, Minister of State in
the Home Ministry, told Parliament on Wednesday that 1,920 incidents
had been reported till November 20.
Home Ministry officials said this was the highest figure in any year.
"Maoists have raised the tempo through this year in anticipation of
the offensive and to disrupt the Lok Sabha elections and the ongoing
Jharkhand elections," he said.
Other factors like the operations in West Bengal's Lalgarh area -
which the home ministry has described as a laboratory for the planned
offensive across states - also pushed up the violence profile.
Explaining the central approach, Home Minister P. Chidambaram had on
Wednesday pointed out that it was no use pumping in crores of rupees
into areas held by naxals if the money was going to go into naxal
pockets.
The government, he said, intended to use the minimum force necessary
to restore the rule of law in naxal-infested areas and then deliver a
heavy dose of development.
Hindustan Times
http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20091204/1053/tnl-40-pc-spike-in-naxal-violence-this-y.html
chhotemianinshallah
www.chinaview.cn 2009-12-04 18:21:15
NEW DELHI, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Indian security forces have launched
a major offensive, dubbed "Operation Green Hunt", against the extreme
left-wing Naxal rebels in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, a
senior police official said Friday.
"We are handling the 'Operation Green Hunt' in a more decisive
way. And as on today the operation is on in districts like Bijapurand
Dantewada. According to the information that we have, the police are
not facing any resistance in the interior areas of the rebel
strongholds. It may be an operational tactics of them. We are still
discussing this issue with our officers," Deputy Inspector General of
Polic S.R.P. Killuri told the media.
The operation came days after Indian Home Minister P. Chidambaram
said that the proposed offensive against the Naxalites would be
largely "intelligence based" and the security forces will adopt
tactics used to tackle militancy in the operations.
According to official estimates, Naxals control about 165 of
India's 602 districts. It is estimated that the Naxalites have 9,000
to 10,000 armed fighters, 6,500 firearms and 40,000 full-time cadres.
Editor: Han Jingjing
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-12/04/content_12589537.htm
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 4, 2009 15:36 IST
New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress (TC) today retracted from its demand
for imposition of President's Rule in West Bengal saying it wanted
rule of law to prevail, but demanded deployment of army in three
Maoist-affected districts of the Left-Front ruled state.
"We are not asking for Article 356 (President's Rule) to win
elections. Government must act as per the Constitution andprotect the
minorities, women and weaker sections in West Bengal," TC chief and
railway minister Mamata Banerjee told reporters after meeting with
prime minister Manmohan Singh here.
TC members yesterday created a ruckus in the Lok Sabha, protesting the
Communist Party of India - Maoist [CPI(M)]'s "continuous attack" on
its workers in West Bengal, leading to brief adjournment of the
House.
Banerjee said her party had won the recent Lok Sabha polls, assembly
by-elections and local bodies "without Article 356. We just want to
protect our democratic system and safety and security of the people.
We are neither for Article 355 nor Article 356. We want the genocide
to stop in Bengal."
However, Banerjee demanded deployment of army in the Maoist-affected
districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura "to recover arms
being used by Maoists and to restore law and order in the area".
Asked whether she stuck to the demand for imposition of President's
Rule in the state, she said "we are for genocide to stop and rule of
the law must prevail."
Banerjee along with her party delegation met Manmohan Singh here this
afternoon. On her meeting with the prime minister,Banerjee said "We
told him everything and handed over all details regarding the
continuous violence unleashed by these elements. We want protection of
minorities, people from weaker sections, women and others who are
targeted under the CPI(M) rule and rule of the law should prevail."
About the PM's response she said he gave a patient hearing and
expressed concern over the political violence in the state. "He agreed
that rule of law should prevail."
Accusing the CPI(Marxist) of being hand in glove with Maoists, she
said "they are CPI (Marxist) in the day and CPI (Maoist) at night."
When it was pointed out that many CPI(Marxists workers were also being
killed in the violence, she said, "I want that no one should be killed
and rule of the law should prevail. Many of our party workers are also
killed in the violence.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 4, 2009 16:10 IST
Guwahati: April 7, 1979: United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
founded under the leadership of Arabinda Rajkhowa along with five
others with the aim to establish a "sovereign" Assam.
1979-1985: The group was involved in different violent activities
during the six year long Assam agitation, spearheaded by All Assam
Students' Union.
May 9, 1990: Ulfa kills Surendra Paul, a leading tea planter and
brother of Lord Swraj Paul, causing many tea estate managers to flee
the state.
Nov 28, 1990: President's rule imposed in Assam, dismissing the then
Prafulla Kumar Mahanta government; Centre bans the ULFA; Indian Army
launches Operation Bajrang as counter offencive against the group.
July 1, 1991: Ulfa cadre abduct 14 people including an engineer of
erstwhile USSR.
Jan 14, 1992: Operation Rhino against ULFAsuspended by state
government as the group agrees for talks.
Apr 11, 1992: Ulfa guns down 10 security personnel.
June 29, 1994: Vice chairman of the group Pradip Gogoi nabbed by
security forces.
April 28, 1996: Lt Col Devendra Tyagi shot dead by the terrorists in
the Kamakhya temple, Guwahati.
May 18, 1996: Superintendent of Police, Tinsukia, Ravi Kant Singh
killed by ULFA.
Jun 8, 1997: Chief minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta escapes attempt on
life after his convoy is ambushed by the ULFAin Guwahati.
July 4, 1997: The banned outfit kills social activist Sanjoy Ghosh.
Jan, 1998: Ulfa general secretary Anup Chetia arrested in Dhaka.
Feb 4, 1999: Ulfa and three other insurgent groups in the region
launch their websites.
Sep 24, 1999: BJP Lok Sabha candidate Pannalal Oswal killed in Dhubri
ahead of polls by the outfit.
Feb 27, 2000: Ulfa kills the then state PWD and forest minister, Nagen
Sharma in Nalbari district.
Dec 15, 2003: Royal Bhutan Army launches military operations against
the Ulfa, NDFB and KLO terrorists.
Dec 22, 2003: Ulfa seeks safe passage from China for its cadre from
Bhutan.
Nov 18, 2004: Ulfa chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa expresses willingness to
begin a peace dialogue with the Centre.
Oct 26, 2005: Negotiations between the Centre and the Ulfa-nominated
People's Consultative Group start in New Delhi.
Jan 1, 2006: Rajkhowa demands release of senior leaders of Ulfa before
holding direct talks with New Delhi.
July 1, 2006: The outfit expresses willingness to hold direct talks
with the Centre.
Aug 13, 2006: The Centre stops all operations by security forces
against the Ulfa for a few days.
Aug 31, 2006: Paresh Barua in a communique assures the Union
Government that its jailed leaders will not abscond, after being
released.
Sep 24, 2006: Government resumes counter-insurgency operations against
Ulfa after the deadline for ceasefire expired on September 20.
Sep 27, 2006: PCG pulls out from the peace talks with the Union
Government.
Oct 30, 2008: About 77 persons killed and more than 300 injured in 13
near-simultaneous blasts in Assam.
Dec 21, 2008: General secretary of Ulfa, Golap Barua alias Anup
Chetia, moves to the UN for refugee status once released from
Bangladesh jail where he was under trial.
Jul 21, 2008: The Centre confirms that Paresh Baruah has moved out of
Bangladesh for some time.
Oct 14, 2008: Home minister P Chidambaram said talks with the Ulfa
only after it abjures violence.
Nov 6, 2009: Ulfa's 'foreign secretary' Sashadhar Choudhury and
'finance secretary' Chitraban Hazarika surrender before BSF near
Agartala.
Dec 4, 2009 : Ulfa 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa and 'Deputy commander-
in-chief' Raju Baruah along with family members surrender to Indian
authorities along Indo-Bangla border in Meghalaya.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_a-chronology-of-ulfa-since-its-inception_1320025
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 4, 2009 16:56 IST
Guwahati: Reflecting the differences in United Liberation Front of
Assom's (Ulfa) top leadership, its elusive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh
Baruah today asked the group's 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa not to
fall into the "trap" of Indian government by holding a dialogue.
"I appeal to you not to fall into the trap of the Indian government,
and declare your present stand keeping in mind the sacrifice of 12,000
martyrs who laid down their lives for an independent Assam, as well as
the people of Assam who crave for independence," he said in an email
statement.
Baruah said, Rajkhowa, 'military spokesman' Raju Baruah and another
activist Raja Gogoi have been under the custody of security forces
since December 2.
"The Indian government has 'hatched dirty politics' in the name of
initiating talks with Ulfa, and we demand that the Indian government
should desist from such an 'evil practice'," he said in the statement
issued in Assamese.
Baruah also asked Rajkhowa to clarify his stand publicly as people of
Assam have been in confusion and puzzled over the recent media reports
about the latter's detention.
"Besides, it is your (Rajkhowa's) moral responsibility to clarify your
present stand, which will help clear the confusion and puzzle that is
engulfing the minds of the people of Assam," he said.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Friday, December 4, 2009 14:57 IST
New Delhi: The Centre today said that Ulfa leaders, who surrendered
today, will have to face judicial process as several cases were
pending against them and talks with the militant outfit will take
place in "due course".
"(Arabinda) Rajkhowa and Raju Baruah have surrendered and then they
were arrested. They are now in Guwahati. They will be produced in a
court," home secretary GK Pillai told reporters when asked about the
fate of the Ulfa leaders, who surrendered along the Indo-Bangla border
in Meghalaya. "They have just surrendered, everything will take place
in due course," he said.
His comments came when asked about the possibility of holding peace
talks with the militant group following the surrender of Ulfa chairman
Arabinda Rajkhowa, deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah and eight
others.
Asked about the fate of the family members of Rajkhowa and others,
Pillai said as no cases were pending against the family members, they
were free to go. "Families are free," he said.
Sid Harth
Red alert in Assam, fears of backlash
PTI
The Assam Police have sounded a red alert across the state fearing
backlash following the apprehension of ULFA ‘chairman’ Arabinda
Rajkhowa and ‘deputy commander-in-chief’ Raju Baruah.
All police stations were alerted to maintain vigil and step up
security measures in view of the situation, official sources said.
The Centre has also directed the state government to beef up security
measures in the state, the sources said.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said, “Nobody can rule out backlash. I have
alerted my officers and the government of Assam has to be prepared for
it at all times.”
ULFA had struck in a big way with twin blasts in Nalbari killing nine
people and injuring 53 others after the arrest of its ‘finance
secretary’ Chitrabon Hazarika and ‘foreign secretary’ Sasha Choudhury
on November five.
Rajkhowa and Barua were apprehended by the BSF at Dawki in Meghalaya
the early hours today and brought here along with seven other ULFA
members, including Rajkhowa’s wife, amid tight security.
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article60140.ece
bademiyansubhanallah
Sid Harth
TNN 5 December 2009, 09:44pm IST
DAVANAGERE: Over 30 Naxalites are still active in Hosanagara, Varahi
and other places in Chikmagalur, Udupi, DK districts, according to
Eastern Range IGP H N Satyanarayana Rao.
Speaking to reporters in Davanagere on Saturday after inaugurating the
observation of crime prevention month, he said after the arrest of
Devendra, a Naxal leader, their activities have receded in the area.
Earlier they moved in large numbers but now they have been spotted in
twos and threes, the IGP added. Frequent combing operations have also
checked their movements, he said.
Davanagere tops in crime detection: IGP
The IGP said that Davanagere district tops in crime detection in the
entire Eastern Range, encompassing Chitradurga, Bellary, Shimoga and
Davanagere districts.
He lauded the efforts of the Davanagere police for their timely action
and the best recovery of public property. Davanagere district police
should work hard so as to get the state-level award, the IGP said.
He has called on the public to cooperate with the police to bring down
the crime rate. SP Sandeep Patil called on the public to go for
central locking system in their houses to prevent thefts and other
crimes.
Sid Harth
PTI 5 December 2009, 08:24pm IST
GUWAHATI: Produced in handcuffs, top ULFA leaders Arabinda Rajkhowa
and Raju Baruah today resented their treatment by the police and vowed
"never to surrender" as another leader Paresh Baruah said dialogue is
possible only with sovereignty on the agenda.
Rajkhowa, Baruah and Raja Borah, who were picked up along with their
family on Indo-Bangladesh border yesterday, were produced in a court
to face legal process in a 1998 case and were remanded to 12 days
police custody.
ULFA 'chairman' Rajkhowa and 'deputy commander-in-chief Raju Baruah
were brought with handcuffs in one of the hands, connected to a police-
held rope and they made no secret of their anger.
After the brief remand proceedings, both the leaders claimed they have
not surrendered before the Indian authorities and that they were
"betrayed" by Bangladesh.
"We have not surrendered and there can be no talks with handcuffs on.
Bangladesh has betrayed us. We have to be free. We want peace, but not
in this way," Rajkhowa shouted to newsmen before being taken away
after production.
"We should have worn the garland of victory and come, but we had to
come with handcuffs on. We have not surrendered and will never ever
surrender," he said.
Paresh Baruah, who is believed to be in Myanmar and who had yesterday
asked Rajkhowa not to fall into the government's trap of dialogue,
today denied there was any split in the organisation he had "full
confidence" in Rajkhowa.
"We are ready for dialogue provided sovereignty for Assam is
discussed," he said in an email to the media from an undisclosed
location fine tuning his reservation on the dialogue process.
Raju Baruah claimed that their arrest was "a deep-rooted conspiracy
but it will not end our movement. It will continue".
In the court of Kamrup Chief Judicial Magistrate Robin Phukan, police
asked for 14-day custody while the lawyer of the ULFA leaders opposed
it. After hearing both the sides, the CJM remanded them to 12 days
police custody.
The ULFA leaders were booked under the Special Operation Unit 2/98
which is a legal document that has the names of Rajkhowa, Barua and
Bora and also under Section 384 of the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act.
Earlier, self-styled 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Barua, who is known
to be against talks, said that he had "full confidence'" in Rajkhowa
and the outfit was ready for a dialogue provided 'sovereignty' of
Assam was discussed.
Denying that there was a split in the ULFA, he said "There is no split
in the ULFA and we have full confidence on Chairman Rajkhowa. The
question of difference of opinion does not arise and now it is upto
the Indian government to show their sincerity by taking the process
forward".
Family members of any of the leaders were not produced in the court.
Pro-ULFA slogans rent the air as total chaos prevailed outside the
court premises. Slogans like "Arabinda Rajkhowa zindabad...Raju Barua
zindabad...ULFA zindabad" were heard and the policemen chased aways
the youths who were shouted the slogans.
The heavy traffic on the road came to a standstill as people
desperately tried to have a look at the ULFA leaders.
After the production, the ULFA leaders had been taken to a guesthouse
in the high-security 4th Assam Police Battalion establishment at
Kahilipara.
chhotemianinshallah
Prabin Kalita, TNN 6 December 2009, 02:10am IST
GUWAHATI: A day after the Centre let out that Ulfa ‘chairman’ Arabinda
Rajkhowa had surrendered, the top leader of the organisation, Paresh
Baruah, hiding somewhere along the Sino-Myanmarese border, ruled out
dialogue with the Union government unless it was ready to discuss
Assam’s sovereignty. He also said he had ‘‘full confidence’’ in
Rajkhowa and his deputy Raju Baruah and denied any split in Ulfa.
Rajkhowa, in police custody, too, appeared to take a trenchant
position against any dialogue, saying he couldn’t be part of any talks
as a prisoner.
On Saturday, even as Rajkhowa was being taken to a Guwahati court,
Baruah emailed the second statement which stressed that there was no
difference of opinion between him and Rajkhowa. He referred to
Rajkhowa’s sacrifices in the last 30 years and said talks of division
among them were part of a campaign launched by home secretary G K
Pillai.
As Rajkhowa and Raju Baruah were driven to the court in a bus, the air
was rent with slogans. Playing to the gallery, Rajkhowa pumped his
fist and declared, “We have not surrendered and we will not
surrender.’’
‘‘There can be no discussion in captivity,’’ Rajkhowa later said, as
he emerged out of the court, which suggested there wouldn’t be a start
to the peace process with any sense of urgency. Earlier this week,
Home minister Chidambaram had said in Parliament that he was expecting
a peace statement from Ulfa very soon and had assured that the
government would respond to it within 72 hours.
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Dec 05, 2009 at 1838 hrs
Guwahati:
ULFA Deputy Commander-in-Chief Raju Barua being produced in a local
court in Guwahati.
ULFA 'deputy commander-in-chief' Raju Barua on Saturday claimed the
group's movement will continue and the question of surrender did not
arise.
"We have not surrendered and will never ever surrender," Barua told
reporters while being taken away from the chief judicial magistrate's
court.
"Our arrest is a deep-rooted conspiracy, but will not end our movement
and it will continue," he said.
Barua, alias Hitesh Kalita, was brought to the court in handcuffs and
remanded in 12 days police custody.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ulfa-movement-to-continue-deputy-cinc/550397/
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Dec 05, 2009 at 1625 hrs
Guwahati:
Arrest of ULFA 'chairman' Arabinda Rajkhowa may have triggered hopes
for talks to settle Assam's vexed insurgency problem but both experts
and members of the group maintain that without 'commander-in-chief'
Paresh Barua there can be no lasting solution.
"Paresh Barua is someone who cannot be ignored altogether. If the
government is planning to go ahead with talks by involving the
'chairman', then it is a big mistake," said noted litterateur and
former facilitator for peace talks Indira Goswami.
"The government may have its reasons, but the person controlling the
cadres and cash cannot be ignored. All said and done, peace talks
without Barua will be futile and counter-productive," the former Delhi
University professor said.
Former state police chief Hare Krishna Deka said Rajkhowa's detention
may have paved the way for a dialogue between the group and the Centre
but if Barua is out of the process, then there will be no end to
violence in the state.
"Barua will go all out to create disturbances in the state as he still
has his group of followers and he will be desperate to prove the
group's strength," he said.
ULFA's arrested 'vice chairman' Pradip Gogoi also asserted that both
Rajkhowa and Barua must be present for talks.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/no-lasting-peace-if-talks-held-sans-paresh-barua-experts/550390/
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Dec 05, 2009 at 1842 hrs
Guwahati:
A file photo of ULFA chairman, Arabinda Rajkhowa with a woman and
child, presumably his family.
ULFA's top leaders were on Saturday brought before the legal process
as its elusive 'commander-in-chief' Paresh Baruah fine-tuned his
reservations on dialogue saying he was ready for talks provided
'sovereignty' for Assam was on the agenda.
Huge crowds gathered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate's court to
get their first glimpse of the militant leaders Chairman Arabinda
Rajkhowa and 'deputy commander-in- chief' Raju Baruah and Raja Borah,
who were remanded to 12 days' police custody.
Rajkhowa and Baruah claimed that they had not surrendered would never
do it as they were taken back to the police van by the personnel of
the Special Operations Unit of the Assam Police.
Their lawyer Bijon Mahajan said the three have been booked under some
old case registered against them years ago and the custody was granted
against the police demand for 14 days.
Paresh Baruah, who is believed to be in Myanmar and who had on
Saturday asked Rajkhowa not to fall into the government's trap of
dialogue, today denied there was any split in the organisation he had
"full confidence" in Rajkhowa.
"We are ready for dialogue provided sovereignty for Assam is
discussed," he said in an email to the media from an undisclosed
location.
Rajkhowa and other leaders, who were sheltered in Bangladesh, were
reportedly spotted in the small hours along with family members on the
Indo-Bangladesh border in Meghalaya from where they were brought here
by road.
Denying that there was a split in the ULFA, Paresh Baruah said, "There
is no split... and we have full confidence on Chairman Arabinda
Rajkhowa".
He said "the question of difference of opinion does not arise and now
it is up to the Indian government to show their sincerity by taking
the process forward."
Baruah dubbed the news regarding split in the ULFA as "conspiracy by
the Indian government as a part of its divide and rule policy and
misinformation campaign to create confusion among the people of
Assam".
Rajkhowa's brother Ajay Rajkonwar, who was present at the court and
met his brother for the first time in 25 years, said Rajkhowa told him
that they would involve in the peace process only if the government
agreed to put the issue of Assam's 'sovereignty' in the agenda for
discussion.
The crowds burst into slogan shouting hailing the surrender of
Rajkhowa and others and calling for peace in Assam.
6 Comments |
Regionalism should be curbed with iron hand as it is fuelling
separatism
By: Mona Sharma | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:29:57 PM
Same thing is happening in Maharashtra where terror is unleashed by
Thackerays and their supporters large number of marathis on Gujaratis,
South Indians and now North Indians under the demand on Mumbee Aamchee
and Marathi Pride. These anti-nationals should be shot down by
government without trials the way China does. Regionalism should be
curbed with iron hand as it is fuelling separatism.
Punish Anti-nationals
By: Mona Sharma | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:23:15 PM
Unfortunately the people who are asking for sovereignty are hindus and
this demands points out india has bigger problem in the waiting. This
is tip of the iceberg. A weak central government whose leaders are
more interested in reaping benefits of powers are failing india. Weak
India is not fit for democracy and president rule has to be imposed
now. Even Ashok Chavan started singing same tune of Thackerays saying
all jobs for marathis only defying competitive exams, and capability.
Assam----
By: romesh.sharma | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 20:22:53 PM
To repeat again I would stress on the point that it was/is the result
of Congress and its led Govts's negligency,inefficiency and anti-
nation policies which have forced people to protest and demand
sovereignity.Their reasons of resentments are well justified.The
Centre had never cared/bothered for problems and interests of this
whole region.Long existing conflicts were never addressed to solve and
eliminate the very basic troubles caused through every inexplainble
reasons.After 71 BDeshis came like locust swarms devouring livehood of
locals,occupying every inch,inflicting crime,infesting poverty and
deteriotated infrastructure;whar little was there,and conteminated
beautiful culture.Its over three decades Assamese have done all they
could to make realize the consequences but nobody took them seriously-
just neglected.One spark can burn whole forest and one fish can spoil
the whole pond but here the fire has already started and there are
innumerable dirty fish to contaminate culture cont
FREE INDIA
By: Robert Mathew | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 15:06:50 PM
India's callous negligence to develop the north eastern states, the
failure to include the men and women in its frame work for a larger
and the disparity in wealth distribution are the root causes for the
emergence of outfits that work against the indian soverignity. While
millions are suffering to eke out a living, the elected leadership
involves in massive curruption, exploitaion of and bonded slavery.
Thiry years is a long priod of time and India should have resolved the
issues. India's judiciary must identify the culprits and convict them
for the good of the nation. Ennact laws gapping the loop holes, to
prevent criminals entering politics and for a desciplined democracy.
that pave way for the educated and patriotic eliments to lead the
country with attention to alleviate poverty, develop education.Provide
opportunities to the talented while rooting out tainted. When a
democratic system fails, a despotic system is sure to replace it.
Sovereignty
By: Krupa | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 14:57:58 PM
The only 'sovereignty' that should be discussed is the 'sovereignty'
of India. If Paresh Barua does not agree with this and we should ask
him, along with chinese masters, to go to hell.
It's patience time
By: RANA | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 14:40:19 PM
This is good sign for ASSAM as usual for ULFA, because in past time
how BLT manage to form a wonderfull BTC, hope this time same things
happens to Assam.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/ulfa-leaders-in-court-paresh-for-talks-on-sovereignty/550362/0
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Dec 05, 2009 at 1401 hrs
Guwahati:
The location of ULFA chairman Arabinda Rajkhowa and the outfit's
military deputy-in-chief Raju Barua besides eight others apprehended
by the Assam police is being kept a closely guarded secret.
There were reports that Rajkhowa and the others were shifted from the
high-security 4th Assam Police Battalion establishment at Kahilipara
to another location here, but police officials were unwilling to part
with any information on his exact location.
Rajkhowa, along with his wife and nine others had arrived in Guwahati
on Friday after they were handed over to the BSF by Bangladesh
security forces at Dawki in Meghalaya.
Rajkhowa and Barua are expected to be produced in the Kamrup Chief
Judicial Magistrate Court at any time, his lawyer who practises in the
Gauhati High Court, Bijon Mahajan said.
"As Rajkhowa and Barua's family members have appointed me as their
lawyer, it will be my duty to ensure that they get justice under the
law of the land," he said.
Asked under what act they could be arrested, the lawyer said, it could
be under the Special Operations Unit (SOU) 2/98 or something similar
if their names figured in police records.
Unprecedented security measures were evident around the CJM court in
Pan Bazar with a huge number of police and paramilitary forces
deployed.
A barricade has been erected near the court while, traffic in the area
was diverted.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/arrested-ulfa-chief-rajkhowas-location-being-kept-secret/550363/
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Friday , Dec 04, 2009 at 1723 hrs
Dawki/Guwahati:
ULFA's top leaders Arabinda Rajkhowa and Raju Barua surrendered to the
Indian authorities early on Friday morning raising hopes of a dialogue
for peace in Assam but differences erupted in the banned militant
outfit.
Two days after he was reportedly detained in Bangladesh, ULFA Chairman
Arabinda Rajkhowa (53), and Deputy Chief of its military operations
Raju Barua (43) were taken into custody by the Border Security Force
after they were "seen" near Dawki outpost on the India-Bangladesh
border in Meghalaya.
They were spotted around 1.15 am and when "challenged" by the BSF they
offered to surrender, BSF Inspector General Prithviraj said.
In New Delhi, Home Secretary G K Pillai said the ULFA leaders will
have to face judicial process for cases pending against them while it
is understood that heinous charges may not be pressed against them.
The arrival of ULFA leadership in India raised hopes of initiation of
a peace talks with the outlawed group whose leadership had taken
shelter in Bangladesh and directed violence mostly in Assam from there
for the last 30 years.
However, reflecting the differences in top ULFA leadership the elusive
commander-in-chief Paresh Barua asked Rajkhowa not to fall into the
"trap" of Indian government by holding a peace dialogue.
Comments (2) |
mockery of the system
By: hari mohan dubey | 05-Dec-2009
Ifully agree with mr A.kumar.I was in assam for a decaed& I have seen
these drama very closely & Iam very surethat another drama is on,bythe
C.govt &state govt.in fact Govt was never interseted to solve the
problems.I fully aware they are going to ditch the poor people of
assam once again by arrengig such well rehaersled show.PL.For god
sake, now stop all this mockery.Do some thing for peoples ASSAM.
What Farce
By: Ajay Kumar | 05-Dec-2009
This arrest and surrender is of the ULFA leaders seem to be stage
managed by the Central Government. Then comes the statement of the
Home Secy. that heinous charges will not be pressed against them. What
a mockery of the system? Lesser criminals get charged and tried, but
not the worst perpetrators of violence and pillage. By this act the
central government would be sanctifying their acts to date as genuine
freedom struggle; more so, like what Chavez said of the Jackal. When
will India learn to be a strong state?
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/rajkhowa-handed-over-to-indian-authorities-in-meghalaya/550008/
chhotemianinshallah
Agencies
Posted: Saturday , Dec 05, 2009 at 1654 hrs
New Delhi:
Thirty years after eight Dalits were massacred by upper caste Thakurs
in Uttar Pradesh, the Supreme Court has sentenced to life imprisonment
five of the accused and said caste system should be abolished soon for
ensuring rule of law and smooth functioning of democracy.
Reversing the acquittal of the six accused, the apex court said
"unfortunately, the centuries-old Indian caste system still takes its
toll from time to time. This case unfolds the worst kind of atrocities
committed by the so- called upper caste (Kshatriya or Thakur) against
the so-called lower caste caste in a civilized country.
"It is absolutely imperative to abolish the caste system as
expeditiously as possible for smooth functioning of rule of law and
democracy in our country," a bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and A
K Patnaik said in a judgement.
The apex court said minor discrepancies in statements of witnesses
should be ignored by courts in such carnages as they are bound to be
under tremendous fear.
The accused belonging to Thakur caste butchered seven totally innocent
persons belonging to Harijan caste and to wipe out the evidence of
their atrocities, threw their bodies in the strong currents of the
Ganges, the apex court said adding the massacre was carried out to
teach a lesson to so-called lower caste and commit dacoity at the
village.
It was at the intervention of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
and Dalit leader Jagjivan Ram that the police had arrested 18 people
in connection with the massacre on September 9, 1979, at village
Lohari, under Hussainganj police station in Uttar Pradesh.
Comments |
Abolish caste system: SC, gives lifer to 6 for Dalit killings
By: Premangsu Chowdry | Sunday , 6 Dec '09 0:59:20 AM
Atlast the Supreme Court judgement has sounded the knell to the
manipulations of the so-called upper caste Hindu law makers in the
Parliament and state legislatures, and society, prominent in certain
parts of the Country.The quota raj and the 'twisting the arms'
tactics,including delaying the process of law, have been heinous from
the time of Mannu.The stigma, to the Country's shame, is displayed in
the United Nations resolutions.The Naxal ranks have reached the
present spectre by the Dalits and others being oppressed in our
democracy which is losing its basic tenets to the vested interests;
they are controlling the process of vote-gathering to weilding of
authority of the law makers.Sadly our democracy lacked the courage
from the beginning, to tackle 'unpalatable' matters for the sake of
the struggle for the 'gaddi'and feathering it.Irrespective of whether
one wants to admit or not,the Naxal unrest will continue,if the caste
disparity goes on any longer.The wake-up call has sounded
CASTE SYSTEM AND INDIA
By: Rajiv Dua | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 23:42:13 PM
Every country has more or less a caste system, some new some old. By
interfering with the caste system the result is a grave provocation.
The way to go is to protect all oppressed people, irrespective of
caste or religion. Also never let a criminal go free whatsoever his
political affliations or caste is. Remove discrimination but do not
push against an ancient system, that is the way to proceed. Mayawati
is doing an excellent job in this direction.
Judiciary needs reform first
By: Rajesh | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 22:25:58 PM
It is good that upper caste murderers are brought to justice. But fact
that it took 30 years is travesty to justice. The murderers remained
because upper caste bias in police and judiciary. As long as
judiciary, that includes Supreme court, is dominated by upper caste,
justice cannot be served to the lower castes.
Abolish caste system: SC, gives lifer to 6 for Dalit killings
By: MK | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 22:25:56 PM
The justice is not served. May be lifer equals hang to death in IPC.
What about delay in justice 30yrs; the judiciary and police department
must pay it. Until 30 yrs. The corrupted officers of both departments
were squeezes the culprits and filling the pockets. This fact was
known to the justice too, why did not take stern action? In philosophy
no one can beat Indians and that%u2019s the master excuses, in action
zero.
Who will reform and make the courts accountable
By: Indian | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:53:59 PM
The Supreme court has been agressive with the political class for past
few years and we have all been cheering them. But looks like they are
very sloppy and have been denying justice for most of the Indians. I
humbly request the Chief Justice to look into this and take necessary
action.
All indians are equal in the eyes of the law (with both eyes open).
By: Devji kumar | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:34:33 PM
All indians regardless of social position in society, race, gender,
tribe, wealth, profession public office employees and non-public
office employees are equal in the eyes of the law (with both eyes
open). Its oblious that the ruling classes are taking the indian
public for a ride on the fast lane and all at public expense. Its
regreatable that school children have to clean river Jumana,
Politicians are given immunity against pending rape case, the ruling
class continue to slave the rest of the public even in the 21st
century in the name of religion and traditional customs. What is India
becoming, if not 'one big bollywood movie for individual consumption'
by the ruling class/elite tribes. What are the professional
responsibilities of the elected public officials and CBI ? India is
still waiting for a respectable leader who can make a difference to
the majority of the india's public. Can we see this happening during
our generation, well only time will tell !
Must get rid of Evil Shastras...
By: kranti | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:27:16 PM
According to PURUSHA-SUKTA OF Rig Veda Brahamins,Kshatriyas Vaishyas
and Shudras originated respestively from the mouth,hands,thighs and
feet of the PURUSHA or creater(Brahama).I reject this statement as
false.It is man made EVIL social institution and it has nothing to do
with so called creator of the world. In the first chapter of
Manusmriti,it is clearly stated that Brahmins,kshatriyas,Vaishyas and
Shudras were created by Brahama(creator of the world)from his
mouth,hands,thighs and feet respectively[20]. Manu claims that the
same Brahama who created this world,also created Manusmriti and taught
it to him[21]. I believe breaking up of Hindu caste system is
impossible unless we get rid of this so called "HOLLY SHASTRAS".
dalits
By: Kumarpushp | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:17:31 PM
What a shame for hindus and their hindu led government that it took 30
year to get justice in India ,time has come dalits should demand for
seprate county away from barbaric people where dalits can stay
peacefully.
India---
By: chandra | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:16:56 PM
It is not possible to elimanate the caste system and it is not
worthwhile so. If we remove the caste system and people will be
classified and identified on the basis of language, place and skin
colour. Discrimanation will always be there .. only form will undergo
a change... The Rich and the Poor is the best way to categorize the
people and then treat them accordingly (Western countries..unwritten
rules say so..)The problem is not with caste system.. it is with
mentality that needs to be challenged. Those poor people if get
employment oriented education and become selfdependent.. we can tackle
this issue very comfortably. Unplanned development and unbalanced
growth of indian economy are also increasing the gap between the rich
and the poor.. so it will be a new problem.. then Manu will not be
blamed but someone else..
Why politicans and bureacrats get instant attention from government
for the 5 star life style
By: karze | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 21:11:23 PM
Its difficult for poor and low caste to get the justice in India. See
the case of Bhopal MIC case. Even after 25 years the victims who has
died, maim for generations to come have not got justice. While
politician get instant justice like staying in 5 star suite costing
government 37 lakhs just to keep his ego comfort. How does politicians
and bureacrats get instant government intervention while poor are
neglected for generations. Partly its in the mentality of politicians
and bureaucrats that poor and helpless are treated as less of human
like a street dogs. Its only during election that they are treated as
human.
justice delayed
By: sushil verma | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 20:40:13 PM
Why do cases in India take 10, 15, 20 30 years? It is travesty of
justice. If they are given life sentence, the culprits have enjoyed 30
years of freedom, and are 30 years older than when they committed the
crime. So effectively the life sentence is only for very few years
until they die their natural death.
Abolition of caste system
By: Gopal | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 20:21:23 PM
The spirit of the judges in calling for abolition of caste system in
the country is nothing but echoing of their conscience. I fully agree
with their opinion. But unfortunately, every election be it panchayati
or parliament, is fought only by appealing to differenct castes and
putting up candidates based on the caste of the people in that area.
The same judiciary has upheld reservation based on caste basis. The
immediate step should be to stop caste based reservation and only
economic backwardness should be the criteria. This alone will unite
people. What have the so-called champions of backward classes achieved
except taking care of their own material welfare. What have Mulayams
and Mayawatis done for the upliftment of the Dalits ? They only whip
up passions of these hapeless lot for their own upliftment. Abolition
of caste system calls for a statesman leader in our
governance.Unfortunately, no face is visible on the horizon.
Caste system
By: Prakash Singh | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 19:55:13 PM
Indians are fanatic about thier caste same way Muslims are about thier
religion. Almost every Indian is fanatic about thier caste. That's
racism at the micro level. It makes me very happy to see when Indians
get whipped in Australia and crying foul about racism. Go back to
India and set your house in order first and then complain about
Australia and the world.
Caste system, religion and Culture-Tools of Repression
By: Jas | Sunday , 6 Dec '09 0:31:35 AM
Indians on the whole are incapable of not being fanatic fools,
irrespective of the tall claim they make about their religion, culture
or civilization.Hindus are fanatic about their useless gods, demeaning
caste system and the stinking culture that dehumanize large part of
their population including women. For Muslims nothing better is
created in this world than the primitive and extremely repressive
nonsense called Islam. Some demented Indians reduced the guru Nanak's
philosophy of universal human brotherhood and respect for human rights
irrespective of gender, to another religion, of symbolism only, called
Sikhism. They seem to have borrowed religious fanatism from Muslims
and casteism from Hindus and recrysllize these virtues of India
further. Now about these judges-these hypocrites took 30 years to
decide this case and felt the need to lecture about efficieny. Enough
said. If my post hurt anybody's moronic 'religious feelings' - please
note that it was totally intentional and he/she should get a life.
Is it possible to change the laws of Manu?
By: patutadil | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 19:43:06 PM
Justice delayed is justice denied. Was not the accused enjoying
freedom for thirty years? What sort of judicial system that India has,
that takes 30 years to pass judgment on murder cases and 17 years to
name the culprits who meticulously planned the demolition of a place
of worship. Castes can never be eliminated in India until Hinduism
itself is reinterpreted, Hindu Laws are re-written, the Laws of Manu
are declared invalid, illogical and irrational and against the laws of
nature that humanity is equal and there is no difference between man
and man, the superiority of man is based on his truthfulness,
righteousness. God has created us into nations, tribes, clans so that
we can recognise each other, but in the sight of God those who are
closer to God are those who are virtuous, righteous, and God-fearing.
Expose the Castiests in Politics.
By: R.C.Mohan | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 19:28:20 PM
It is absolutely unimperical and unethical to say that the Cast system
cannot be abolished. With a stern commitment to the cause of the
principle, the Government can declare the abolition just with a
notification. The politicians running the polity in the names of
castes would be exposed with that declaration. But which government
shall dare do that? It is with the support of these castiest parties,
many previous governements survived and the present one now survive.
Jawarharlal Nehru, Sasthri and Indira could do thatbut they did not do
anything other than propogating against it for votes. This attrocities
against dalit may go on and on under present situation. Who bothers!
After all getting into power is the goal of each party. All others are
issues of miniscule importance.
Racism
By: Akz | Saturday , 5 Dec '09 18:50:23 PM
The caste system is nothing but racism, it is still prevailing in our
country. In the 21st century, this is like a joke. Its never too late,
or shall I say better late than never. Some right thinking leaders (do
we have any) should come forthright to stop this menace. There should
be no one in India called upper or lower or backward. If we are to get
any benefit then it should be on the basis if economic condition of an
individual. A hungry person will get help, and not some one born to a
type of caste which is currently the case. Do I think that this will
happen, it never will. Why, because we do not have any politician who
is a statesman like, who can think above his party position. Let us
pray that we have some people who can get us out of this
discrimination and live in a better society.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/expose-the-castiests-in-politics./550392/#postComment
chhotemianinshallah
Raipur: Four civilians were Sunday killed when suspected naxals blew
up a truck in a landmine blast in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district,
police said.
Naxals blew up the truck near Keralapal village in the district,
killing all the four persons
travelling in the vehicle on the spot, Superintendent of Police,
Dantewada, Amresh Singh said.
The truck had left Doranapal village in the district for Sukama with
truck's owner Surya Narayan Raju and three labourers. As it reached
near Keralapal village on NH-221, naxals triggered landmine blast, he
said.
Police was trying to ascertain the identity of victims, Singh said.
http://www.mathrubhumi.org/news.php?id=27279&cat=1&sub=15&subit=N
chhotemianinshallah
Ananya Dutta
KOLKATA: Maoists on Wednesday shot dead a supporter of the Communist
Party of India (Marxist) and grievously injured another person in the
Belpahari thana area near Lalgarh in Paschim Medinipur district of
West Bengal.
A group of Maoists shot Subal Mahato and Suresh Murmu at Chirakuti
village and the former died on the spot, Superintendent of Police
Manoj Verma told The-Hindu over the phone. Murmu was taken to a
hospital, he said.
Mahato was involved in the government’s local water supply scheme,
District Magistrate of Paschim Medinipur N. S. Nigam said.
At a rally in Kolkata, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said
Maoists had killed 70 supporters of the Left parties in the region in
the recent past.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/10/stories/2009121056430100.htm
Sid Harth
By JYOTI THOTTAM / NEW DELHI Wednesday, Dec. 09, 2009
The view of one of the destroyed doors and wall at Dwarika Middle
School in Jharkhand. Local residents now use the classroom to store
tobacco leaves.
Human Rights Watch
The Maoist insurgency gripping India's heartland has been blamed for
more than 800 violent deaths this year, and will soon be a target of a
major counter-offensive by Indian security forces. But the so-called
Naxalite movement — as well as the fight against it — has a hidden
cost: the education of thousands of India's most vulnerable children,
whose schools have been blasted by rebels, occupied by security
forces, or both.
A report released Dec. 9 by Human Rights Watch found that at least 39
schools in the Eastern states of Jharkhand and Bihar have been
attacked by Naxals in the last year. That doesn't include schools that
are occupied by state security forces, of which the total number is
still unknown. "When we wanted to know of the exact number of schools
that were being occupied by the security forces, the government
refused to provide us the details," says Subrata Bhattacharjee,
president of the Jharkhand chapter of the People's Union For Civil
Liberties (PUCL), an advocacy group based in that state. The PUCL
filed a public-interest lawsuit in Jharkhand and found that 52 schools
in that state were occupied. Despite an order issued by the state
supreme court to vacate the schools by January 2009, all but 13 remain
occupied.
(See pictures of a Jihadist's journey.)
The insurgency's effect on education has been devastating. The
Naxalite movement has been agitating for revolution in India's long-
neglected rural interior since 1967, and sees any government building
as an emblem of the state it seeks to overthrow. Naxal attacks usually
occur at night, when improvised explosive devices, known as "can
bombs," are set off inside the schools. Human Rights Watch researchers
visited a school in Dwarika, a village in Jharkhand where no classes
have been taught since a can bomb explosion severely damaged the
building in November 2008. The wooden doors were shattered, and the
walls cracked, making the brick building unsafe for students. Of the
250 students, only 50 had families with enough money to send them to
the next village. "We are poor people," said one father in Dwarika,
whose children stay home, grazing cattle. "Those who are not able, how
can they send?"
Just as damaging is the occupation of all or part of a school building
by security forces, who use them as camps or barracks. Students are
squeezed into the remaining parts of the school, which in many cases
stops functioning altogether. Megha, a high school student in the
Mohulia district of Jharkhand, says two-thirds of her school is
occupied by troops. "We cannot go to the toilets, as they are used by
camp people," she said in an interview with TIME. Other students
complain of harassment — the girls feeling leered at, and the boys
grilled for information about suspected insurgents in the village. At
the Tankuppa High School in Bihar's Gaya district, a 16-year-old
student told HRW that the police "bring culprits back to the school
and beat them."
(See the top 10 underreported stories of 2009.)
As the Indian police and paramilitary forces gear up for a big push
against the Naxals planned for early next year, the impact on schools
is likely to get worse. In remote areas, schools may be the only solid
construction available to use as a base of operation. State education
officials say the schools are occupied only temporarily, and that
alternative sites are arranged, but residents of Naxal-affected areas
say that many schools have been closed for months or years,
permanently disrupting education. Burhan Soren, a farmer in Gurha,
says one school in his village has been occupied since 2003. "As the
father of two small children, I feel very strongly about this," Soren
tells TIME. "But if we protest too much, then the government says we
are aligning with the Naxals."
The insurgents, too, insist that they only attack schools that are
being used as "police camps." In the November 2008 bulletin of a
banned Maoist political party, an unsigned editorial states, "You
cannot show a single instance where we had destroyed a school that was
really meant for education purposes." HRW researchers contradict that
claim, and say the Naxals attack schools as a way of intimidating the
local population to keep them from cooperating with the military, who
badly need better local intelligence.
The government school systems in Bihar and Jharkhand were already
abysmal well before Naxal activity picked up this year. Average class
sizes in the two states are 75 and 65, respectively, for a single
teacher, compared to the national average of 40. Literacy rates, too,
are well below the national average of 65%. Indian Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh has made development in Naxal-affected areas —
including education — a priority, but the attacks and occupation
threaten to undo what limited progress his government had made. In the
Aurangabad district of Bihar, for example, the government approved
about $28,600 to build a residential school for poor girls in late
2008. Once 10 police officers occupied part of the school this year,
no family would enroll their daughters, and the school has yet to
open.
(See pictures of Singh at President Obama's state dinner.)
Human Rights Watch is calling on the Naxal groups to stop targeting
school buildings, and for state authorities to repair damaged
buildings and provide viable alternatives for occupied schools more
quickly. Its representatives will be meeting with Indian central
government officials about the issue this week. In the meantime,
thousands of students in the affected areas are missing yet another
year's exams. "The government says it is in the interest of the
children that the security forces stay in the schools to guard against
Maoist activities," Bhattacharjee says. "The Maoists say they blow up
schools because they are less educational institutions and more
security camps. So, ultimately the villagers get caught in the
crossfire."
— With reporting by Nilanjana Bhowmick / New Delhi
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1946516,00.html
chhotemianinshallah
Posted by Explorer at 4:51 PM
Source: PRIU
A senior Naxal leader who surrendered in Maharashtra, India last week
has claimed that two LTTE cadres had visited camps in India twice to
give training to the Naxal terrorists.
Naxal leader Rainu said that the LTTE cadres had taught the Naxals how
to lay mines and handle grenades, reported the Indian Express.
Maoist groups in India have been known to collaborate with their
counterparts across the border in Nepal and also occasionally with
sympathizers elsewhere in South Asia but the senior Naxal leader
claimed that a warfare expert from the Philippines also visited and
stayed in a Bastar Naxal camp in Abujmad, stated the Indian Express.
“It is not very difficult for LTTE men to pass off as Indians, but how
the Naxals managed a safe passage for a Filipino into territory where
even the police can’t go, and back, is very curious,” said a security
official who did not want to be named, the Indian Express further
said.
http://www.terrorismwatch.org/2009/12/sri-lanka-ltte-trained-naxalites-naxal.html
chhotemianinshallah
killed in 2009
New Delhi, Dec.7 (ANI): The Government on Wednesday revealed the
number of civilians and security forces personnel along with the
number of terrorists, extremists and naxalites killed in Jammu and
Kashmir, northeastern states, and the Naxal affected states.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the number of Civilians and Security Forces
personnel killed upto Oct.31, 2009 was 123 while it was 166 in 2008.
However, the number of terrorists killed during the same time is 212
(till Oct.31, 2009), which stood at 339 in 2008.
In northeastern States, the number of the number of Civilians and
Security Forces personnel killed upto Oct.31, 2009 was 261 while it
was 512 in 2008. However, the number of extremists killed during the
same time is 497 (till Oct.31, 2009), which stood at 640 in 2008.
In Naxal affected States, the number of the number of Civilians and
Security Forces personnel killed upto Oct.31, 2009 was 742 while it
was 721 in 2008. However, the number of Naxalites killed during the
same time is 170 (till Oct.31, 2009), which stood at 199 in 2008.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Ajay Maken in written reply
to a question in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. (ANI)
Sid Harth
STAFF WRITER 19:4 HRS IST
Nagpur, Dec 10 (PTI) The Opposition put the ruling DF government on
the mat today over deteriorating law and order situation, rise in
crime and increasing Naxal related offences in the state.
Initiating the debate under Rule 293, Opposition Leader in Lower House
Eknath Khadse (BJP) and others, took the government to task, alleging
large scale corruption, rivalry among officers and inefficiency in
dealing with law and order problems not only in Mumbai but in other
parts of state.
The outlawed Maoists were targeting police, forest officials,
contractors, common citizens and were on a killing spree, Khadse said.
Recalling the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, he said it showed serious
lapses in co-ordination among police officers, he said claiming that
this was clearly evident from the two camps, one led by the Director
General and another by Mumbai Commissioner of Police.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/417650_Oppn-grills-DF-govt-on-terror--naxalism--rising-crime
chhotemianinshallah
Avijit Nandi Majumdar
Kolkata, December 11, 2009
Three teachers of a school in West Bengal's Lalgarh region have been
publicly paraded with garlands of shoes around their necks by
supporters of the Naxal-backed People's Committee Against Police
Atrocities (PCPA).
The parading was carried out as punishment over the quality of food
served by the teachers to students of Palashi primary school. The PCPA
claimed that many children had fallen ill after eating the food.
During the parading, PCPA supporters shouted slogans in favour of
their arrested leader Chhatradhar Mahato. The teachers were later
released.
chhotemianinshallah
- Roads dug up to protest Thursday’s police firing
OUR BUREAU
An assembly of alleged Maoist-backed villagers on Friday night outside
the Salboni police camp that was attacked on Thursday. The
demonstrators allegedly snapped power lines in the area during the
protest. Picture by Samir Mondal
Dec. 11: Maoists mobilised people in thousands who surrounded police
camps in Salboni and protested a day after security forces killed a
villager, firing on a mob that had besieged them.
The guerrillas, who instigated last evening’s attack and then joined
the villagers with guns, seized the opportunity today to cash in on
popular anger over the police firing.
The police said the more the rebels were getting cornered in Lalgarh,
the more they were trying to build up “Lalgarh-type” resistance in
other areas.
“Their might in Lalgarh is not what it used to be because the joint
forces have been able to take control of the area to a large extent.
So, the Maoists are now looking for fresh hunting grounds. That’s why
they are killing CPM workers and attacking the forces in Salboni and
parts of Jhargram,” an officer said.
The Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities has
called a 24-hour bandh tomorrow in West Midnapore, Purulia and
Bankura.
Yesterday’s death has given a new lease of life to the committee,
“giving it the opportunity to fuel people’s anger’’, the officer
added.
One of those injured last evening, Tamal Shaw, 34, a quack, was
brought to Calcutta today with three bullet wounds.
CPM workers Tilak Tudu and Panchanan Mahato were branded police
informers and killed in Parulia and Paluiboni villages of Salboni late
last night.
State police chief Bhupinder Singh said on the sidelines of a
programme in Burdwan the police were helpless as far as preventing
Maoist murders was concerned. “If their policy is to kill people, we
are helpless. It is impossible provide security to one and all.”
In Calcutta, home secretary Ardhendu Sen said: “No matter how many
villagers are at the front of a demonstration, armed Maoists are
always behind them.”
The walls of the Satpati police camp in Salboni were found riddled
with bullet marks this morning. “It shows how the Maoists had made the
joint forces their target,” said West Midnapore superintendent of
police Manoj Verma.
Led by committee leaders, villagers today felled trees and blocked
roads between Lalgarh and Bhimpur. Efforts to do so failed in Salboni
because of the heavy deployment of forces at the Satpati and Pirakata
camps after last evening’s incident.
“The joint forces are torturing innocent villagers and firing at them.
So, trees were felled in some areas to hamper their movement. We will
build up our struggle against the joint forces by spreading out to
places where their camps are located. Trees will be felled and roads
will be dug up. We won’t tolerate their torture,” committee leader
Asit Mahato said.
The district police chief said they had not attacked the villagers
last evening. “We retaliated when fired at by the Maoists in the
mob.”
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091212/jsp/bengal/story_11855145.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
Posted: Saturday , Dec 12, 2009 at 0459 hrs
Lucknow: In the first incident of its kind in Naxal-infested Sonbhadra
district, a man was beheaded on Thursday. While the police say he was
a Naxal and the murder was the fallout of a fight over extortion
money, the Naxals alleged he was “close to the police.”
The body and head of Shiv Prakash Kushwaha (24), a resident of Rampur
village, were found two kilometres apart in the area of Kon police
circle.
The police alleged Kushwaha was a Naxal and a follower of People’s War
Group (PWG) zonal commander Munna Vishkarma, who carries a reward of
Rs 50,000 on his head. They say Kushwaha was involved in collecting
extortion money from contractors and arranging safe passage for
Naxalites. However, there is no case pending against Kushwaha, nor has
he ever been arrested.
“We did not arrest Kushwaha because there was no direct evidence
against him,” said Sonbhadra SP Preetinder Singh. However, the
Songanga Vindhyachal Committee of the People’s War Group claimed that
Kushwaha was not their member. “I have come to know that he was close
to the police and was carrying an axe with him. I do not know who
killed him and we are still collecting details about it,” said
Songanga Vindhyachal Committee (SVC) secretary Jamuna.
The police claim that Kushwaha had collected extortion money from a
mining contractor in Chopan area on behalf of the SVC, but kept it
with himself and the dispute that followed led to the killing.
The story which is circulating in the area is that the Naxals, who
suspected that Kushwana was a police informer, kidnapped him from the
village on Tuesday. The next evening, some men came to the village and
told the people to pick up his body and inform the police.
On Thursday morning, locals informed the police about the body lying
in “Hariya Jungle” area. Initially, the police suspected it to be a
trap laid by Naxals, but after making security arrangements, a team
was sent to the spot which recovered the body.
Ghandy wants to retract confession
NEW DELHI: Accusing Delhi Police’s Special Cell of forcibly extracting
a confession from him, Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy on Friday requested
a Delhi Court to permit him to withdraw the damning document.
Ghandy pleaded with Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Kaveri Baweja’s
court to allow him to retract from the “forcible confession” so that
it was not used as evidence against him during trial. He alleged that
he was not aware of the contents of the confession as he was “forced
to sign on blank sheets”. The court sent Ghandy in judicial custody
till December 25 and said it would later decide whether to grant his
plea. Ghandy, 63, was brought to Delhi from Andhra Pradesh, where he
was in custody in connection with a case against him in Karimnagar
district in 2008. ENS
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/man-beheaded-in-up-police-allege-naxal-link/553307/0
bademiyansubhanallah
A STAFF REPORTER
Guwahati, Dec. 10: Suspected Bodo militants carried out two blasts in
Assam’s Sonitpur district this afternoon, leaving a 12-year-old boy
dead and 36 injured.
The first explosion at Garubandha weekly market, 100 metres from
Missamari police station, at 2.30pm left one dead and 34 injured while
the second one at Rakshasmari under Dhekiajuli police station at 6pm
left two injured.
Preliminary investigations suggested that both the blasts were carried
out by suspected militants of the National Democratic Front of
Boroland (NDFB).
At the Garubandha market, which was milling with people at that time,
the rebels exploded a grenade. The market is located 5km from the army
cantonment at Missamari and is adjacent to the Garubandha primary
health centre. The 12-year-old who died in the explosion was
identified as Anuj Kumar Gaur. He died on way to Kanaklata civil
hospital in Tezpur. Of the injured, 31 were admitted to the civil
hospital while three were rushed to the Gauhati Medical College and
Hospital.
At Rakshasmari, a low intensity bomb was exploded near a grocery shop
owned by Montu Nandi. The police said it was probably kept inside a
bag near the shop. The two injured, identified as Saidul, 25, and Nur
Islam, 35, were admitted to Dhekiajuli hospital.
Sonitpur deputy commissioner Rajesh Prasad told this correspondent,
“Today was the day of the Garubandha weekly market. The police have
told me that it was a Chinese grenade. We have intensified operations
in the area that borders Arunachal Pradesh. It could be the handiwork
of NDFB militants.”
Bireswar Kalita, the joint director of health services, Sonitpur,
said, “Of the three rushed to the GMCH with eye, chest and neck
injuries, a 13-year-old boy, Dipankar Sahu, may lose an eye. We will
have to carry out the post-mortem of the deceased who did not suffer
any external injuries.”
Doley, Prasad and deputy inspector-general S.N. Singh rushed to
Garubandha market to take stock of the situation.
AGP leaders Apurba Bhattacharjee and Padma Hazarika also visited the
site and “wondered” where the government was.
The twin blasts shattered the lull in the district following the
October 4 Bhimajuli massacre and came a day before the conclusion of
the five-day Assembly session tomorrow.
Chief minister Tarun Gogoi condemned the blasts this evening and
ordered strengthening of security measures in the state.
Incidentally, the blasts come just days after Jitmal Doley took charge
as Sonitpur superintendent of police. He was among the several police
officers transferred in the recent reshuffle and was the Nalbari SP
when twin blasts claimed seven lives in the district on November 22.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091211/jsp/frontpage/story_11850092.jsp
bademiyansubhanallah
bademiyansubhanallah
Forces fan out in red dens
SUMAN K. SHRIVASTAVA & PINAKI MAZUMDAR
Ranchi/Jamshedpur, Dec. 10: The state administration and security
forces face their first serious test on Saturday when 14 Assembly
constituencies go to vote in the fourth phase of elections spread over
six districts that are either Maoist strongholds or under the grip of
their breakaway group, the PLFI.
Despite a Maoist poll boycott, the Assembly elections so far have been
relatively peaceful with the overall turnout hovering between an
encouraging 52 per cent and more.
For the fourth phase of voting, the Election Commission has relocated
as many as 161 booths in the regions of Ghatshila, Manoharpur,
Chakardharpur, Simdega, Torpa, Kolebira and Lohardaga where
campaigning came to an end today.
Joint chief electoral officer Ashok Kumar Sinha said the booths (37 in
Manoharpur, 22 in Gumla, 39 in Bishunpur, 16 in Torpa, three each in
Ghatshila and Potka, 11 in Ichagarh, four in Simdega, seven in
Kolebira and nine in Lohardaga) had been relocated due to security
reasons, a move that proved fruitful in the earlier three phases.
“Most of these constituencies are sensitive,” said South Chhotanagpur
DIG R.K. Mallick, “but we have taken foolproof security measures.”
DIG (Kolhan) M.K. Mishra also expressed confidence that security
arrangements in Kolhan would prove adequate. “I cannot disclose
details, but we have made foolproof arrangements to prevent any
untoward incidents,” he said.
All the areas have seen an unprecedented number of state and central
forces that have been deployed strategically after careful scrutiny of
the terrain. Though the police would not reveal the exact number of
securitymen, sources said around 40,000 jawans and officers had been
deployed.
“We have six helicopters which will be used for air surveillance as
well as ferrying poll officials. We have adequate number of strike
reserve forces, too,” said state police spokesperson and IG (human
rights) V.H. Deshmukh.
Over 24 lakh people are expected to vote in 14 constituencies where
233 candidates are contesting in the fourth phase of elections at a
time when the primary political formations have begun to admit, albeit
in private, that the state was headed for a hung House yet again.
Half the 14 seats are in East and West Singhbhum, while the rest are
in Gumla, Simdega and Khunti districts. The JMM has five sitting MLAs
in the 14 seats, while the BJP has four, Congress three and UGDP (Joba
Manjhi) and Jharkhand Party (Anosh Ekka) one each.
If the emerging political scenario is hazy, it is because both the
Congress and the BJP failed to narrow focus their campaign on
corruption and price rise, two issues that would have touched a chord
with the electorate.
“It left the space for the elections to be decided by local factors
and personal relations of candidates with voters,” pointed out
Harishwar Dayal, an expert who has been studying previous elections in
the state.
However, Congress state president Pradeep Balmuchu, locked in a
triangular contest in the Naxalite-hit Ghatshila constituency, claimed
the Congress-JVM alliance was the only alternative which could provide
a strong and stable government in Jharkhand.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091211/jsp/frontpage/story_11850726.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Rural poverty and India's Maoist revolt
By Mark Tully
Former BBC Delhi Correspondent
The Indian government has ordered hundreds of paramilitary troops into
eastern parts of the country where Maoist rebels have increasingly
been taking control.
A massive security operation has been launched against the rebels
This year, 669 people have died in violent incidents involving the
Maoists.
October was a particularly humiliating month for the Indian police.
First, members of the Communist Party of India [Maoist] captured an
Inspector and beheaded him. Then, a police station was attacked and
two policemen killed.
The officer in charge was abducted and only freed after the government
of West Bengal released 24 Maoists it had arrested - a humiliating
climb-down.
In two other attacks, 21 policemen were killed. Then came the
hijacking of one of India's prestigious express trains running from
the capital of the east coast state of Orissa to Delhi.
Maoists and supporters of a group known as The People's Committee
Against Police Atrocities, most of them armed just with bows and
arrows, halted the train and overcame its staff.
When the police eventually arrived, the hijackers, numbering some
1500, dispersed without putting up any resistance. There were no
casualties.
Decades of conflict
The Maoists are often known as Naxalites because of the Maoist
uprising in 1967, which started from the Eastern village of Naxalbari.
That was put down by the police.
But over the years, the Naxalites have established effective control
over vast forests stretching across six states in the heart of India.
The Maoists are driven by the grievances of India's rural poor
The villagers who live in the forests, are known in India as tribals.
They come from tribes who, under the British Raj, led their
traditional ways of life isolated in the forests, although India has
changed dramatically since then.
The government is officially committed to bringing tribals into the
mainstream - few schools, health centres and other facilities have
reached them.
Whenever I have travelled in tribal areas, I have been shocked by the
resentment the tribals feel at their neglect by successive
governments.
The train hijacking occurred on the day that India's Home Minister, P
Chidambaram, told a parliamentary committee that the police needed
urgent reform.
The central forces are not exactly known for their softly, softly
approach.
Chidambaram told the parliamentarians he had ordered a massive
expansion of the paramilitary police forces controlled by the central
government.
But they could well become part of the problem, rather than the
solution.
Being central government forces and recruited from all over India they
will be strangers, not speaking the tribal languages or understanding
their ways.
The central forces are not exactly known for their softly, softly
approach.
When they were very active in Kashmir, I remember having several
conversations with the governor about the failure to punish police
responsible for human rights abuses.
Bitter criticism
The governor was a humane man himself, and he had the honesty to admit
the government feared the forces would be demoralised if action was
taken against them every time they went too far.
A government which has given them nothing but violence and neglect
now wants to snatch away the last thing they have - their land
Arundhati Roy
Although the Naxalites operate in remote areas, Prime Minister Dr
Manmohan Singh has described them as "the single largest internal
security threat."
But many Indians question whether Chidambaram's campaign is the right
way to deal with this threat.
One of his most vocal opponents is the Booker Prize winning author
Arundhati Roy.
Writing in a very recent edition of the Indian weekly magazine,
Outlook, Arundhati Roy said: "If the tribals have taken up arms they
have done so because a government which has given them nothing but
violence and neglect now wants to snatch away the last thing they have
- their land."
She bitterly criticised the plans of multinational companies to mine
the forest's bauxite and other rich mineral reserves.
The national daily The Indian Express, put the case for Mr
Chidambaram's operation Green Hunt as it is called: "The ultimate and
foolproof solution to the Maoist threat is to end it. The Indian state
must progressively reclaim territory currently in Maoist control and
establish the rule of law therein."
But it is unlikely to be as simple as that. India now faces the
prospects of a brutal campaign which could last four or five years
according to the home minister.
Betrayed
The tribal people, who both sides claim to be representing, will be
crushed between security forces demanding they provide information
about Maoist movements, and the Maoists themselves who have already
shown how brutally they treat anyone they believe has betrayed them.
Once again, the root of the problem is the Indian government's
inability to provide what those they govern rightly feel is their
entitlement.
Nowhere is this more manifest than in the callous handling of tribals
who have been dispossessed of their land.
Reading Arundhati Roy, I was reminded of a visit I made to a
resettlement villages for tribals, who had twice been evicted in order
to make way for power stations.
When they complained to the official accompanying me that they were
not being provided with electricity, he shot back: "Well you cannot
afford it, can you?"
With that sort of callousness all too common amongst officials, is it
any wonder that tribals support Maoists who promise to protect their
lands?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8355156.stm
Sid Harth
Express News Service
Posted: Saturday , Dec 12, 2009 at 0326 hrs
Kolkata:
Tribals hold a protest at Piarkhuli village against security forces in
Lalgarh. Subham Dutta
The standoff between a 15,000-strong mob of armed tribals led by the
Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) and
the joint forces at Satpati camp near Lalgarh which continued for the
day, ended in the evening.
Around 15,000 tribals armed with bows and arrows and sophisticated
weapons had gheraoed the Satpati camp and started a protest there.
The tension began after a member of the PCAPA, Biplap Sau (35), was
shot dead late on Thursday night after the joint forces opened fire at
a mob. Six others of the group were injured.
Asit Mahato, convener of the PCAPA, said: “Around 10-15 armed cadres
of CPM stopped the Lalgarh-bound bus at Satpati late in the evening
and began assaulting the passengers. The place is located at a stone’s
throw from the joint forces’ camp, but they did not turn up to resist
the cadres.”
Seeing this going on for an hour, some members of the PCAPA went to
the camp and asked the jawans to take action against the CPM cadres.
“But they began firing and one of our supporters was killed and six
were critically injured,” said Mahato.
“So today, we have gheraoed the camp and will not withdraw until they
apologise.”
Manoj Verma, SP, West Midnapore, however, said the members of PCAPA
had opened fire at the camp.
“The jawans retaliated in self-defence, we have taken snaps of the
marks of the firing at the camp,” he said. “No arrest has been made
yet.”
After Sau’s death, the Maoists allegedly gunned down a CPM leader of
the local committee at Parulia in Salboni in retaliation.
According to a senior officer of the Salboni police station, on the
wee hours of Friday, around 10-15 armed Maoists stormed into the house
of Trailokya Tudu (42), a local CPM leader.
Tudu was shot dead in front of his family. Around 10 houses of CPM
members in the village were set afire by the Maoists.
“We have deployed joint forces in the village. Most of the villagers
have started leaving the area,” said a senior district fficial.
Trinamool, CPM clash in Canning, 100 houses torched
Violence marked the by-election to the Narayanpur Gram panchayat on
Friday when supporters of Trinamool Congress and CPM clashed at
Narayantala in Canning leaving at least thirty people injured. Around
100 houses belonging to the supporters of both the parties were set on
fire by the clashing mob. The local CPM office was also ransacked.
According to the police, the clash broke out at 11 am after Trinamool
workers alleged that their supporters were not allowed to cast their
votes.
Two Trinamool Congress workers, who have been identified as Mana Sapui
and Pampa Mondal, suffered bullet injuries. The injured were admitted
to Canning Sub-Division Hospital.
A large contingent of police and Rapid Action Force were deployed in
the area. Subhankar Sinha, Additional SP (Rural), said, “We will
investigate the clash.” The police have arrested two people in this
connection.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/armed-tribals-dare-jawans-as-firing-kills-1/553200/0
Sid Harth
Agencies
Malkangiri (Orissa):
In a pre-dawn attack, Maoists blew up a newly-constructed police
outpost building in Orissa's Malkangiri district today, police said.
About 50 armed ultras stormed into the outpost at Salim in Mathili
area and triggered a landmine blast to blow up the building after
driving away its lone watchman, Superintendent of Police Satyabrata
Bhoi said.
Nobody has been injured in the incident, he said. The red rebels had
blown up the old police outpost about three years ago.
Police personnel in strength have been sent to the area and patrolling
intensified after the incident which has created panic in nearby
villages, police said.
A massive combing operation has also been launched, while the border
with Chhattisgarh sealed in a bid to check movement of Maoists, they
said.
Meanwhile, in a letter circulated to the press, Malkangiri Divisional
Maoist Committee has asked chief minister Naveen Patnaik to apologise
for the police firing at Narayanpatna in Koraput district last month
and demanded withdrawal of security force from the area.
It has threatened to eliminate ruling BJD leaders of Malkangiri and
Koraput districts if the demand was not fulfilled.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/maoists-blow-up-police-outpost-in-orissa/553334/
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
First Published : 13 Dec 2009 05:23:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 13 Dec 2009 07:46:43 AM IST
ROURKELA: It’s a shot in the arm for the district administration.
Villagers in the interior pockets of the Naxal-infested Bonai sub-
division have decided to cooperate with police in the fight against
Left-wing extremists.
The move came against the backdrop of the banned CPI (Maoist) outfit
stepping up violence against villagers. Two days back a villager
Harekrishna Singh (45) of Mahupada village was kidnapped and severely
beaten up by Maoists on the suspicion that he was a police informer.
He was allowed to move free after he managed to clear himself of the
charge. Villagers of Relhatu, Langalkata, B Jharbera, Mahupada and
Sanbalijodi under Relhatu gram panchayat (GP) were warned of death
penalty if they cooperated with police. The panicked villagers then
took shelter at a school under K Balang police limits. The villagers
returned to their homes amid tight security today. Later, they pledged
support to the police and the district administration in writing.
In a parallel development, residents of at least 10 villages under K
Balang GP, including Kudobahal and Laharguda, have also decided to
cooperate with the security forces. Official sources said for the
first time in Orissa a case was registered against the guerillas on
the complaint of villagers.
Earlier, Maoists had brutally killed a local CITU leader and a village
headman branding them as police informers. The move seemed to have
boomeranged. Both Relhatu and K Balang GPs share border with Naxal
hotbed of Jharkhand.
Rourkela SP Diptesh Patnaik, who visited K Balang area today to take
stock of the situation, described the development as ‘most welcome’.
He said adequate security would be ensured in the affected areas and
added the administration would be impressed upon the need to initiate
development works in the areas. Meanwhile, security forces with the
help of local villagers are learnt to have traced at least nine
landmines planted in forest locations.
chhotemianinshallah
Bhupendra Pandey
Posted: Sunday , Dec 13, 2009 at 0209 hrs
Lucknow:
With an increase in the amount of levy being collected by Naxal groups
in the bordering areas of Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand, Naxal leaders
are now engaging in conflict among themselves over the share of booty,
say police.
Munna Vishwakarma, sub-zonal commander of the People’s War Group
(PWG), shot his senior Ram Vriksha Kol on November 9 follwoing a
dispute over sharing the levy amount. Vishwakarma also got Shiv
Prakash Kushwaha, another member of PWG’s affiliated group ‘Songanga
Vindhyachal Committee (SVC)’, killed on Thursday over the same issue,
claim police.
Sonbhadra Superintendent of Police (SP) Preetinder Singh said, “The
dispute over levy collection has led to conflict among Naxal groups
over the last four months. Munna Vishwakarma and Ram Vriksha Kol
belonged to the same Naxal group, but the collection of extortion
money had caused differences between them and they started operating
with separate groups.”
“The dispute erupted with both the groups approaching the same
contractors or businessmen for levy and if one of them extorted the
money from a particular target, the other would get annoyed. This led
to conflict and Vishwakarma succeeded in eliminating Kol,” Singh
added.
Another violent clash over levy is feared to take place in the Naxal-
affected area of Garhwa district in Jharkhand and Vishwakarma is again
expected to play a vital role in the conflict.
“Basant Yadav of Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), who had been the sub-
zonal commander of the Gadhwa south zone, suddenly disappeared three
months ago with a levy amount of nearly Rs 50 lakh and three weapons
including a self-loaded rifle (SLR),” said Lalchand Mahto, Station
Officer (SO) of the naxal-affected Dhurki police station of Garhwa (on
the borders of Sonbhadra district of UP).
“Yadav has now joined another naxal group - Tritiya Prastuti Committee
(TPC) - which is active in Palamu, Latehar and Chatra districts of
Jharkhand. The MCC group in Garhwa has appointed Mritunjaya Singh as
the new sub-zonal commander and a clash between the TPC and the MCC
can take place anytime,” the SO said.
Garhwa Superintendent of Police (SP) Richard Lakra told The Indian
Express: “The MCC, which is stronger that the TPC, can attack Basant
Yadav anytime, as he had caused a major financial loss to the group.
The MCC group in Garhwa is now being led by Mritunjaya and Shatrughan
Singh.”
Sonbhadra SP Preetinder Singh maintained: “Since the MCC and PWG
operate jointly and Vishwakarma too gets some percentage of the levy
from Garhwa, he along with his group would also be part of the clash
against Yadav.”
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/naxal-ranks-split-over-share-in-extortion-spoils-say-cops/553489/0
bademiyansubhanallah
PTI Sunday, December 13, 2009 14:33 IST
Muzaffarnagar: The National Commission for Scheduled Castes has
received maximum complaints from Dalits in Uttar Pradesh, where the
state government has allegedly failed to protect their interests, its
chairman Buta Singh said.
Singh told mediapersons in Saharanpur yesterday that "Dalits in UP
have not been getting benefits of the schemes of the Centre due to
their improper implementation by the BSP government".
Only 15% out of 17% population of Dalits in the state have got the
benefit of reservation so far, Singh claimed.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_maximum-complaints-from-dalits-in-uttar-pradesh_1323198
bademiyansubhanallah
R Jagannathan
Wednesday, November 4, 2009 21:27 IST Email
In Karl Marx's vision, in the ultimate stage of Communism, the state
is supposed to wither away. History has shown how wrong he was. Not
only did Communism wither away first, the nation-state has stubbornly
refused to follow suit. Even in the 21st century, we have seen the
creation of new states, Kosovo being one of the latest.
But Marx was wrong not only in this sense. As the ideological
progenitor of Communism -- a revolutionary idea at that time -- he
should have known that states are born in the mind before they become
politico-geographical realities. In the post-modern, post-internet
world, many states exist more in the mind than in reality.
Take the Maoists. They are a state within a state. They may not
control a territory entirely, but with their ideology and extended
band of sympathisers they are able to make their writ run to quite an
extent.
A state is not merely a historical or geographical entity; its
defining characteristic is it ability to get its citizens to behave in
a certain way, and when they don't, it can penalise them. Put another
way, there can be no state without the ability to deploy power. A
democracy may project this power less coercively than an autocracy,
but the power to enforce is the critical element in the making of a
state.
If we take the two ideas together -- that the idea of state is
essentially in the mind, and that a state is not a state if it cannot
project power -- we come to this conclusion: we can have states that
are territorial in nature, but others can exist virtually by
colonising the mind.
Does Dawood Ibrahim run a criminal enterprise or a state? He may have
fled the country, but his writ runs in some parts of India, with
sections of Bollywood, the police and even politicians and businessmen
dancing to his tune. He may be ruling his subjects through fear, but
the fact that he can enforce many of his diktats makes him a virtual
state, albeit a criminal one. Like D Company, al Qaeda is also a
state. It may not control much territory, but it can enforce internal
and external discipline in its troops.
The same applies to the Catholic church, or to any of the faith-
related organisations of the world -- whether it is the Jamiat-Ulama-i-
Hind (JuH) or the Tabligh-e-Jamaat (TeJ), or the various Sangh Parivar
entities. When the RSS says that all Indians must sing the Vande
Mataram, it is essentially trying to imprint its idea of state in the
minds of it followers. Ditto for the JuH, when it says Muslims must
not sing the Vande Mataram.
Ditto for the Tabligh, which tries to systematically erase all
syncretic practices followed by Indian Muslims. Ditto for the Vatican,
when it says birth control or abortion is wrong.
All religious or quasi-religious entities are virtual states because
they can get their followers (virtual subjects) to behave in specified
ways even when they don't rule territories. Religious power begins by
addressing the mind with the help of ideology, and this is the base
from which it acquires political power at some stage. Political power
may also lead to the creation of a geographical state, as the creation
of Pakistan or Turkish
Cyprus or the Vatican show. In Islam, this relationship is explicit,
with religious power and political power going hand in hand with the
idea of state. In western democracies, there is a theoretical
separation of church and state, so we have two states residing in the
minds of citizens -- a geographical entity and an ideological one.
There are other kinds of virtual states, and corporations are one
example. GE is a state more than a corporation. Every GE executive
knows what its corporate culture is, and why he has to adhere to it if
he is to rise in the hierarchy. Jim Collins and Jerry Porras, in their
book Built to Last, explain why every great company adopts cult-like
practices for longevity.
Wal-Mart employees scream their Wal-Mart cheer (Give me a 'W', give me
an 'A' and so on till the last letter 'T' in the Wal-Mart name is
reached). The screaming ends with a question: "Who's No 1?" (The
answer, in case you are wondering, is "The customer"). Wal-Mart is
thus a state of mind for its employees; those who don't subscribe to
it are usually weeded out. Precisely what a state tries to do with
people who don't want to belong to it.
The existence of virtual states within states is the reality we have
to deal with. While legal legitimacy rests with the nation-state, the
others exist in a kind of implicit power-sharing arrangement with it.
When power-sharing is explicitly rejected by states or virtual states,
they have to be decided one way or the other, either through court
battles or ideological compromises or armed conflict. The Maoists have
so far rejected compromise. Whatever their reason for existence, they
cannot coexist with the idea of the Indian state.
http://www.dnaindia.com/opinion/column_state-vs-virtual-state_1307301
chhotemianinshallah
Naxal-affected states told to step up NREGS projects
Mon, 12/14/2009 - 15:17
NetIndian News Network
New Delhi, December 14, 2009
The Union Government has issued instructions to all Naxal-affected
States for implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS) in a more meaningful way.
The States are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh.
In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Minister of
State for Rural Development Pradeep Jain Aditya said the States had
also been told to intensify awareness campaigns among rural households
and monitor issuance of job cards, implementation of sufficient number
of works and timely payment of wages.
http://netindian.in/news/2009/12/14/0004409/naxal-affected-states-told-step-nregs-projects
Sid Harth
TNN 13 December 2009, 09:45pm IST
HAZARIBAG: Police foiled Maoists' bid to assassinate AJSU nominee
Kuldip Ganjhu, who is contesting the Assembly elections from the
Simaria constituency in Chatra district, which is scheduled to go for
polls in the fifth phase on December 18.
Acting on a specific information, a police team took Ganjhu in custody
at Pathalgada where he had gone to address an election meeting on
Saturday along with Roshan Lal Choudhury, the brother of former state
minister Chandra Prakash Choudhury.
According to an official report received here on Sunday, the police
picked up Ganjhu from Pathalgada under the Simaria constituency and
took him to an undisclosed destination to save his life. The police
claimed that Maoists had deployed two sharpshooters to eliminate
Ganjhu, a former sub-zonal commander of the erstwhile MCC, which is
now known as the CPI(Maoist). They added that Ganjhu's decision to
contest the Assembly election had angered Maoists, who tried their
best to keep him off the polls.
Despite all odds, Ganjhu decided to contest the election to prove that
violence and bullets cannot solve the burning problems of people. The
then Hazaribag SP, Anurag Gupta, had arrested Ganjhu from his native
village in 2003. The police had also recovered a huge sum of money and
arms from his possession. Ganjhu was released from jail on bail about
nine months ago. After coming out of jail, he cleared the board
examination and took pledge to reform himself by keeping off the
rebels.
Police said that Ganjhu was later dropped at his residence in Simaria
village, where has also been provided with police security.
Meanwhile, the Chatra police and the CRPF have launched a manhunt to
arrest the two sharpshooters. Security measures have been tightened in
the area even as the police failed to make any headway in the case.
...and i am Sid Harth
Sid Harth
TNN 11 December 2009, 10:22pm IST
RANCHI: In a major anti-Naxalite operation, police busted a rebel
camp, reportedly killing a Maoist and injuring three others. The
incident occurred at Anteorda village at the tri-junction of Ranchi,
Seraikela and West Singhbhum districts on Friday morning.
Acting on a tip-off about the movement of rebels in and around the
area, police launched a well-coordinated operation with paramilitary
forces and even an Indian Air Force helicopter was pressed into
service for the first time in the state during the venture.
Four district police teams moved in from different directions under
the leadership of additional superintendent of police Apoorva and
Bundu DSP Anand Joseph Tigga. A special operations group (SOG) of
CRPF's 133 Battalion and Jharkhand Jaguar were constituted with three
reinforcement teams, including 133-F Battalion of CRPF.
Police launched the operation in the jungles around 7 am and armed
security forces had to travel around 10 kilometre on foot to reach the
place where the Maoist camp was set up.
On seeing the movement of security forces, Maoists fired and the
ensuing encounter continued for about two hours. Maoists were holed up
on a hillock when the forces surrounded it.
"Police fired around 500 rounds, used four high explosives, 14 hand
grenades in which one Maoist was killed while three were reportedly
injured and the camp was busted by police," Ranchi SSP Praveen Kumar.
"Around 70 Maoists took advantage of the low visibility and managed to
flee through a small stream. But local people confirmed that Maoists
were spotted taking their injured counterparts with them," he added.
"Police recovered two single-barrel guns, one double-barrel gun, 200
kg ammonium nitrate, 200 kg semi-liquid explosive gel, two landmines
weighing 30 kg, 200 detonators, 50 metre codex wire, 100 Duracell
batteries, 25 camera flashes," said Kumar.
Among other things recovered by police were several kilo foodgrain
meant for nearly 70 people, cooked food, 15 rucksacks of medicines for
cerebral malaria, first aid kits and 200 soap cases to be used for
making country-made bombs and two large barbed wire cutters.
"The IAF helicopter was largely used during a recce mission to guide
the movement of securitymen through the thick jungle," said Kumar,
adding that a company of security forces will move into the jungle on
Saturday morning.
"Looking at the recoveries, it appears that Maoists were planning a
major attack during the ongoing election or attack police pickets or a
camp of security forces," he added.
chhotemianinshallah
No room for Gandhigiri?
When my friend told me that the age of Gandhi is long gone, I had no
way to disprove her statement. She did has a point. Silence, non-
violence and peaceful strikes amount to nothing. For example, the
Centre that had been sleeping for the last 10 years and paid no heed
to the fast of Irom Sharmila, reacted with lightning speed to the 10-
day fast of TRS Chief K Chandrasekhar Rao, demanding a separate state
to be carved out from the existing Andhra Pradesh. Of course, the
hunger strike succeeded only because it was also accompanied with
violence. Does anyone remember Irom Sharmila, the Manipuri girl who
has been on a fast for the last 10 years against the Armed Forces
Special Powers Act in the North East? She started her fast after the
armed forces personnel killed 10 innocent people including 18-year-old
Sinam Chandramani, a 1988 National Child Bravery Award winner. Her
silent fast never made an impact and the government authorities,
politicians, the Indian media and the common man have all been
oblivious to her.
The Manorama Devi protest: The dead body of Manorama Devi, a 32-year-
old woman, was found in 2004. Her tortured and raped body was dumped
just days after the Assam Rifles arrested her. Thirty women
demonstrated naked in front of the Assam Rifles headquarters with a
banner reading, 'Indian Army, rape us too'.
The state jailed them for three months. All this makes one feel that
there has been no major change since the British era. General Dyer
fired at innocent people in Jallianwala Baug and the same thing is
being replicated by the police and Special Police officers in the
naxal belts.
A magazine recently reported the arrest of 14 adivasi women in
Nandigram. These women were holding a protest at the village panchayat
office against police atrocities but the police termed them anti-state
and booked them. The police called them hardcore naxals while the
actual naxal was talking to the media hardly 1.5 kilometers from the
police camp; strange but true. Sometimes I wonder whether we need to
follow the policy of parties like the MNS or the Shiv Sena to make a
point. Has Gandhism died today in the true sense? The dialogue from
Munnabhai where Munna says, "Accha hua aaj bapu zinda nahi hai, warna
yeh dare hue logo ke desh ko dekh ke use bahut dukh hota," rings true.
Far from being independent and self sufficient, we are a country
filled with cowards, and those who support the truth are either put
behind bars or disappear and then resurface as dead bodies.
Meanwhile, I just heard my colleague yell, "I want statehood for
Bandra." Obviously the Telangana issue's coverage has taken a toll on
him.
Posted by Varun Singh at 10:32 PM
http://off-d-record.blogspot.com/2009/12/no-room-for-gandhigiri.html
bademiyansubhanallah
Express News Service
First Published : 16 Dec 2009 03:52:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 16 Dec 2009 09:00:39 AM IST
BHUBANESWAR: The State Government today got flak in the Assembly, run
by the Opposition, over the virtual lawlessness prevailing in many
parts of the State, including Narayanpatna, and its failure to tackle
the growing Naxal menace.
The issue cropped up during discussion on a motion on the
deteriorating law and order situation in the State. Criticising lack
of initiative from the Government to counter the growing violence of
Naxals, the MLAs alleged that instead of trying to bring a semblance
of order in the affected areas, it is always trying to shift the blame
to the Centre.
Besides the Naxal activities, the general law and order situation in
the State has also deteriorated alarmingly, they said and added that
the frequent gang wars in different areas is an indication that the
government had lost control over the situation.
Briefing mediapersons, Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan said
among others Anup Sai, Sadhu Nepak, Rajendra Chhatria, Ramchandra
Kadam (all Cong), Hitesh Bagarti and Karendra Majhi (both BJP)
participated in the discussion.
Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh told mediapersons that
discrimination of the government in declaring drought was discussed
through an adjournment motion notice which was admitted. The
Opposition MLAs alleged that declaration of drought was politicised.
Villages which supported opposition MLAs in the last elections were
not declared drought affected, they added. The MLAs demanded that a
comprehensive package for the farmers on the lines of the packages in
Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Maharashtra be announced by the
government. Surendra Singh Bhoi of the Congress alleged that non-
farmers are now getting loans instead of farmers and the government
has no control over the situation.
Presiding officer Debi Prasanna Chand observed that the Government
will be informed about the problems faced by the farmers in this
regard. Dushmanta Nayak (Cong) alleged that farmers are facing a lot
of difficulties in getting farm loans even though many of them repaid
previous loan on schedule.
Gobardhan Das (Cong) raised the issue of problems faced by the poor
for delay in distribution of BPL cards. Prafulla Majhi, Ramchandra
Kadam and Surendra Paramanik (all Cong) criticised the government for
its failure in the implementation of Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikran
Yojana. They wanted the Centre to release funds for the State
Government in this regard.
bademiyansubhanallah
16 Dec 2009, 1721 hrs IST, PTI
NAGPUR: Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan today said the state
will stick to 'bullet-for-bullet' policy on Naxalism.
"We will stick to our bullet-for-bullet policy as far as dealing with
Naxalites is concerned. However, we are also ready to talk with them,
provided they abjure violence first," Chavan said.
The chief minister who visited 'Suyog', where journalists covering
session are put up, said he personally favoured united Maharashtra and
will accept the high command's decision on the issue.
He also rued that several important issues related to Vidarbha could
not be taken up during the ongoing winter session.
On proposals worth several hundred crores for renovations of
Mantralaya, Bandra government colonies and others, Chavan said the
state government would seek an opinion from independent financial
consultants in this regard.
bademiyansubhanallah
(Source: IANS)
Published: Tue, 15 Dec 2009 at 14:55 IST
New Delhi: A special cell to address the issues faced by Dalit women
is being set up by the National Commission for Women (NCW) in an
effort to fight injustice against this section of society, Women and
Child Development Minister Krishna Tirath said Tuesday.
"Welfare of Dalit women needs special attention as they have been
discriminated against by other sections of the society for long.
Though many programmes have been drafted by various ministries, there
is a need to create mass awareness so that these women can come
forward to take advantage of these schemes," she said while
inaugurating the Dalit Women's Congress, "Abhaya Jeevan", in the
capital.
"More short-stay homes and help line services will also be arranged by
the Central Social Welfare Board for the Dalit women. Also, self-help
groups of such women will be provided more funding and training for
capacity building through the Rashtriya Mahila Kosh programme,"
Krishna Tirath added.
The women and child devopment ministry is also conducting a study on
the status of Dalit women so that programmes and policies can be tuned
in accordance to their needs, the minister said.
Addressing the conference, Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment
Mukul Wasnik laid stress on education and better health facilities for
Dalit women.
"By March 2010, all manual scavengers will be rehabilitated," he
added.
http://www.samaylive.com/news/special-cell-to-fight-injustice-to-dalit-women/670687.html
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust Of India
Kolkata, December 18, 2009
First Published: 19:23 IST(18/12/2009)
Last Updated: 19:23 IST(18/12/2009)
Violence in West Midnapore continued as suspected Maoists who also
torched vehicles at Jhargram in the trouble-torn district of West
Bengal gunned down four CPI (M) members.
CPI (M) worker Sisir Jana of Dharampur village was shot dead by
suspected ultras this evening, police said, adding "the killers told
villagers that Jana had been given death sentence by a people's
court."
The suspected Maoists vandalised a sponge iron factory at Jitusole and
set 15 trucks and 12 motorcycles ablaze this morning.
People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) supporters
allegedly set afire three oil tankers on the NH6 near Bankasole and a
mini truck in Chandra, police said.
The joint forces rushed to the spot and fired two rounds in the air to
control the situation, they added.
Around 500 people, including Maoists, shot dead CPI (M) workers Anil
Chalak, Daya Chalak and Amol Patra yesterday. Ganesh Hansda, a gram
panchayat member of Chandra village, was shot at and admitted to
hospital, police said.
Last night, suspected Maoists shot dead a CPI (M) leader's father and
chopped off his mother's left hand in West Midnapore district.
They also torched the house of Manik Jana, a CPI (M) zonal committee
member, when they did not find him at home.
...and I a Sid Harth
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 20:26 HRS IST
Nagpur, Dec 17 (PTI) A local court today acquitted four Naxal leaders,
including top brass of Naxalite movement Arun Thomas Ferreira and
Murli Satya Reddy, for lack of evidence of unlawful activities against
them.
Dharendra Bhurale and Naresh Bansod were also let off by
Additional Session Judge R B Patil who said the police had failed to
substantiate charges against them.
The court took into account contradictory evidence produced by police
against them. In one such instance, police disclosed that a pistol had
been seized from Ferreira at the time of his arrest but during the
trial a firearm of different make was produced.
The four were arrested here two years back and were given the benefit
of police lapses for producing contradictory evidence against them.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/429101_Nagpur-court-acquits-four-Naxal-leaders
chhotemianinshallah
HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
Kolkata, December 19, 2009
First Published: 00:28 IST(19/12/2009)
Last Updated: 00:30 IST(19/12/2009)
There will be killings in Lalgarh as long as the security forces stay
there, according to Maoist leader Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji.
He said the deaths were a part of the movement. Lalgarh is 165 km west
of Kolkata.
“There’s no need to count the deaths because there will be more. I
give my word that we’ll stop killing if the state withdraws the joint
forces from Lalgarh,” the senior Maoist leader told HT.
Kishenji’s comments were with reference to the Maoists killing four
Communist Party of India (Marxist) supporters on Thursday.
On Friday, the Maoists and the Peoples’ Committee Against Police
Atrocities (PCAPA) called a shutdown in West Midnapore district, of
which Lalgarh is a part.
This step was taken because the police failed to produce two of its
activists, Raju Adak and Joydeb Bera, before court by Thursday.
Jharkhand poll violence
Two security persons were killed and two others injured in two
landmine blasts by the Maoists in Palamau (300 km north-west of
Ranchi) and West Singhbhum (90 km south-west of Ranchi) districts
during the fifth and final phases of the assembly polls in Jharkhand
on Friday.
About 58.12 per cent of voter turnout was reported from the 16
constituencies.
bademiyansubhanallah
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Kohima, Dec. 19: The Naga peace process is poised to receive a boost
with National Socialist Council of Nagalim’s general secretary
Thuingaleng Muivah tentatively scheduled to visit New Delhi by mid-
January to discuss the government’s proposals to hammer out a
solution.
Disclosing this today, kilonser (minister) in charge of the “ministry
of information and publicity”, Vikiye Sumi cautioned that the visit
would depend on the situation between now and then and the outcome of
ongoing meetings between top NSCN (I-M) leaders and Indian officials
in New Delhi. He did not divulge any details but added that the NSCN
(I-M) would not accept any conditions.
The emissary to the collective leadership of the NSCN (I-M), V.S.
Atem, is at present in New Delhi, meeting Indian leaders on the
Centre’s proposals and doing the groundwork for Muivah’s visit.
Sources said the outcome of the meetings with the central leaders
would be communicated to Muivah who is reportedly somewhere in
Europe.
Harping on the Centre’s sincerity, the NSCN (I-M) leader said a lot
would depend on Delhi’s “commitment and pragmatic approach to hammer
out an honourable and acceptable solution” to the imbroglio.
He added that Swu might not come even if Muivah did, but did not
elaborate.
Sources, however, said according to the agreement between the Centre
and the NSCN (I-M), talks are to be held at the prime ministerial
level and Muivah is the ato kilonser (prime minister) of the
Government of People’s Republic of Nagalim (GPRN) while Swu is its
president.
Sumi said even if they were to visit New Delhi first, all security
aspects had to be worked out by the GPRN and the Centre. “Security is
also another problem for the leaders,” the outfit’s spokesman said.
Though the Centre has prepared proposals for the Isak-Muivah faction,
the Khaplang faction of the NSCN and the Naga National Council have
jointly rejected any conditional proposal to hammer out a solution to
the Naga issue.
Naga organisations and political parties have, however, urged the NSCN
(I-M) and the Centre for an honourable and acceptable solution to the
Naga imbroglio.
The Congress said as the Centre had shown its sincerity to resolve the
Naga problem, the Nagas must take full advantage of the situation and
come to a conclusion on a pending problem.
Nagaland PCC president K.V. Pusa said internal differences within Naga
society should be sorted out so that joint talks could be held with
the Centre.
Home minister Imkong L. Imchen said a “logical conclusion” to the Naga
political problem should be a New Year’s gift to the Naga people.
“I hope that with the dawn of the New Year many things will unfold for
the Naga people, specially when the government of India is sincerely
determined to bring and offer a meaningful and honourable solution to
the Naga political issue which Naga people cannot afford to ignore,”
he said.
The Naga organisations have also urged the state government to defer
elections to the municipal councils and town councils slated for
February in view of the proposed meeting between the Centre and the
NSCN (I-M).
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091220/jsp/frontpage/story_11888244.jsp
chhotemianinshallah
Ashish Tripathi , TNN 21 December 2009, 04:36am IST
LUCKNOW: Over six decades of struggle of tribals and forest workers in
UP yielded some result on Sunday when the state government gave
ownership rights on 3258.50 acre forest land to over 3100 tribals in
Sonbhadra district under the Forest Rights Act 2006. The land was
already being tilled by the tribals but now with ownership titles,
their claim has been legalised. Besides uplifting the status of
tribals, the decision would also check spread of naxalism in the
area.
Officials claimed that UP is the first state in the country to
distribute land ownership titles to tribals in such a large number. It
became possible due to coordination between the departments of
revenue, panchayati raj, social welfare and chief minister's office
among others, they said. On the instructions of chief minister
Mayawati officials specially went to Sonbhadra for the job. A function
was held at police lines on Sunday where over 8,000 tribals assembled
to watch the distribution of the ownership titles. They welcomed the
government step saying it was a victory of democracy but added that
there was still a long way to go.
The ownership titles are in the name of entire family and are non-
saleable. It was the first phase of distribution. Similar exercise
will continue in future to clear over 60,000 claims submitted by the
tribals so far. "It's a small but welcome move which would send a good
message among tribals in UP and other states. But still, there are
lakhs of tribals whose rights on their ancestors' land have to be
restored," said Roma, UP convener, National Forum of Forests People
and Forest Workers (NFFPFW). Roma is also the first woman in UP to be
booked under the National Security Act for leading movements for
restoration of tribals' right.
In recent years tribals have intensified their struggle. Women of over
500 villages in the Kaimur range, covering five districts in east UP,
had forcibly taken over around 20,000 hectare of land in the area for
cooperative farming under the banner of Kaimur Kshetra Mahila Majdoor
Samiti. But they were being harassed by mining companies, government
and forest officials as well as the police. Naxals from neighbouring
states of Chhattisgarh and Bihar too have been trying to strengthen
their base in the area taking advantage of `state oppression'. But
majority tribals prefer democratic way over gun for their struggle.
Ashok Chaudhary, national convener, NFFPFW, also welcomed the move and
gave credit to chief minister Mayawati and state minister Sanjay Garg.
But, he added, ownership titles have been given to individuals on
agriculture land presently under forest department control, whereas
the Forest Rights Act 2006 also asks for community ownership to
tribals on forests and its produce. The tribals have been dwelling in
forests for centuries though the British had declared them as
encroachers in 1927. The same continued even after Independence.
Tribals were not even allowed to collect food and grass from forests
for building thatched houses.
Over a dozen tribes including Gond, Kol, Baiga, Agaria, Ghasia,
Punika, etc., are found in the region. Naxal movement reached here in
late 90s but did not get popular support as majority preferred peace.
Narrating their woes to government officers on Sunday, tribals said
the entire region is in the grip of coal, mineral and forest mafia,
who, in connivance with forest officials and police indulge in illegal
cutting of trees and mining but tribals are booked even if they
collect tendu leaves for making bidi. Over 3000 tribals have been
falsely booked under various charges in last five years, they
claimed.
bademiyansubhanallah
Staff Reporter
It’s a wake-up call for State government and OHPC
BERHAMPUR: The naxals’ attack on the Balimela hydel project in
Malkangiri district revealed the gaping loopholes in the security of
hydroelectric projects in Orissa.
Theft and miscreants’ activities at hydel projects are not new. But
for the first time the Maoists dared to take advantage of low security
at Balimela project. Most of the hydropower manufacturing units of
Orissa are now part of the Maoist-prone areas. The villages
surrounding the Balimela hydel project have become stronghold of
Maoists as most of them still do not have proper road communication.
Security was concentrated for the power generating unit. Security was
too less at the other portions of the hydel project like the ‘tunnel
camp’ and the ‘valve house’, which enabled the Maoists to make them
their soft target. They also succeeded in disrupting the power
generation at the hydel project.
Around four years ago miscreants stole copper cables from the
Indravati Hydro Electricity project. It also led to total disruption
of power generation for around 16 hours. Following the incident there
were proposals to increase security cover of the hydel projects in the
State. Reports from the intelligence agencies also hinted that power
projects are being targeted by terrorists. But the Balimela incident
hints that not much security was added up.
The Orissa Hydro Power Corporation Limited (OHPC) manages seven
hydroelectricity power projects in the State.
Worth of projects
These hydel projects are worth more than Rs. 18,000 crores. These
hydel units have the capacity to generate around 2000 mw of power.
They also generate more than Rs. 300-crore revenue. They surely
provide irrigation facility.
The naxal attack at Balimela project has revealed that several key
locations of hydel projects are still guarded by a few unarmed home
guards or private security personnel. At some remote places like the
‘tunnel camp’ there may be no security arrangement. The few security
men who at times have only lathis as weapons are no match for the
naxals threat. It is high time for the State government and the OHPC
to wake up after the Balimela incident and provide a security cover to
the hydel projects.
Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 21, 2009
http://www.hindu.com/2009/12/21/stories/2009122157650300.htm
bademiyansubhanallah
Rajesh Ahuja / DNA
Tuesday, December 22, 2009 1:46 IST Email
New Delhi: If the Maoists, in a most improbable situation, were to
form a government in Delhi, Kobad Ghandy could easily become their
globe-trotting external affairs minister. His interrogators have come
to the conclusion that Ghandy is the international face of Indian
Maoists.
Like a typical naxalite leader, if Ghandy was providing a wealth of
information to his interrogators about international linkages of
Indian left-wing extremist movement, he also moved an application in a
Delhi court saying he was forced to give a confession during his
custody. He told the court he wanted to retract his confession.
As the interrogators too know, Ghandy has been one of the most active
and influential naxalite leader of the last three decades.
He told the interrogators that in 1994, he rejoined Peoples War Group
(PWG), a Maoist organisation now merged with other left-wing extremist
groups, to form a unified CPI (Maoist), and started working with two
persons known by their code names Vishnu and Vikram. In 1996, he
visited Belgium on behalf of the party to attend a conference of
Marxist-Leninist parties from 50 countries across the world.
Outside India, Ghandy used an alias of Pradeep to hide his identity.
Again in 1998, he visited Frankfurt in Germany to attend a conference
of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany (German: Marxistisch-
Leninistische Partei Deutschlands, MLPD).
The CPI(Maoist) played host to delegates from Turkey and Nepal at the
ninth Congress held at Chhattisgarh's Abujhmad in 2001. Ghandy was
entrusted with the task of receiving them at Mumbai and bringing them
to Abujhmad. Here, Ghandy was elevated to the Central Committee of the
CPI(M). The following year, Ghandy was made incharge of the newly-
formed central publishing bureau (CPB) of the outfit.
During the interrogation, Ghandy also shed light on the close
relations between Indian and Nepali Maoists. He told about the 2003
conference of CCOMPOPSA (Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and
Organisations of South Asia) that took place in Punjab. The conference
was held under the leadership of Nepali Maoist ideologue Baburam
Bhattarai, who went on to become the finance minister in the Prachanda
government after Maoists took the reigns in Kathmandu in 2008.
Ghandy was arrested from Delhi on September 20. He had been living
with another CPI(M) central committee member, Balraj alias Aravind.
While Ghandy landed in the police net, his comrade managed to give the
security agencies the slip. Security agencies believe he was trying to
hunt fresh recruits in the industrial belts of the National Capital
Region (NCR), in an effort to expand the Maoist ideological base to
urban centres.
http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_shrewd-ghandy-puzzles-keeps-interrogators-guessing_1326218
bademiyansubhanallah
An act with teeth, but of no use in protecting the weak online and off
line
S. Viswanathan,
One reason the police and revenue officials assign for the ever-rising
incidence of violence against Dalits and tribal folk is the
‘inadequacy’ of existing laws against atrocities. This is far from
true. In fact, the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention
of Atrocities) Act, 1989 is a potent law. It provides for punishing
not only the perpetrators of violence, but also the officials,
including the district collector in certain circumstances, when they
refuse to enforce the Act the way they should. So the reason for the
failure to bring the culprits to book seems to lie elsewhere.
With the Act completing 20 years of its existence, the problem is up
for public debate. Advocates, rights activists, leaders of political
parties, and others are discussing the various aspects of the problem.
Five years after the Constitution banned the practice of
“untouchability” under Article 17, the first relevant legislation, the
Untouchability Offences Act 1955, was put in place. The Act also came
to be known as the Temple Untouchability Act, because denial of entry
into temples was the single most onerous aspect of untouchability. The
Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955, which prescribed punishment for
preaching and practising untouchability, is a central Act applicable
to the whole of India. Under this, “civil rights” meant “any right
accruing to a person by reason of the abolition of ‘untouchability’ by
Article 17 of the Constitution.” This was the only legislation that
dealt with civil rights, with amendments bringing many other human
rights under its purview over the years.
An interesting history
The introduction of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act,
1989 has an interesting history. The Protection of Civil Rights Act
came up for review in the late 1970s, when Prime Minister Indira
Gandhi virtually signalled the end of the Emergency by opting for
fresh elections to the Lok Sabha. She suffered a humiliating defeat
and the Janata government took charge. It was perhaps the lowest point
in Mrs Gandhi’s political career. Studies by pollsters and discussions
with senior party leaders identified the loss of traditional Dalit
votes to the Congress as a major factor in the party’s crushing
defeat.
The massacre of 12 Dalit workers by a group of ‘upper caste’
landowners gave Mrs Gandhi an opportunity to make amends for her
neglect of the problems of Dalits, who were believed to be her
unfailing supporters. Discussions with party workers gave her the
impression that all the existing Acts had failed to ensure the
abolition of untouchability and protect Dalits from ‘upper-caste’
violence. The urgency of bringing in more powerful laws became
apparent. It took about eight years for the Congress, now under Rajiv
Gandhi, to make this realisation a reality. Another major pro-Dalit
contribution by Mrs Gandhi was the Special Component Plan (now renamed
as the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan); it provided for allotment by
Ministries at the centre and the States of separate funds for the
benefit of Dalits every year in proportion to their share in the
population. There were complaints that the scheme was not properly
implemented for several years in many States and at the centre. The
scheme has, however, been in operation in recent years.
The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Act, 1989, which covers many
forms of atrocity, raised high hopes among Dalits. Had it been
properly implemented, it could have made a significant difference on
the ground. Besides providing for severe punishment for atrocities
against Dalits, the Act fixes the quantum of compensation to be paid,
depending upon the nature of the atrocity and the nature of the injury
and the extent of loss to the affected. Any failure of the police and
officials to take suitable action would also attract punishment. Yet
sincerity in implementing the Act has been conspicuously absent.
Indifference
It is well known that in most cases, when the affected Dalits go to
the police, First Information Reports (FIR), are registered not under
the S.C. and S.T. Act but under the ordinary laws, which weakens any
chance of bringing the criminals to justice. One well-identified
reason for the indifference of policemen is that they are
overwhelmingly non-Dalits. Apart from that, in many cases, officialdom
is not free from caste bias. True, the 1989 Act does not cover certain
forms of atrocity such as social boycott or denial of social benefits
or economic offences such as denial of employment. But the basic fault
lies not in the legislation but in the dominant values in the social
system, which are shared by the police and officialdom at large.
There is a vital challenge here for socially sensitive journalism. The
news media must go beyond covering atrocities, various forms of
violence, against the socially oppressed. They must pro-actively
report and analyse the chronic and deep-seated realities of this
oppression as a daily phenomenon — so that the atrocities are located
in proper social context and the need for thoroughly cleansing society
of the curse of ‘untouchability’ and kindred social evils is
highlighted. Only then can the media play their part as agents of
social justice and progressive social change.
http://beta.thehindu.com/opinion/Readers-Editor/article67776.ece
chhotemianinshallah
December 22, 2009 18:35 IST
In an unusual move, Chhattisgarh Governor ESL Narasimhan has written
to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh [ Images ] asking Union Home
Minister P Chidambaram [ Images ] not to visit Naxal-affected areas in
Raipur and Dantewada on January 7, 2010, as he plans. During his visit
Chidambaram proposes to undertake a padyatra as well as spend a night
with NGOs in a Naxal-affected area.
In a two-page letter to the prime minister, Narasimhan said the visit
by a dignitary such as the home minister during ongoing anti-Naxal
operations would hamper the security forces' strategy and tactics.
Narasimhan has spent 35 years in the Intelligence Bureau and held the
post of director, IB, before moving into the Raipur Raj Bhavan. Given
his background, he knows the operational difficulties in Maoist-
affected areas in his state.
While the governor's aide de camp said he was not talking to the
media, sources in North Block, housing the Union home ministry,
confirmed that such a letter had indeed been sent and they have
received a copy as well.
This is the first time a governor has asked the Union home minister to
not visit a state.
Meanwhile, Operation Anti-Red Terror has been set into motion with
some 80,000 highly-armed personnel drawn from three central
paramilitary forces and thousands of state policemen fanning out to
take on the Maoists in the three most Naxal-affected districts in
central India [ Images ]. The districts where the offensive is being
unleashed are Kanker and Rajnandgaon districts in Chhattisgarh, and
Gadchiroli in the Vidarbha region of Maharashtra [ Images ].
The task assigned to them is to drive out the Maoists and free the
areas under their influence, so as to allow government agencies to
launch development works and restore law and order.
Officials in New Delhi [ Images ] asserted that a clear-cut line has
been given to the forces to avoid violent conflicts unless they become
imperative..
"If they retreat we are not going to hunt and kill them. They may,
however, not retreat peacefully so we are prepared for any attacks.
The forces have been specially trained to tackle guerrilla-type
strikes, as we do not expect them to get into a head-on confrontation,
especially when we have pushed in a large number of forces to
outnumber them," a top official who is coordinating the operation
said.
The Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan
Border Police and state police are carrying out the operation
jointly.
In the first phase, the forces will move deep into the interiors of
the forest areas to set up their outposts. Once they establish
themselves, they will venture further into remote areas to mount an
onslaught to cleanse the area of Maoists.
The official said the offensive will include house to house searches
but there will be no violence unless the forces are attacked. Even
their response will be limited to drive out those mounting the
attacks, he said.
"Once we clean out the areas, the district administration will step in
with development works. Our task is limited to neutralising the
Maoists who are not allowing the government staff to do any work in
the areas under their control, and to drive them out," the official
added.
A Correspondent in New Delhi
Discussion Board
7 messages
delightHide replies
by ar on Dec 22, 2009 07:00 PM
chidu running holding his lungi when naxals chase him. what a delight
to watch
Hope
by Desi maverick on Dec 22, 2009 06:58 PM
Hope a complete l0ser like PC goes there and gets ki11ed.
on the run
by ar on Dec 22, 2009 06:56 PM | Hide replies
chidu should atleast wear a trouser so that he can run when naxals
chase him. His lungee will fall otherwise and cameras will capture him
live
wear a trouser
by ar on Dec 22, 2009 06:54 PM | Hide replies
chidu should atleast wear a trouser so that he can run if attacked.
With his lungi if he runs it may fall and TV media is ever ready.
PC
by agp on Dec 22, 2009 06:53 PM
Should visit those areas.
Nexal menance
by Haridas Menon on Dec 22, 2009 06:51 PM
Dear Sir,
It is imperative of the government to safe guard the interest of poor
people. However the same should not be for the benefits for rich
people. I wish all the best for PC.
Thanks,
Menon
courage = p.c
by Palaniappan Gopalan on Dec 22, 2009 06:50 PM
I AM PROUD TO SEE THE COURAGE OF OUR P.C.
KEEP IT UP.
Re: courage = p.c
by a c on Dec 22, 2009 06:55 PM
he will have 5000 security personnel guarding him from all sides and a
helicopter ready to fly out if the naxals attack and this will hamper
anti naxal operation.
ask him to show courage and root out the evil of terrorism and go for
the jugular of all religion based killings instead.
Re: courage = p.c
by Desi maverick on Dec 22, 2009 06:57 PM
Hope to see him ki11ed by the Naxals!
http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/dec/22/dont-visit-naxal-hit-areas-governor-tells-pc.htm
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 18:43 HRS IST
New Delhi, Dec 22 (PTI) Home Minister P Chidambaram has convened a
meeting of chief secretaries and police chiefs of five Naxal-affected
states on December 24 to take stock of their plans to deal with
Maoists.
During the day-long meeting, the home minister will review with chief
secretaries and DGPs of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar and
Maharashtra their plans in dealing with the Maoists, availability of
forces and other operational aspects.
Home Ministry sources said Chidambaram will also take stock of
development programmes to be carried out by the state governments in
the Maoist-dominated areas once they are freed from the clutches of
Naxals through operations.
The meeting bears significance as it comes immediately after the
Jharkhand Assembly elections which delayed the much awaited large-
scale coordinated anti-Naxal operations in the states.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/435935_HM-convenes-meeting-of-CSs--DGPs-of-Naxal-hit-states
chhotemianinshallah
Press Trust of India / New Delhi December 22, 2009, 16:29 IST
Aluminium producer Nalco's Rs 4,402-crore expansion project will be
delayed by about 9 months because of the naxal attack at its Orissa
site early this year that brought construction work to a standstill.
"Construction work at alumina refinery came to a stand still after the
Naxal attack in April at Damanjodi. Now contractors has resumed work.
Commissioning of the alumina refinery will be delayed by about 9
months," Nalco Director Finance B L Bagra told PTI.
As part of its Rs 4,402-crore second-phase expansion project, National
Aluminium Company (Nalco) is in the process of augmenting the annual
production capacity of its alumina refinery from 1.57 million tonnes
to 2.1 million tonnes.
It had planned to start commercial production of the expanded refinery
from June 2010, but now it would be done in March 2011.
However, the work is on full swing for expanding the annual production
capacity of bauxite mines, aluminium smelter, and captive power
plants, he said.
Nalco, in the second phase of the expansion programme, plans to take
the annual production of its bauxite mines to 63 lakh tonnes from the
present 48 lakh tonnes, output of its aluminium smelter to 4.60 lakh
tonnes from present 3.45 lakh tonnes, by next year.
It has a present installed capacity of 960 MW, which will be expanded
to 1200 MW in the next fiscal.
http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/nalco-expansion-project-faces-9-months-delay/81454/on
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 23 December 2009, 04:22am IST
NEW DELHI: With the Centre gradually moving additional paramilitary
forces to Naxal-affected states post-Jharkhand polls to step up
ongoing offensives against Red ultras, home ministry has convened a
meeting of chief secretaries and police chiefs of five states on
Thursday to finetune coordination among them during joint operations
at junctions and tri-junctions of bordering states.
The day-long meeting is to be attended by officials from Bihar,
Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra.
Sources said that besides discussing strategic plans, home minister P
Chidambaram will also take stock of development programmes to be
carried out by the state governments in Maoist-dominated areas once
they are freed from the clutches of Naxals.
The meeting is being convened at a time when the Centre is moving
additional 17,000 paramilitary personnel to states to step up its anti-
naxal operations in all affected states.
Though the operation is underway in certain pockets in West Bengal,
Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, the idea is to extend it simultaneously
at junctions and tri-junctions of other affected states including
Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa.
The states currently have 58,000 paramilitary personnel -- drawn from
CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB and CoBRA -- at their command. The additional
deployment will increase the strength of central forces for anti-Naxal
operations to nearly 75,000.
Calling the move to fully dominate Naxal-infested areas across the
country a "long haul", a senior home ministry official said it would
take nearly "two to three years" to wipe out Maoists from affected
states.
According to the plan, central paramilitary forces and state police
will jointly dominate an identified area by eliminating Naxals and
clearing it from landmines by encircling the area without leaving room
for the ultras to escape. Even after the area is cleared, paramilitary
forces will not leave the place. They will be stationed there till the
time civic administration is fully restored.
"This model is being adopted in Lalgarh area of West Bengal. It will
be replicated to other areas one by one," said the official.
chhotemianinshallah
Soumittra S Bose, TNN 23 December 2009, 06:58am IST
NAGPUR: The Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee and Maharashtra state
committee of the Naxalites have jointly issued a pamphlet cautioning
the government of widespread tribal uprising marking the centenary of
the tumultuous 'Mahan Bhumkal' movement that had rocked the British in
1910. The pamphlet talks of a mass upheaval in the hinterlands to be
guided by their 'scientific approach', sends a threat that 2010 shall
witness the revival of the preindependence revolution.
Shortly after the state government's announcements of series of
initiatives to counter the rebels during the ongoing winter sessions,
the Maoists have fallen back on familiar tactics of trying to persuade
security forces not to fight. They have said the security personnel
were members of the same deprived class for whom the struggle has been
initiated.
The rebels have alleged that the plan of the top politicians like
Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,
Union home minister P Chidambaram, Maharashtra chief minister Ashok
Chavan, Chhatisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and others to quell the
tribal movement is nothing but a suppressive step against the deprived
population that is fighting for justice. They called Prime Minister
Singh 'Imperialistic America's faithful loyalist' who is shielding the
'exploiters' and branding Maoists a threat to the country.
They portray themselves as sympathetic towards jawans saying the
forces' gruelling efforts in jungles and camps were
nothing but a struggle for livelihood. The latest actions of Naxalites
is significant considering the Union government's plan to counter them
has started to take shape.
The Naxal pamphlet asserted that they were engaged in a struggle to
the tribals their rightful claims against the deprivation from the
government.
chhotemianinshallah
YEAR-END REVIEW
MHA - 09
SECURITY APPARATUS FURTHER STRENGTHENED
NIA BECOMES OPERATIONAL
COORDINATED ACTION AGAINST NAXAL VIOLENCE
SECURITY SITUATION IN J&K IMPROVES
The year 2009 witnessed several new measures taken by the Government
to strengthen the security apparatus of the country to equip it to
meet the grave challenge posed by global terrorism. These include
operationalization of the National Investigation Agency (NIA),
establishment of four NSG Hubs to ensure quick and effective response
to any possible terror attack, augmentation of the strength of
Intelligence Bureau (IB), strengthening of the Multi-Agency Centre in
the IB to enable it to function on 24X7 basis and strengthening of
coastal security. The measures especially aimed at improving the
overall internal security situation after the ghastly terrorist attack
in Mumbai in November last year.
The overall internal security and law & order situation in the country
remained largely under control during 2009. No major incident of
terrorist violence was reported from the hinterland. The communal
situation remained under control. The year also witnessed significant
improvement in the security situation in Jammu & Kashmir and some
progress in the North East, but the Naxal violence continued to be a
cause of concern. The Centre took some major initiatives to deal with
the menace of Naxalism and, after wide-ranging consultations with the
Naxal-affected States, approved a joint action plan to kick off
coordinated and combined action, especially at the bi-junctions and
tri-junctions of the affected States.
In 2009, steps were taken to significantly expand Central Para-
military Forces (CPMFs). The report of the Liberhan Commission along
with the Action Taken Report was presented in Parliament.
Some of the key initiatives and achievements of the Ministry of Home
Affairs during 2009 are listed below:
NIA Operationalized
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), set up as per the NIA
Act enacted in the previous year, started functioning in 2009 with
cases assigned to it for investigation and prosecution. Headquartered
in Delhi and notified as a police station, NIA is mandated to
investigate and prosecute offences under the Acts mentioned in the
Schedule, including offences under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, that have inter-state and international linkages and
assigned to it by the Government. The agency would function under the
superintendence of the Central Government.
Four NSG Hubs Established
To ensure quick and effective response to any possible terror
attack, the Government has established four National Security Guards
(NSG) hubs at Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Chennai. Each NSG hub is
equipped with the operational strength of around 250 personnel.
Additionally, two regional centres of NSG are also being set up at
Hyderabad and Kolkata to enable instant response to any situation
arising out of possible acts of violence by terrorists.
Designated officers of the Central Government and the Director General
of NSG have been empowered to requisition aircraft from registered
operators in the interest of public safety. Voluntary agreements have
been signed by eight private airlines operators to provide aircraft to
NSG during emergency.
Intelligence Gathering Mechanism Strengthened
In order to strengthen the intelligence gathering and
sharing machinery, strength of IB has been substantially augmented.
The functioning of the Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) in the Intelligence
Bureau has also been strengthened and revamped. The Multi-Agency
Centre, now functioning on 24X7 basis, has been advised to share
intelligence with all other agencies including those from the States
and similarly, all other agencies have been asked to share
intelligence with the MAC.
During the year, action was initiated to establish an online,
dedicated and fully secure connectivity between all the designated
members of the MAC, between MAC and the Subsidiary Multi-Agency
Centres (SMACs) in 30 important identified locations spread across the
country and between the SMACs and the State Special Branches to make
sure that the flow of vital information is maintained at the optimum
level at every stage. A scheme for providing technical and financial
support by the Intelligence Bureau to the States for strengthening
State Special Branches has been approved to help implement this plan
in an efficient manner.
As a result of coordination between the Central intelligence agencies
and the State Police, a large number of terrorist modules of Pak-based
terrorist outfits were busted in various parts of the country.
Coastal Security Strengthened
Following the 26/11 incidents, coastal security of the country
has been reviewed comprehensively at various levels. Under the
ongoing Coastal Security Scheme, 64 out of the 73 coastal police
stations have been operationalised. 56 interceptor boats have been
supplied to the coastal States and Union Territories during the year
so far.
Coast Guard, in consultation with the maritime States, has
been carrying out vulnerability and gap analysis to assess additional
requirements in respect of police stations, check-posts, outposts,
vehicles, boats etc. Based on this assessment, a comprehensive
proposal, to be named as Phase-II of the Coastal Security Scheme, has
been processed and is in the final stages of consultations.
Various other measures to strengthen coastal security are
under consideration or implementation which include establishment of
vessel tracking and monitoring systems, issue of identity cards to
fishermen and intensified patrolling on the seas.
Measures Taken for Police Reforms, Augmentation and Training
In 2009, the Government approved a proposal for the raising of
38 additional Battalions including two Mahila Battalions in the
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Out of these 38 Battalions, three
Bns including one Mahila Bn are to be raised during the current fiscal
year. Similarly, 29 new battalions, to be raised over a period of five
years starting from this fiscal year, were approved in early 2009 for
the Border Security Force (BSF). In addition, the ceiling with regard
to the strength of CISF has been enhanced to 1,45,000 from 93,521.
Eleven IR Battalions including 2 commando companies in each battalion
were sanctioned to the State Governments of Assam, Chhattisgarh,
Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur,
Meghalaya and Orissa and UT of Chandigarh.
Three ALH Dhruv helicopters have been inducted into BSF. These are
based at Ranchi and Raipur.
A revised recruitment scheme for recruitment of Constables in CPMFs
was approved.
CISF security was extended to the private sector after due
amendment in the CISF Act in January this year.
For the first time, risk/hardship allowances were approved
in April’09 for personnel of the CPMFs deployed in high risk and
difficult areas such as high altitude areas, Left Wing Extremism
affected areas, areas with uncongenial climate and other such areas.
A CPMF Housing Project for construction of about 1,00,000
housing units on Public-Private-Partnership basis has been approved.
Consultants have been appointed for preparation of the Project
Feasibility Report.
A large number of companies of the CPMFs were mobilized for the
conduct of general elections to the Lok Sabha, for assembly elections
and for bye-elections.
As per the directives of the Supreme Court (Prakash Singh
& Others vs Union Of India; 22nd September, 2006) on police reforms,
MHA decided to (i) set up a State Security Commission for all UTs
which would lay down broad policies and evaluate performance of the
police in each UT (ii) set up two Police Establishment Boards (PEB) in
each UT, one for the the ranks of Inspectors and above and the other
for Sub-Inspectors and below. The PEBs would decide all transfers,
postings, promotions and other service-related matters (iii) set up a
Police Complaints Authority in each UT (iv) accord two-year tenures in
UTs to key police functionaries, except under exceptional
circumstances/administrative exigencies which would be recorded in
writing and (v) separate police personnel into law & order and
investigative wings in UTs.
A copy of the draft Model Police Act was sent to the States for
consideration and appropriate action. The Model Police Act provides
for well-defined duties of the Police towards the public and
accountability to the rule of law. A number of States have either
framed New Police Acts or amended the existing Acts.
Under the National Police Mission, six Micro-Missions namely Human
Resource Development, Community Policing, Communication and
Technology, Infrastructure, New Processes and Proactive Policing &
Visualizing future Challenges have been set up. The projects on
Community Counselling Centres and Transparent Recruitment Process,
submitted by the Micro-Missions have been approved for
implementation.
Allocation of land and construction activities began during the year
for setting up of 20 Counter-Insurgency and Anti-Terrorist Schools in
the States of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa to
provide training to police personnel in counter-insurgency and anti-
terrorism tactics.
It has been decided to establish a Central Academy for
Police Training at Bhopal as a centre of excellence for training of
State police officers. 400 acres of land has been allotted by the
Madhya Pradesh Government for the purpose.
During 2009, 22 new Police Stations and 9 Sub-Divisions
of Delhi Police were notified and sanction for creation of 6478 posts
for these new Police Stations and Sub-Divisions issued.
Approval was accorded to a Plan Scheme relating to Modernisation of
Traffic and Communications Network of the Delhi Police at a cost of Rs.
200 crore for implementation in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.
To minimize the shortage of IPS officers at SP level, a
decision has been taken to increase the batch-size of the Indian
Police Service from 130 to 150 from the Civil Services Examination,
2009 onwards.
The Bureau of Police Research & Development has been strengthened and
restructured by the sanctioning of 72 additional posts.
Situation in J&K Improves
The security situation in J&K has vastly improved in the last few
years and this trend continued during the current year also. In the
current year (till November), the number of incidents was down by 27%
and those of killing of civilians by 17% and of security force
personnel by 19% over the corresponding period of previous year.
During the current year, 473 infiltration bids were attempted out of
which 367 were foiled.
Out of the 67 projects/ schemes under the Prime Minister’s
Reconstruction Plan for J&K, action in respect of 30 projects/schemes
has been completed and the remaining 37 projects/schemes are at
various stages of implementation.
Steps Taken to Fight Naxal Menace
Naxal violence poses one of the gravest internal security
threats before the country. In the current year (till 30th November),
the number of incidents of Naxal violence have been 2016 compared to
1452 incidents in the corresponding period of 2008. 514 civilians and
304 personnel of security forces have been killed compared to 444
civilians and 217 security forces killed in the corresponding period
last year.
To deal with the menace in an effective and decisive manner, the
Union Home Ministry has devised and approved a plan to take joint and
co-ordinated action against Naxalites. The action plan was prepared
after wide-ranging consultations with the States including two
conferences attended by the Chief Ministers of the Naxal-affected
States.
58 Battalions of CRPF have been provided to the States for
anti-Naxal duties.
In June this year, CPI (Maoist) was included in the
Schedule of terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, 1967.
Nizamabad district of Andhra Pradesh; Deogarh, Jaipur,
Kondhamal, Dhenkanal and Nayagarh districts of Orissa and Kunti and
Ramgarh districts of Jharkhand brought under the ambit of Security
Related Expenditure Scheme.
In August this year, revised guidelines and package for surrender and
rehabilitation of Naxalites were issued. The Central Scheme for
Assistance to Victims/Family of Victims of Terrorist and Communal
Violence was extended to victims of Naxal violence.
Assistance of CPMFs was provided to West Bengal to help
restore the State writ in Lalgarh.
Situation in North-East Improves
There has been significant improvement in the security
situation in the North Eastern States. The number of causalities of
civilians and security forces personnel has decreased. The number of
militants killed/surrendered/arrested in the current year (up to 30th
November, 2009) is 3580. However, the security situation in Manipur
and Assam continues to cause concern.
Owing to counter-insurgency operations, ULFA in Assam has
come under tremendous pressure. Key ULFA leaders are in prison. Due to
sustained pressure by security forces and also due to the Union Home
Minister’s call to the extremist groups in the North East to lay down
arms, abjure violence and come forward for talks, 416 cadres of DHD(J)
have laid down their arms.
Measures Taken for Disaster Management
The National Policy on Disaster Management has been prepared in tune
with the Disaster Management Act, 2005 with a vision to build a safe
and disaster-resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive and
technology-driven strategy through a culture of prevention,
mitigation, preparedness and response.
A Scheme for strengthening fire and emergency services to be
implemented at an estimated cost of Rs.200 crore during the Eleventh
Plan Period has been approved.
A Scheme to revamp civil defence has been approved with an outlay of
Rs.100 crore to be implemented during XI Five Year Plan.
Steps Initiated in Other Areas
A programme of modernization, computerization and
networking of 33 Immigration Check Posts (ICPs) which regulate more
than 98.5% of the passenger traffic, has been completed.
Construction of 11 strategic roads along the Indo-China
border has started.
During the year, 270 kms of fencing and 253 kms of border
roads have been constructed along the Indo-Bangladesh border.
The work of direct data collection of all usual residents for
creation of the National Population Register in the coastal villages
of 9 maritime States and 4 UTs ,viz., Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala,
Orissa, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Karnataka,
Goa, Daman & Diu, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands is under
progress. The biographical details of around 50 lakh persons and
biometric details of about 10 lakh have been collected so far. The
Government has approved a proposal to issue identity (smart) cards to
all ‘usual residents’ of age 18 years and above in these areas.
A proposal for establishing a Crime and Criminal Tracking
Network System(CCTNS) was approved for networking of all crime-related
data amongst all police stations, States and the Centre. Rs.89 crore
has been allocated to the States and UTs for the purpose. The Centre-
State MoU for the CCTNS project has been signed by all the 35 States/
UTs.
Approval of the Cabinet was obtained for extension of the
rehabilitation package to the victims of the anti-Sikh riots in 1984
to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Chandigarh.
Notifications for delegation of powers to the Govt. of NCT of
Delhi under the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957 was
issued.
Two rounds of tripartite talks on Gorkhaland were held during
the year.
A Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security was held
on January 6, 2009 and on 17th August, 2009
A high level Indian delegation led by the Union Home Minister
visited USA in September 2009 and held discussions on issues of mutual
interest including the challenge of combating terrorism.
With a view to improving punctuality among officers and staff,
a biometric-based attendance monitoring system has been introduced in
the Ministry of Home Affairs.
OK/KS
NB: Monthly report cards of MHA are available on “pib.nic.in”.
http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=56457
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 16:37 HRS IST
Imphal, Dec 24 (PTI) At least 11 militants were killed and three
civilians injured in separate incidents in Manipur, officials said
here today.
Six militants, suspected to be members of People's Revolutionary Party
of Kangleipak (PREPAK), were killed in an encounter with Assam Rifles
at Leikonpung area in Chandel district late last night, they said.
One AK-47 rifle, one M-16 rifle, one grenade and several rounds of
ammunition used in different weapons were recovered from the spot,
they said.
In another gun battle between militants and Assam Rifles yesterday,
three suspected militants of Kangleipak Communist Party (Nongthon
group) were killed at Waithou area in Thoubal district, the officials
said.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/438961_11-militants-killed-in-separate-incidents-in-Manipur
Sid Harth
fear of Naxalite
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Report by Dillip Mallik,
Boneigarh: Thousands of panic-stricken tribals from five border
villages in Naxal infested Bonai sub-division in Sundargarh district
had deserted their homes since Tuesday and moved to a safer zone in K
Balang after the security provided to them earlier was withdrawn
returned their houses on Thursday.
The villagers of Relhatur, San-Baljore, Langalakata, Jharberda and
Mahupada under K Balang police station had vacated their homes for the
second time in a week following Maoist threat to their lives.
Long Range Patrolling (LRP), which was continuing in the villages of
Relhatur Panchayat, was withdrawn on Tuesday due to inadequate force
with Rourkela district. After getting assurance from the district
administration, the villagers again returned to their houses on
Thursday.
http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=15937
Sid Harth
'Armed Forces Special Powers Act responsible for many killings'
21 December 2009, 12:00am IST
An independent citizens' fact-finding mission to Manipur to assess and
report on the extrajudicial killings by security forces presented its
report in New Delhi recently. One of the team members, K S
Subramanian , a retired IPS officer and the author of Political
Violence and the Police in India, spoke to Amrith Lal :
What is wrong with the law and order situation in Manipur?
Since July this year when a pregnant young woman and a young man were
killed in an unjustified police shoot-out in the heart of Imphal in
public view, the situation in Manipur has deteriorated. The
enforcement of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) in the
state since 1980 has led to a large number of such killings (260 in
2009 alone). The public unrest in the state over the last 10 years and
more is symbolised in the heroic and unprecedented indefinite fast by
Irom Sharmila Chanu. The state has a deployment of 26 battalions of
Assam Rifles, 10 battalions of the army, 12 battalions of central
paramilitary forces and 12 battalions of Manipur Rifles and India
Reserve battalions. The need for such a large deployment in a tiny
state with a population of only 2.6 million was not obvious to us. It
was causing public dissatisfaction and militancy rather than imparting
a sense of increased public safety.
The state government and the civil society groups have completely
different versions of almost every violent incident. Why is this so?
The main source of official information is the police force, which
feel obliged to present such incidents as arising from a threat to
national security. The civil society gets information directly from
reliable public sources. Security personnel operating under the AFSPA
are tempted to indulge in fake encounters for rewards and medals.
Manipur heads the list of police gallantry medal awardees during the
current year.
As elsewhere, the AFSPA is a bone of contention in Manipur also. Is
this Act essential to fight militancy?
The Jeevan Reddy committee (2005) reviewed the working of the AFSPA
and admitted that the Act had become "an object of hate and an
instrument of discrimination and high-handedness" and recommended that
it be repealed "without losing sight of the overwhelming desire" of
the local people that the army should remain. This means that the
AFSPA was not considered essential to fight the insurgency in the
region. The large number of fake encounters in Manipur appears to be a
direct outcome of the impunity conferred on the security forces by the
AFSPA. The CrPC, Section 176 was amended in 2006 to provide for
mandatory judicial enquiries in all cases of custodial deaths and
rapes. The procedure has not been followed. A sessions judge who
carried out enquiries into several such incidents had found all of
them to be fake encounter killings. His reports were not made
public.
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Thursday, December 24, 2009 22:55 IST
Gondia (Maharashtra): A former Naxal commander was shot dead by his
old companions at his home in the districthere, police said today.
Around 30 to 40 Naxalites entered the house of Raghunath Fagnu Markam
(48) at Daharitola under Salekasa tehsil of Gondia district at 1am
yesterday, took him out and pumped two bullets in his chest, killing
the former Naxalite on the spot, they said.
Raghunath was associated with the Naxal movement from 1992 to 1999,
before he surrender on November 25, 1999, they said.
He has served as commander of Tanda Dalam between 1992-'96, and was
instrumental in attacks on police party in the year 1993 and 1995 at
Darekasa, Banjaritola and Murkudoh, police said.
Raghunath was also the man behind to blown up the BSNL mobile tower in
the year 1994 at Darekasa, and was wanted by Chattisgarh police also,
they said.
After his surrender the former Naxal served a three-year jail term and
was living a peaceful life at Daharitola, 3 km from Darekasa.
Raghunath had also contested State assembly elections from Gondwana
Gantantra Party from Amgaon seat and got 636 votes.
A case has been registered in this connection under relevant section
and further investigation is on, they said.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 25 December 2009, 05:27am IST
GONDIA/CHANDRAPUR: In separate incidents Naxals killed their former
aides in Salekasa and Etapalli tehsils.
In the first incident a group of 25 Naxalites, allegedly belonging to
the Tanda dalam, shot dead their former comrade and deputy commander
of Darekasa dalam Raghu Murkam (45) in his native village Dabara Tola
in Salekasa tehsil late on Wednesday night.
Sources said Murkam, founder member of Darekasa dalam, was involved in
four crimes during 1993-94 and was acquitted for the crime in 2003-04.
Since then, he had withdrawn from the Naxal movement and was living a
normal life in his native village. He also contested the last assembly
elections as Gondwana Ganatantra Party candidate and secured 636
votes.
Late on Wednesday night, 25 Naxalites entered village Darba Tola.
While 20 Naxals kept vigil in the area, around five of the group
entered Murkam's house and shot him. Though the exact cause behind the
killing is not known, it is believed that Naxals suspected him to be a
police informer.
District superintendent of police Pradeep Deshpande, police inspector
Mukund Lambe, police sub inspector DS Sonuley, head constables Sayyed
and Dabhale rushed to the spot. Further details are awaited.
Meanwhile, in another incident a group of unidentified Naxalites
killed their former collogue in Yemli Burgi village under Etapalli
police station in Gadchiroli in on Wednesday evening. Deceased Sadhu
Rama Pungati (24) was former Naxalite and had surrendered before the
government in 2006.
Police have informed that deceased Pungati had gone to chicken market
in Yemli Burgi on Wednesday. The Naxalites learnt about his presence
in the market and cornered him there. Sadhu Pungati was shot dead
point blank by his former aides at around 4 pm. Pungati had laid his
arms on March 12, 2006 and was living peacefully in Markaltoal village
in Etapalli tehsil. Joint search operations of Gadchiroli police and
CRPF have been launched in the area following the incident.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nagpur/Naxals-kill-two-former-aides/articleshow/5376458.cms
chhotemianinshallah
Express News Service
First Published : 27 Dec 2009 06:24:00 AM IST
RAYAGADA: In a joint operation, forces of CRPF, SOG and district
police today arrested four Maoists from Gudari police limits. The
arrested are Gopala Pedikaka (38) of Khatiguda panchayat, Dubala
Kadraka (40) of Tembaguda under Panili GP, Bafee alias Papai Kasika
(38) of Maria Kasika of Bithapur village under Kadama GP and Huna
Gandalaka (32) of Parupada under Kadama panchayat, all under Gudari
police limits. Bafee and Huna joined the Naxal movement during 2001
and became party members in 2003. They were operating under Akash
alias Ghasiram Majhi who surrendered along with his wife Jharana
earlier. Gopal was supporting the activities of Naxals. The forces
also recovered cellphones, explosive material and wires from them.
Of late the Naxals started threatening the villagers not to use
mobiles and other modes of communication. A number of posters asking
the people not to use cellphones and threatening to sever their hands
if do so along with prohibitive literature was recovered.
A couple of days back the police got a tip-off that some groups of
Naxals were planning to hold a meeting in the forests of Gudari. After
questioning the Naxals were arrested, outgoing SP Asis Kumar Singh
told the mediapersons. Incoming SP Anup Krishna was present.
chhotemianinshallah
December 26th, 2009
By Our Correspondent Hyderabad, Dec. 26: The year 2009 was a
relatively peaceful year as far as the threat from Naxals and
terrorists was concerned, compared to last year. However, the rate of
offences against women and of arson and rioting, including the
Telangana and United Andhra agitations, increased.
Significant events on the Maoist-Naxal front were the “encounter
killing” of top gun Patel Sudhakar Reddy of the Maoist Central
Military Commission by police in Warangal, and the release of video
footage of CPI-Maoist India chief Ganapati alias Muppalla Lakhsmana
Rao, which for the first time put a face to the name of the top Maoist
leader.
Left wing extremist violence has come down in the state this year.
There were 96 incidents related to Naxal violence in 2008 and just 56
in 2009. Naxals killed 15 persons in the state and 16 extremists were
shot dead in exchanges of fire with the police. There were no attacks
on police stations and no incidents of weapons being snatched away by
the Naxals in the past 12 months.
However, the value of property damaged by Naxal violence has increased
from Rs 45.6 lakh last year to Rs 1.38 crore this year.
A senior intelligence official of the anti-Naxal wing said, “The
Maoists attempted to make a comeback. They laid several ambushes for
the police by damaging property, but this was thwarted. Increased
movements of Naxals along the Andhra-Orissa border continue to be a
source of worry. We are making efforts to prevent the Naxals from
gaining ground again.”
Significantly, the state unit of the Greyhounds, the elite anti-Naxal
force that suffered a huge loss of 32 personnel in Balimela in Orissa,
has plunged back into action.
The force has started to train commandos in jungle warfare and has
trained anti-Naxal forces of all Naxal-affected states.
The Special Intelligence Branch, the anti-Naxal wing, played a key
role in nabbing the Maoist ideologue Kobad Ghandy.
However Kishenji alias Mallojula Koteswara Rao who led the laal bagh
siege in West Bengal still continues to evade the police. After a bad
year of terrorist violence in 2008, this year saw just minor incidents
of terror.
A new organisation Tehreek Galba-e-Islam floated by one of the most
wanted terrorists, Viqar Ahmed, came to light on May 18 when a
motorcycle borne terrorist shot at a home guard, killing him and
injuring another constable. Police said it was revenge for the firing
on May 18, after the Macca Masjid blast.
A Pakistani spy, Malik Arshad Mohammed, a native of Pakistan, was
caught in the city in 2004, and Hizbul Mujahideen South India chief,
Mujeeb Ahmed, involved in arms smuggling, was convicted by the courts.
The National Security Guard’s temporary hub at old Begumpet airport
was inaugurated and it began operations in the city.
The elite terror force, Octopus, filed a charge-sheet against the
accused in the twin blasts. However, the force has not been able to
function as effectively as it could since it was made a mere commando
force. After seven years, the trial began into the Saroornagar temple
blast.
State Crime Records Bureau statistics showed around 18,361 cases of
crimes against women were booked till October 2009, including 960
cases of rape, 104 dowry murders, and 1,041 kidnappings. Women were
the victims in 620 cases of murder.
There has been a decrease in the number of murders and grave crimes
this year in the state but Hyderabad city had shown an increase.
In 2009, till October, 1,914 murders took place in the state as
against 2,026 in the corresponding period last year.
Murder for gain, dacoities, robberies and burglaries have come down
this year. White collar offences have shown an increasing trend with
Hyderabad as the con-capital.
The Hyderabad commissioner of police, Mr B. Prasada Rao said, “Most of
the murders take place on the spur of the moment and police have no
control over them. We are successful in curbing organised gangs. As we
register all complaints of economic offences so there is rise in white
collar offenders. Due to the recent agitations, arson and rioting have
increased. There is no substantial increase in dacoities and
robberies.”
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/naxal-attacks-dip-riots-go-933
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 28 December 2009, 02:49am IST
MIDNAPORE/KOLKATA: For nearly a year, the West Bengal police has been
looking for Koteswar Rao, more famous as Kishenji, the Maoist leader
who calls the shots at Jangalmahal, the scene of CPM-Naxal clashes in
West Midnapore district.
All efforts to track the elusive guerrilla leader through his
cellphones have failed, but Kishenji hasn't restricted his calls to
mediapersons. He is now calling up state and district-level
administrative officials on issues related to Jangalmahal. Kishenji
claimed that he had also spoken to three ministers from the Front
partners, other than CPM on the same issue.
Sources said that the Maoist leader is also in touch with the district
level officials working in the Jangalmahal belt. "I know the state
government and police are very eager to find out the officials who
have spoken to me. I don't want anybody to suffer. There's no question
of ever revealing any names," Kishenji said on Sunday.
Recently the state environment secretary L N Meena received a call on
his cellphone from the leader on the sponge iron units active around
Jangalmahal. The call created a flutter in the corridors of power.
State chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti ordered a probe.
Sid Harth
Posted On Monday, December 28, 2009
By Our Staff Reporter
Bhopal, Dec 28:
The state government has imposed ban on Krantikari Jan Committee and
Krantikari Kisan Committee in the state.
The police think that naxal activities may spread in future to 13
districts of the state - Shahdol, Rewa, Seoni, Dewas, Khandwa,
Khargone, Chhindwara, Hoshangabad, Betul, Harda, Badwani, Dhar and
Jhabua. Hence local police should be trained and infrastructure
developed in these districts. Moreover, hawk force should also be set
up in them.
So far the police department considered Balaghat, Mandla, Dindori,
Sidhi and Singrauli districts as naxal-affected. It was thought that
the Maoists would target Shahdol, Umaria, Anooppur and Seoni
districts. But this is for the first time considered that 13 districts
would be infested with naxal activities. There is dispute over
declaring Singrauli, Sidhi and Dindori districts as naxal affected
even though police have been getting information about naxals trying
to increase its activities in these districts.
http://www.centralchronicle.com/viewnews.asp?articleID=22960
chhotemianinshallah
PTI Tuesday, December 29, 2009 10:38 IST
Aurangabad: Armed Maoists detonated dynamites to blow up a school
building at Jurati village in Bihar's Aurangabad district early today,
police said.
Around 200 ultras surrounded the state-run school and triggered
dynamite blasts partially damaging its building, the police said.
A patrol soon arrived and locked the ultras in an encounter for more
than two hours, the police said.
No casualty was reported from either side.
Police recovered two cane bombs, cable wires, several police uniforms
besides Naxal literature from the spot.
A combing operation has been launched to nab the Maoists, the police
added.
chhotemianinshallah
Administration staff to face action for refusing Gadchiroli posting
PTI Tuesday, December 29, 2009 15:22 IST
Mumbai: Resolving to initiate strict disciplinary action against its
administrative staff who refuse to join posting in the Naxal-hit
Gadchiroli district, the Maharashtra government has asked them to
report for duty immediately.
The government has issued a resolution stating "administrative staff
and officers, who have been transferred in Gadchiroli should resume
the duty immediately (or) else disciplinary action would be taken
against them", sources in the general administration department said
today.
The resolution was issued recently after chief minister Ashok Chavan
during a review of development work in the district felt that lack of
sufficient staff was delaying execution of projects, and instructed
that vacant posts be filled before January 31.
Sources said about 10% of posts lay vacant as many employees were
reluctant to join their postings for fear of Naxalites.
The government has also asked the concerned departments to prepare a
report till January 20 detailing the status of vacant posts, sources
said.
bademiyansubhanallah
Bibhuti Barik
First Published : 30 Dec 2009 03:32:00 AM IST
Last Updated : 30 Dec 2009 08:08:10 AM IST
BHUBANESWAR: To achieve the seven per cent inclusive growth the Centre
must devise special plan for the Central Naxal-infested parts
comprising parts of Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Bihar.
While some states are progressing at the rate of 11-12 per cent, major
part of this region and those especially under Maoist threat are still
going with a poor 3 per cent overall development. So to achieve the
magic figure the Centre has to give priority to the region.
Speaking to this paper on the sidelines of the 92nd Indian Economic
Association convention here today, noted regional planning and
development expert Prof Amitabh Kundu from the Centre for Study of
Regional Development, JNU, said like the North East, Himachal Pradesh
and Jammu Kashmir benefitted from the special category status, the
central region with plenty of natural resources now needs similar or
another special package for a holistic regional planning and
development.
The N-E had received the attention due to the insurgency. But in the
past no one ever thought of Naxalism assuming such a proportion in the
central parts of the nation. The time has come for inclusion of the
‘hungry belly of India’ in the list of beneficiaries for the inclusive
growth target.
The special help for N-E region is now visible with their regional
development despite the state exchequers losing huge amount of money
as the region is not coming under taxation, he said adding the
political process must now start for the Naxal-infested regions to
facilitate even distribution of benefits of development.
Also calling for a firm administration by the respective state
governments, Prof. Kundu said unless the administration comes with a
success formulae, the funds for upliftment cannot be utilised as the
distabilising forces are against any infrastructure and communication
development.
Saying that the states must have ‘iron gloves with soft hands’ to deal
with the issue, the regional development expert said without
improvement in law and order situation, the benefits of development
cannot go to the grassroot people.
The administration cannot function if the officials would be killed by
the ultras. So the governments concerned must act accordingly with
sympathy, attention and strategy keeping the poor in mind, he advised.
In many instances it is seen that the vested interests are operating
in these area in the name of Maoists and they must be traced, he said.
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 16:36 HRS IST
Ranchi, Dec 30 (PTI) Making a fresh offer of talks with the Maoists,
the Jharkhand government today said that the state's naxal policy
would be reviewed.
"We are ready for talks. They should shun violence and tell us what
they want. Do they want to run the government? If so, how? They should
come forward for talks," Soren told a joint press conference with
cabinet ministers Raghuvar Das and Sudesh Mahto.
Mahto, who had introduced a naxal policy when he was the home minister
in the the Arjun Munda government in 2005, said the government would
review it.
On acquisition of land for industry, Soren said there should be a good
rehabilitation package. "See, how people lost their land and did not
get compensation after the setting up of the HEC (Heavy Engineering
Corporation). We would like to have a policy, which will give housing,
employment and monetary benefits.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/446151_Soren-for-talks-with-Maoists
chhotemianinshallah
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Report by Orissadiary correspondent; Koraput: A woman Maoist named
Pidikaka Laxmi (Sunita) of Golanda village allegedly involved in
violence for the last three years in Odisha, Wednesday surrendered
before Rayagada Police accusing that she was being forced to marry a
Chhatisgarh Naxal cadre. She said that, “she was being pressurised by
senior Maoist leaders to marry a Chhatisgarh Naxal cadre though she
wanted to tie the knot with a young tribal man”.
Sunita agreed that she took part in an attack on an armoury in
Odisha's Nayagarh district, joined the group at the instance of a
Maoist, Uday, currently in jail, on the charge of killing VHP leader
Swami Laxamananda Saraswati in Kandhamal district last year.
She surrendered herself before Rayagada Superintendent of Police
Ashish Kumar Singh, with the presence of her parents. "The surrendered
woman will be provided with adequate security," Singh said.
http://orissadiary.com/CurrentNews.asp?id=16018
chhotemianinshallah
December 30, 2009 21:30 IST
The year 2009 has been one of the most peaceful years, as far as
Maoist violence in Andhra Pradesh was concerned. The state director
general of police R Girish Kumar told a year-end press conference that
Andhra Pradesh police had emerged as a role model for the other states
in dealing with the Maoist problem.
"We are very happy that the extremist violence this year was lowest in
last one decade," he said. The state recorded only 56 incidents of
extremist violence this year, compared to 96 last year, in which 15
civilians and 16 extremists were killed, compared to 45 and 37
respectively last year.
The most redeeming feature was the fact that no policeman died in
Naxal attacks this year, while 34 policemen died last year. 33 of them
died in a single attack in which Maoists drowned a launch carrying the
greyhound commandos back from Orissa to Andhra Pradesh.
Lauding the good work done by the state police, Girish Kumar said,
"Though the violence has come down drastically, it does not mean that
our level of vigilance has come down," he said.
"Taking into consideration the level of activity of extremist violence
in neighbouring states," he said.
"We are keeping utmost guard and vigil in regard to monitoring
movement of extremist element across the border. We hope to reverse
any sustained campaign by extremist elements to cross over to Andhra
Pradesh and again try to set up their base. There is a move to
resurface in AP in a big way, but we are sure that any such attempt
will be repulsed with all available force at our command," he said.
Asked about the reports of Naxal infiltration into Andhra Pradesh from
other states, he said, "The situation was receiving utmost attention.
We are very vigilant with regards the movement of Maoist from across
the states border," he said, adding that Andhra Pradesh police had
succeeded in repulsing some of the units of Maoists who had entered
Karimnagar, Warangal and Adilabad.
The important Naxal leaders who were killed by the police this year
include Patel Sudhakar Reddy, member of the Communist Party of India-
Maoist central committee and Central Military commission, and K
Sudhakar, state committee secretary of CPI-ML Pratighatana. V
Veeresham, state committee secretary, CPIML Janashakti, was among 326
naxalites arrested.
Mohammed Siddique in Hyderabad
Showing 1-8 of total 8 messages
Naxal violence in Andhra depletes in 2009
by Ravinder Malhotra on Dec 31, 2009 12:38 AM
Would not the right word be 'ABATES' instead of " Depletes ". Or does
the reporter mean it has bled the State of Andhra Pradesh and its
resources have depleted or have the cadres and resources of the
Naxalites been depleted . I am sure the reporter knows the difference
in the meaning of the two words.
Re: Naxal violence in Andhra depletes in 2009
by Atul Narain on Dec 31, 2009 01:01 AM
Goes well with "the boat drowned"
:)
Obviously It has to be depleted, for their dreams come true
by mammen antony on Dec 31, 2009 12:31 AM
They had a dream to have a seperate state, and they almost achieved
it . Jai telengana
Inquilab Zindabad- India China Bhai Bhai-Islamabad-Hyderabad-Beijing
Trio Long live
These are some of the token slogans on new state's inauguration
day.KCR will unfurl the telegana flag of Green & red. President WHU of
china,Zardari of Pakistan,PWG reps,Prachanda from Nepal, will be the
dignataries on dias along with Yetchury,Achutanandan,and Bardan will
be included in the invited guests'list.
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Naxal
by Dalit Christian on Dec 30, 2009 11:45 PM
Why we are hosting Commonwealth Games, 2010 eventhough 75% of our
population living below poverty line. Only to show the might of Hindu
upper castes on the cost of poor people. We should not host CWG, 2010.
Awareness and Globalization Factor
by Praveen Goud on Dec 30, 2009 11:32 PM
Globalisation and Liberalisation reforms had given some confidence to
people to look towards education and aspire big if the domestic system
suppressed and closed the door for the oppressed people. People
awareness towards Democracy and their rights in Democratic system is
making the people not taking up armed struggle than before.
Some naxalism got reduced as their arms supply connections were
deprived and also due to Police action using latest technology which
Naxals dont have.
Naxalism will be totally wiped out if the people are given equal
opportunities, quality education and STRICT action on Politicians,
Police and Judiciary when they deprive their deserved justice and
rights as citizens.
The impeding danger in AP is FACTIONISM and Attrocities committed by
educated bureaucracy, Judiciary , Police and Politicians who are
exploiting the system loopholes without being accountable. If these
are not addressed , Naxalism will emerge back.....
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Kill KCR and all Telangis
by shyam gupta on Dec 30, 2009 11:31 PM
Kill KCR and all Telangis who want a separate state, and you will
have 0 incidents in 2010
Re: Kill KCR and all Telangis
by irfacar on Dec 31, 2009 12:18 AM
Kill Jagan and all the factionists first, AP will be peaceful.
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Awareness and Globalization Factor
by Praveen Goud on Dec 30, 2009 11:28 PM
Globalisation and Liberalisation reforms had given some confidence to
people to look towards education and aspire big if the domestic system
suppressed and closed the door for the oppressed people. People
awareness towards Democracy and their rights in Democratic system is
making the people not taking up armed struggle than before.
Some naxalism got reduced as their arms supply connections were
deprived and also due to Police action using latest technology which
Naxals dont have.
Naxalism will be totally wiped out if the people are given equal
opportunities, quality education and STRICT action on Politicians,
Police and Judiciary when they deprive their deserved justice and
rights as citizens.
The impeding danger in AP is FACTIONISM and Attrocities committed by
educated bureaucracy, Judiciary , Police and Politicians who are
exploited the system loopholes without being accountable. If these are
not addressed , Naxalism will emerge back.....
Message awaiting moderator review. Show message
will it increase or decrease?
by pirated software on Dec 30, 2009 10:46 PM
will it increase or decrease if separate telangana is formed?
Re: will it increase or decrease?
by Rushi on Dec 30, 2009 11:34 PM
nature of violence will change but amount of violence will
increase...
Re: will it increase or decrease?
by saida chowdary on Dec 30, 2009 10:48 PM
and telangana will became naxal hub
Re: will it increase or decrease?
by IndianLogic on Dec 30, 2009 11:45 PM
You have Chattisgarh as answer.
Re: Re: will it increase or decrease?
by irfacar on Dec 31, 2009 12:19 AM
Naxals already shooed to chattisgarh. There is no chance of them
coming back. Thnx to locals who got educated and solved their own
problem.
YSR 'Managed' Maoism in AP
by Satya N on Dec 30, 2009 10:29 PM
He was a daring and courageous person. He showed the same tenacity in
controlling naxalism with greyhounds and central forces. AP is
peaceful now is because of his political and administrative support in
controlling naxalism.
Re: YSR 'Managed' Maoism in AP
by subramanyasastry hoskote on Dec 30, 2009 10:52 PM
I agree. It is just a corollary that his family has made a reported
fortune of 78,000 crores in just his 5 years of stewardship! May his
soul rest in peace.
Message deleted by moderator
Re: Re: YSR 'Managed' Maoism in AP
by this that on Dec 31, 2009 12:46 AM
You mean soul of a corrupt politician and his family, who will go to
heaven after all the bungling and still rest in peace?
http://news.rediff.com/report/2009/dec/30/naxal-violence-in-andhra-depletes-in-2009.htm
chhotemianinshallah
Maoists blast two schools in Bihar
Aurangabad, Thursday 31 December 2009: Armed Maoists blew up two
school buildings early Thursday in the naxal-hit Aurangabad district,
police said.
Over 200 ultras surrounded a state-run school at Chandaur and blasted
the building with dynamites in the wee hours, district SP N K Tiwari
said.
In another attack, the naxalites detonated dynamites to blow up
another school building at Belowa early morning, he said.However,
there are no reports of any injury or casualty.
A combing operation has been launched in the area to nab the ultras.
By KOL News , Written on December 31, 2009
http://www.asianetindia.com/news/maoists-blast-schools-bihar_115478.html
chhotemianinshallah
|| by Gladson Dungdung ||
On 4th November 2009, the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manhohan Singh,
while addressing a conference of Chief Ministers and State Ministers
of Tribal Affairs said, “There has been a "systemic failure" in giving
tribals a stake in the modern economic processes”. He helplessly went
on saying, "The alienation built over decades is now taking a
dangerous turn. We must change our ways of dealing with tribals. We
have to win the battle for their hearts. Administrative machinery in
some of such areas is "either weak or virtually non-existent", the
"heavy hand of criminal justice system has become a source of
harassment and exploitation" and over the years, a large number of
cases have been registered against the tribals, whose traditional
rights were not recognized by earlier forest laws". "Systematic
exploitation and social and economic abuse of our tribal communities
can no longer be tolerated", he warned emotionally. One surprises, is
it the realization of a democratic government after 62 years of
Independence or just one more attempt of wooing, manipulating and
betraying the Adivasis?
On the next day, thousands of Adivasis belonging to 37 people’s
organizations gathered under the banner of ‘Bisthapan Virodhi Nav
Nirman Morcha’ (a state level united forum of displacement movements)
in Ranchi the capital city of Jharkhand and marched from Railway
station to Rajbhawan by scaling about 3 km distance. This time, they
were surely not with the bows and arrows or any other traditional
weapon (which they have been carrying for the centuries) as holding
these are used as proofs for branding them as Maoists by the
democratic government(s) and the media. Of course, these Adivasis had
neither come to demand their share in the development programmes meant
for them nor even to acquire power in the political arena but they had
come to tell the democratic government (through the governor) very
simple thing: “Stop grabbing their land, which their ancestors have
given them”.
As the Jharkhand Assembly election is at the door therefore they
wanted to convey the messages to the political leaders that they do
not want to surrender their land for the so-called development project
at any cost therefore the democratic government should stopped
snatching their “land” the only resource they have. Later on they
submitted a memorandum to the governor through his executive
magistrate as the governor was in Delhi (now the governors turn as
political persons in our democracy, Jharkhand governor inaugurated and
given political speeches more than most of previous Jharkhand Chief
Ministers). They have also conveyed the message that branding them as
Maoists, anti-development people or anti-nationals will not stop their
fight for protecting their land. They are resolved to fight for
protecting their ancestral lands till the last breath.
Unfortunately, this did not become the breaking news for the 24 hours
news channels and the print media, who recently carried out tireless
campaigns for a month, branding the Adivasis as Naxalites. It would
have been surely become the breaking news for them if the Adivasis
would have marched in the city with the bows and arrows in their
hands. In that case, the media would have made one more attempt to
brand them as Maoists or at least Maoists supporters of course. This
is how the fourth realms (media) of the democracy is playing bias role
for the Adivasis. Ironically, the same Media teaches the Adivasis
about the democracy, whose society is based on the collectivism.
One of the award winner news anchors asked me whether I lost hope in
the Indian democracy. Of course, in the so-called democracy, I
replied. He was upset for a day by thinking that why a young man at
the age of 30 lost hope in the idea of India. He writes in twitter,
“Still thinking of the Jharkhand activist who was in our studio, his
parents were murdered over land dispute, has lost faith in the idea of
India”. Indeed, he failed to understand what I mean. Can anyone tell
me that how one would have hope in so-called democracy, where a
winning candidate/party gets merely 30 to 40 percent votes (mostly by
money (according to latest information the Corporate Houses are all
set to spend Rs 300 crore in coming Jharkhand Assemble Election by
giving money to the big political parties so that they can buy the
votes), muscle and manipulation power).
The story does not end here. Later on, the winning candidates are
treated like God merely for winning the elections and most of them
become billionaires within one term (five years) by bagging the public
money. The poor voters have only right to vote, garland these
billionaires and express their pathetic conditions year by year. If
one talks about the role of Media in the democracy, recent Assembly
elections shows the roadmap of how the culture of “coverage packages”
exploded across Maharashtra, where the media followed the principle of
“no money no news”. The replication begins in Jharkhand too. The media
houses have told to Netas (political leaders), if they want good
coverage, they must give them money in form of ads. Can still any news
anchor ask me to have hope in so-called largest democracy?
However, the Corporate Home Minister P. Chidambaram sees the
‘democracy as panacea’ to existing social, economic, political,
cultural and developmental issues of the Adivasis. In his recent
impassioned speech at the Nani Palkhiwala lecture, he said, "If the
Naxalites accuse elected governments of capitalism, land grabbing,
exploiting and displacing tribal people, what prevents them from
winning power through elections and reversing current policies? Can
Chidambaram tell us about ten major issues, which the democratic India
government has addressed in last 6 decades? Can he explain us, why the
democratic government failed to address the basic issues of India i.e.
food, clothing and shelter for last 62 years? Can he tell us why the
political parties always bargain for money generating ministries after
acquiring people’s mandates? Why do the Indian (developing country)
elections cost more than American (developed country) elections?
Should we still clap for our so-called largest democracy, where a
Chief Minister holding office for 706 days bags Rs.4000 crore and a
personal secretary of a minister secure fix deposit of 13 crore with
in five years and even a cycle rider Neta becomes billionaire merely
in five years? What kind of democracy it is?
In six decades of the Indian democracy, the Adivasis have received
their shares only as alienation, exploitation, discrimination,
deprivation and dispossession. The democratic government(s) has never
listened to the Adivasis. When they demanded their citizen rights as
the Indigenous People of the land, the India government denied them.
When they claimed the forests as their only abode, they were
officially coined as the enemy of trees, forests and wild animals
through the various legislations, and finally, when they denied
surrendering their lands for the so-called development projects, many
false criminal cases were filed against them, they had to face the
bullets of police and they were branded as Maoists and anti-national.
All these happened with them in a democratic country. The government
of India officially accepts through the Forest Rights Act 2006 that
historic injustice was done to the Adivasis. The Prime Minister added
more on it but he failed to provide a radical mechanism to right the
historic wrongs. Let’s accept the fact that the Adivasis will not
survive without land and forests therefore ensuring their ownership
over the natural resources are the way forward but the question
remains unanswered is will the democratic government listen to them?
- Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer from
Jharkhand
chhotemianinshallah
- Gladson Dungdung -
The Police Officer of the CID Special Branchi, Francis Induwar was
abducted, beheaded and thrown on the roadside on Ranchi-Jamshedpur
highway by the Maoists, which was condemned strongly by the civil
society, Human Rights Groups and other non-state actors. Ironically,
when the news of brutal killing came up, the Home Ministry and the
Media suddenly became proactive in condemning and alleging the Human
Rights Activists rather than nailing down the Maoists.
Condolence gathering with the body of Late FrancisThe opinions were
manufactured such a way, which give sense that Induwar lost his life
not because of the Maoists but the Human Rights Activists. The Union
Home Minister P.Chidambaram even threatened to the Human Rights Groups
by saying that the Human Rights Groups have to choose, which side they
are. He also questioned, “Why are human rights groups silent now when
Naxals attack innocents?” However, he said, “Human rights groups need
to speak more strongly against the Naxals.”
After hearing the heartbreaking news, one of my friends told me that
Francis Induwar was not protected by the police department because he
belongs to the Adivasi (Indigenous) community. One can assume it as a
biased statement but it seems to be true because the similar
allegations were made by Sunita Induwar the wife of the deceased. She
said, “Nothing was done to protect my husband and I was not even
informed by the Police Department about the death of my husband. I
only came to know about it through the Media.” What does it mean? What
was the whole department doing? Doesn’t it give a clear picture about
what was happening inside of the Police Department?
The story does not end here. The chairman of the Special Branch
Association, Ram Sevak Ray alleges, “The Senior Police Officers were
not serious on the matter, they did not visit to the areas and even
after five days of kidnapping the Special Branch was not allowed to
conduct a meeting in Ranchi because the senior officers were not
concerned about it.” The fact is, Francis Induwar was abducted on 30th
of September and he was beheaded on October 6, which means he was
almost alive for 6 days. But the police department and the government
did not do much to save him. Being a Human Rights Activist, I condemn
the brutal killing of the sincere police officer, demand for adequate
compensation to the family and a high level inquiry so that all the
perpetrators can be brought to justice.
However, the government must inform to the people that in what
circumstances, the Police Officer Francis Induwar had to pay the price
of his life? What kind of actions had been taken by the police
department and the government to save him? Why did the Police
department fail in tracing him even after 6 days? Why did the
intelligence fail? And are only the Maoists responsible for the brutal
killing of Induwar or he had to face such heinous act because the
department, which he belongs to is failure, inactive, insincere,
incapable and unjust?
The State, the Media and the Middle Class often allege that the Human
Rights Groups do not speak out strongly when the Naxalites and
Terrorists commit such heinous crime against humanity but they raise
their eyes only against the state because they get money from the
external actors to do so? As far as the Human Rights Violation is
concerned, the Human Rights Groups have always stood up against it.
The People are unaware about the work of Human Rights Groups merely
because the Media don’t carry the press statements issued by these
Groups regularly condemning the human rights violation committed by
the State and non-State Actors, which also happened in the case of
Francis Induwar therefore the Media is also responsible for
manufacturing the opinion against the Human Rights Activists. All the
allegations against these groups are baseless.
The interesting question is why the State is afraid of the Human
Rights Activists who merely possess pen, paper and mouth? Indeed, the
government of India is not afraid of the Human Rights Activists but it
is afraid of the big boss (United Nations) as it has signed and
ratified the numbers of UN Protocols, Conventions and Covenants but
failed to implement these. Therefore, the Human Rights Activists have
exposed the government of India in front of the International
Community several times. Secondly, the government attempts to bury the
impunity enjoyed by the law enforcement agencies, Ministers and the
politicians but unable to do so. Finally, the government also wants to
hide the inactiveness, insincerity, incapability, ineffectiveness and
inefficiency of the legislative, the executive and the judiciary but
the Human Rights Groups do not let it go that’s why the state targets
them so that they lose the patience and shut up their mouth.
In fact, the state wants to whither away from the responsibility of
dealing with the economic, social, cultural, developmental and
political issues therefore it attempts to fix the responsibilities on
others. There are some serious questions need to be address before
alleging the Human Rights Activists. Whose lands have been illegally
grabbed, forcefully acquired without compensating them and handed over
to the multinationals? Where from those millions displace masses come?
Why millions of men, women and children are without nutritious food,
education and health facilities? Why the perpetrators not brought to
justice for grabbing the money of NREGA and other Welfare schemes
meant for the poor?
According to the Human Development Report 2009, the quality of life in
India continues to be appalling with the country ranked poorly at 134
among 182 countries, 4 lack children die within 24 hours of their
birth and 40 percent children under 3 are malnourished. Who are these
children? Obviously, they don’t come from the family of sunglasses,
shining faces appearing in the television channels and AC lover holy
cows but these are the children of Adivasis, Dalits and marginalized
communities. Who is responsible for the pathetic condition of these
people? Is it the Human Rights Activists or the State? Why should not
the Human Rights Activists stand with them? Is it a crime to demand
justice in India? Would it have been possible to delivery justice to
the victims of Gujrat riot, several fake encounters and torture
without intervention of the Human Rights Groups?
The rulers have made the system unethical, bias and double standard.
Irony is they also justify it. For instance, when a member of the
Gandhi family like Priyanka becomes sympathizer of Nalini (a murderer
of late Rajiv Gandhi the former Prime Minister of India) is portrayed
as Messiah of the people meanwhile the curing the Adivasis of
Chhatishgarh makes a humanitarian Dr. Vinayak Sen as the Maoists’
supporter. In another case, the politicians like Sibu Soren saying
Naxalites as his brothers and sisters does not make him the
sympathizer of the Maoists but when a Human Rights Activists like
Sandeep Pandey demands justice for the victims of fake encounters
comes under the purview of the Naxals’ supporters. Similarly, the
state head of Gujara, Narendra Modi is made hero for killing more than
2000 Muslims but when a Human Rights Activist, Teesta Setalvad demands
justice for the victims makes her anti-state. What kind of democracy
it is?
However, the real Human Rights Activists would never justify any kind
of cold-blooded murder, torture or ill-treatment committed either by
the State or non-State Actors. Therefore, the Government, the Media
and the Middle Class must not manipulate the public opinion, should
not manufacture the consent and stop portraying the Human Rights
Activists as supporters of the Naxalites and Terrorists. The Human
Rights Activists raise their voices only when the state violates or
does not enforce, ensure and protect the Human Rights guaranteed under
the Constitution of India, embodied in the UN Conventions, Covenants
and Protocols signed and ratified by the Government of India and
enforced in the Court. The human rights violation by the non-state
actors takes place only when the state is inactive, ineffective and
unjust, which also should not be justified.
But as far as the issue of Naxalism is concerned, it will not be
addressed through the blame games. The problem deepens by creating
wrong perception. The public perception was built up during the NDA
government, that every man with the long beard and each woman with the
Burka is Terrorist. The same theory is being applied to the Adivasis
that every man and woman with the black faces, having traditional
weapons and living close to the nature is Naxalite. This kind of
opinion building is injustice to the community. The root causes of
Naxalism lies on economic, social and cultural injustices therefore
tackling these issues lies the solution. But who bothers about it as
either way the sufferers are only the Indigenous People who are always
unwelcome in India due to their race.
Gladson Dungdung is a Human Rights Activist and Writer from Jharkhand.
chhotemianinshallah
TNN 1 January 2010, 04:50am IST
NAGPUR: It may have taken more than a month to finalise it, but the
list of guardian ministers released on new year’s eve shows that home
minister R R Patil has kept his word.
Accepting the challenge to make a difference in the Naxal-affected
Gadchiroli district, he has taken upon himself to be the guardian
minister of arguably the most underdeveloped district of the state.
Shivajirao Moghe, the seniormost member in the Ashok Chavan cabinet,
has been given charge of Nagpur.
Moghe for Nagpur is a good news as he is seen a leader with clean and
noncontroversial image. He was the district’s in-charge minister in
the DF government’s first term too in 1999 and has a feel of things.
Moreover, given the nature of factional feuds between Congress leaders
of the city which has shown no signs of receding in last one decade,
Moghe could act a neutral umpire to oversee developmental needs of the
district. As a social justice minister,Moghe is keen on taking up an
effective statewide campaign to wean away youth and farmers from
addiction of liquor and tobacco playing havoc in the countryside.
Of the eleven Vidarbha districts, the NCP has got four districts of
Gadchiroli (R R Patil), Gondia (Vijaykumar Gavit), Washim (Anil
Deshmukh) and Buldhana (Manohar Naik). The seven districts with the
Congress are – Nagpur (Moghe), Yavatmal (Nitin Raut), Bhandara (Vijay
Wadettiwar), Chandrapur (Ramesh Bagwe), Amravati (Rajendra Darda),
Akola (Subhash Zanak) and Wardha (Ranjit Kamble). Significantly, a
couple of weeks ago, R R Patil, known as aaba, had shown his keenness
to be the Gadchiroli guardian minister.
“I am serious. This is not a gimmick. I want to bring about proper
development of the district. We have seen that use of force against
Naxalites may not solve the problem there. Without all-round
development, any anti-Naxal operation can only be counterproductive as
people there are craving for development. The situation should be made
conducive for government staff to function there. Posting in the
district should no longer be seen as a punishment,” he told TOI.
The delay in finalizing the list is attributed to differences between
the ruling partners on whether to have a minister belonging to the
same district as in-charge or get an outsider. Finally the ‘outsider’
camp prevailed with only one exception. Ranjit Kamble, minister of
state for rural development and MLA from Deoli in Wardha, has got the
chance to head the same district. Kamble is a kin of Himachal Pradesh
governor Prabha Rau who seems to have prevailed in the district’s
traditional party rivalry. The guardian minister plays a key role in
development planning of the district and works as a link between the
government and the bureaucracy.
chhotemianinshallah
Raghvendra Rao , Joseph John , Vivek Deshpande
Posted: Saturday , Jan 02, 2010 at 0355 hrs
NAGPUR/RAIPUR/NEW DELHI:
The first major, concerted ground offensive against Naxalites has
started with police forces in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh launching a
joint operation.
The initial stage of this offensive — kept in abeyance for the end of
the Jharkhand elections — includes searching for Naxals in the
interiors of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra and in Maoist-dominated areas
of Chhattisgarh.
It was launched on December 25 as part of what is being termed as
Police Week (December 25 to January 1), sources said. It’s is for the
first time that something like a Police Week is being observed in
these areas.
On December 24, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram had met Chief
Secretaries and Directors General of Police (DGPs) of five Naxal-
affected states in New Delhi. Following this, the Centre plans to move
in 33 battalions (almost 33,000 personnel) of Central paramilitary
forces in these states as part of the “offensive.”
The Centre, however, is maintaining that it’s only providing
assistance to the states and not piloting the operations.
For the record, CRPF’s Special DG Vijay Raman, commanding the anti-
Naxal operations, told The Indian Express: “There is nothing like
starting or end of an operation. It’s on since (the) beginning
itself.”
But sources said the operation is being conducted jointly by the CRPF,
regular Gadchiroli police, the Special Action Group (SAG) created
specially for anti-Naxal operations in Maharashtra, the Indo-Tibetan
Border Police (ITBP), BSF and the regular Chhattisgarh police.
The ITBP and BSF have taken up positions at strategic locations in the
forest areas of Rajnandgaon and Kanker districts in Chhattisgarh,
cutting off supply lines of Maoists from Maharashtra.
The forces are trying to establish their dominance in this area, which
had seen a major attack on security forces in July last year, in which
32 security personnel, including Superintendent of Police V K Choubey,
had lost their lives. DG Raman has already visited these areas.
Chhattisgarh Director General of Police Vishwaranjan said the
objective of the joint operation by the state and Central forces was
to station security forces in the area for a “reasonable period” to
allow the civil administration take up development initiatives there.
However, there will be surgical strikes wherever necessary.
Confirming that Maoist supply lines have been cut off at many places,
he refused to divulge details, saying “you will come to know about it
once the forces make advancements”.
The plan is to extend the operation further to Jharkhand, now that the
state has a government. “Taking the state government on board is
mandatory,” officials said.
While forces were deployed immediately after the Maharashtra Assembly
elections two months ago, they have been using the time till now to
get acclimatised to the terrain and conducting their operations
separately. The past few days they started long range patrols (LRP)
deep into the interiors.
Officials claim the Naxals are feeling the heat. “This is seen from
the appeal to lower-rung policemen and officials to revolt against
their superiors, with Naxals calling them fellow-sufferers,” said an
official. He also claimed that while they had plans for a big strike
during the recently concluded winter session of Maharashtra
Legislature at Nagpur, they backtracked because of forces sealing off
the entire area.
The Centre, as per information available with The Indian Express, has
already increased the numbers of Central Paramilitary (CPMFs) for
deployment in the Naxal-affected states from 37 battalions to 58
battalions over the past few months, an increase of 21,000 personnel.
While 25 Central paramilitary battalions have been positioned in
Chhattisgarh, another 11 have been provided to Jharkhand. West Bengal
has been given five battalions of CPMFs while Orissa, Andhra Pradesh
and Bihar have got four battalions each.
Maharashtra has been provided with three battalions of Central forces
while Madhya Pradesh and UP have been sanctioned one battalion each.
As per the Centre’s assessment, the gravest Naxal threat is being
faced in Chhattisgarh and that’s reflected in the number of Central
forces sent to this state.
Significantly, 49 of the 58 battalions deployed for these operations
belong to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) with the remaining
nine belonging the Border Security Force (five battalions) and Indo
Tibetan Border Police (four battalions). The Centre, sources said, has
also decided to use the specialized Commando Battalion for Resolute
Action (CoBRA) during this offensive.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/antinaxal-ground-offensive-begins/562440/0
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 17:21 HRS IST
Suri (WB), Jan 1 (PTI) Two persons, suspected to be Maoists, were
arrested today from a village in Birbhum district in connection with
recent landmine blasts in neighbouring West Midnapore district, police
said.
Rakhahari Ruidas and Kajol Pramanik, hailing from naxal-affected
Ghatsila in West Midnapore, were arrested from Purba Borkola village
this morning, they said, adding the duo would be produced before a
court at Dubrajpur near here for transit remand.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/449048_Two-suspected-Maoists-held-in-Birbhum
chhotemianinshallah
Naxal bandh today
(No Ratings Yet)Naxal organisation CPI (Maoists) has called ‘Jharkhand
Bandh’ on Saturday alongwith four other states Bihar, Orissa,
Chhatisgarh and W. Bengal in protest of alleged police atrocities. DGP
V.D. Ram has said that the police have been instructed to keep vigil
in view of ‘bandh’. Meanwhile there were unconfirmed reports regarding
withdrawal of ‘bandh’.
http://ranchiexpress.com/naxal-bandh-today.php
chhotemianinshallah
Brutal and Media Friendly. The New Face of Naxalism?
Posted in Analysis, Comment, Guerilla Warfare, Indian Media,
Insurgency, West Bengal by Michael on January 1, 2010
One of the most underreported developments in Naxalism in 2009 has
been the emergence of a new leadership cadre that is guiding the CPI
(Maoist) in an entirely new tactical direction. Less conservative and
reclusive than has historically been the case, the new West Bengal-
based group has chosen to undertake bold (and brutal) actions
calculated to garner media attention. This has included the beheading
of a captured police inspector in October and a dramatic train hijack
during India’s election campaign. This was preceded by the capture of
Lalgarh in West Bengal, a move seemingly calculated to demonstrate to
India and the world that the Maoists were a force to be reckoned with.
All of this suggests a dramatic re-orientation in Naxalite tactics.
Historically, the Maoists have been a tactically conservative force.
Rather than court media attention, they preferred to work quietly,
expanding their reach and power methodically and patiently. Their
leadership has been notoriously recalcitrant and media shy. What has
changed? Significant numbers of party leaders, most notably Kobad
Gandhi, were arrested in 2009 as the Indian government has improved
its counter-insurgency intel apparatus. As a result, a new crop of
people with different tactical ideas has emerged. This new face of
Maoism has been best personified in Kishenji, the Andhra born, West
Bengal-based rebel.
Kishenji is a new kind of Naxalite leader. He has actively courted
media attention- holding numerous press conferences and maintaining
regular correspondence with prominent journalists. He has demonstrated
a flair for the theatrical:
Kishenji had a seven-minute telephone conversation with West Bengal
Principal Secretary (Environment) Madan Lal Meena complaining about
polluting mines earlier this week, the Chief Minister was forced to
accept the state intelligence machinery’s failure to locate the Maoist
leader, who is on the run.
It remains to be seen how effective this tactic will be. While
Kishenji has succeeded in garnering interest in the Maoist movement
(and perhaps gained the support of segments of the urban population),
much of the Naxalite’s strength stems precisely from their patient
expansion. By refusing to draw attention to themselves, the
government of India has felt little public pressure to respond,
creating a space for he gradual expansion of Maoist territory. A new
strategy centred around engagement with the press and audacious
assaults against the state carries a great deal of risk.
http://naxalwar.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/brutal-and-media-friendly-the-new-face-of-naxalism/
chhotemianinshallah
Posted in MSM by Michael on January 1, 2010
Time Magazine has declared India’s Maoist insurgency to be the 3rd
most under-reported story of 2009. I’m surprised that they even
noticed. While media coverage internationally and domestically has
been sparse, this has started to slowly change. For too long, the
Naxalites could be ignored by the urban-based Indian elite as a
problem which affected only small segments of the largely invisible
rural poor. While events such as the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008
threatened the safety and security of the countries chattering
classes, what happened in the dusty forests of rural Chhattisgarh
could easily be ignored. This has started to change. Perhaps, 2010
will bring increased coverage not only to the insurgency, but also to
the scandalous conditions in which India’s rural poor exist. One can
only hope.
http://naxalwar.wordpress.com/2010/01/01/the-forgotten-war/
chhotemianinshallah
Posted in Comment, Counter-Insurgency, Insurgency by Michael on
December 9, 2009
The Indian government just released the official figures for combat
deaths across all of the country’s insurgencies. I haven’t yet been
able to track down the official report (if there is one), but, from
what’s being reported in the media, it doesn’t look good for the
government:
In Naxal affected States, the number of the number of Civilians and
Security Forces personnel killed upto Oct.31, 2009 was 742 while it
was 721 in 2008. However, the number of Naxalites killed during the
same time is 170 (till Oct.31, 2009), which stood at 199 in 2008.
An approximate 4:1 ratio is not an indication of anything
approximating victory. India The Indian government should be worried.
http://naxalwar.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/umm-not-a-good-ration/
chhotemianinshallah
Vivek Deshpande ,Joseph John,Raghvendra Rao
Posted: Jan 02, 2010 at 0355 hrs IST
Situation in Lalgarh 'pretty depressing'...Fight like a brave not as
coward, Mamata...Maoists blast two schools in Bihar
http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/AntiNaxal-ground-offensive-begins/562440/
chhotemianinshallah
Bhubaneswar, Jan 2
Buses were off the roads in parts of three Orissa districts fearing
attacks as the Maoists Saturday called for a two-day shutdown to
protest alleged police atrocities.
"The movements of buses has been affected in some places in Gajapati,
Malkangiri and Rayagada districts," Inspector General of Police
(Operations) Sanjeeb Marik told IANS.
"Schools, colleges, private and government offices and shops are open
as usual," he said.
The Maoists have called for a two-day strike in five states of Orissa,
Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand to protest police
excesses, violation of human rights and the price rise.
Last updated on Jan 2nd, 2010 at 16:03 pm IST--IANS
http://www.prokerala.com/news/articles/a104516.html
Sid Harth
STAFF WRITER 20:41 HRS IST
Ranchi, Jan 2 (PTI) The Maoist-sponsored Jharkhand bandh today evoked
partial response with no untoward incident being reported from
anywhere in the state.
According to officials the bandh had affected life in some rural
pockets in Palamu, Giridih, Hazaribagh, East and West Singhbhum
districts.
Normal life remained unaffected in the state capital and other
district headquarters.
While majority of the long-distance buses did not ply, several trains
under Dhanbad division of the East Central Railway were either
cancelled or diverted.
The bandh was called in Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, West Bengal and
Chhattisgarh in protest against alleged "police atrocities and
violation of human rights by government machinery".
http://www.ptinews.com/news/450274_Maoist-bandh-partial-in-Jharkhand
Sid Harth
January 2nd, 2010 - 9:23 pm ICT by ANI -
Raipur, Jan 2 (ANI): Chhattisgarh Police has said that it has devised
a new strategy to combat Maoists by packing a small area with adequate
security personnel to force the Maoists to flee and develop it later.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police
Vishwa Ranjan said: “We have started a new form of joint operation in
Rajnandagaon and northern Bastar. The objective is to pack a small
area with adequate force, so that Naxals are forced to flee the area.”
“Once they have retreated we will develop the area. When that area has
developed will move to another geographical area and develop it,” he
added.
Earlier in December 2009, after a meeting with the Director Generals
of Police of five Naxal affected states -West Bengal, Jharkhand,
Orissa, Chattisgarh and Bihar the Home Ministry had reportedly agreed
to depute 33 more battalions of the Central forces to the anti Naxal
offensive.
The Union Home Ministry has stationed 25 battalions of central forces
in Chhattisgarh as the state is witnessing the heavy movement of the
red rebels. (ANI)
Sid Harth
From ANI
New Delhi / Raipur, Jan 2: The anti -Maoist offensive has gathered
momentum with the Union Home Ministry clearing the induction of more
Central paramilitary forces into the operation.
According to sources, the Central police personnel who were deputed
for the Jharkhand Assembly election duty have been diverted to conduct
anti -Naxal operations.
Forces have been deployed in the area to prevent violence during the
recently held assembly elections.
After a meeting with the Director Generals of Police of five Naxal
affected states the Home Ministry reportedly agreed to depute 33 more
battalions of the CPMFs to the anti Naxal offensive.
The Home Ministry has released the forces in support of the state
police in the operations.
Earlier this week, the Centre deployed a fleet of 10 Advanced Light
Helicopters (ALH) Dhruv to assist forces engaged in the anti Maoists
operations.
The helicopters are stationed at Ranchi and Raipur.
The helicopters would be used both for transportation, evacuation of
personnel as reinforcements for the operations and casualty evacuation
purposes.
The Raipur based Operational Commander will be handling the air
operations.
The ALH Dhruv helicopters recently inducted into the Border Security
Force (BSF) air wing, stationed at Ranchi and Raipur are also likely
to be pressed into the operation.
To bring down troop causalities and ensure immediate medical care over
80 specialist doctors have been appointed on a contract basis, who
will be part of the anti-Naxal operations.
Meanwhile, it was reported that the combined force has initiated a
flushing out operation in the Gadchiroli area of Maharashtra, which
had seen a major attack on security forces in July 2009 in which 32
security personnel including a Superintendent of Police were killed.
The Home Ministry has stationed 25 battalions of central forces in
Chhattisgarh and 11 in Jharkhand. West Bengal has been given five
battalions, while Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar have got four
battalions each of Central Para-Military Forces.
Maharashtra has been provided with three battalions of Central forces
while Madhya Pradesh and UP have been sanctioned one battalion each.
Copyright Asian News International/DailyIndia.com
http://www.dailyindia.com/show/352658.php
chhotemianinshallah
in National, News, Raipur
Raipur, Jan 2 (ANI): Chhattisgarh Police has said that it has devised
a new strategy to combat Maoists by packing a small area with adequate
security personnel to force the Maoists to flee and develop it later.
Speaking to ANI on Saturday, Chhattisgarh Director General of Police
Vishwa Ranjan said: “We have started a new form of joint operation in
Rajnandagaon and northern Bastar. The objective is to pack a small
area with adequate force, so that Naxals are forced to flee the area.”
“Once they have retreated we will develop the area. When that area has
developed will move to another geographical area and develop it,” he
added.
Earlier in December 2009, after a meeting with the Director Generals
of Police of five Naxal affected states -West Bengal, Jharkhand,
Orissa, Chattisgarh and Bihar the Home Ministry had reportedly agreed
to depute 33 more battalions of the Central forces to the anti Naxal
offensive.
The Union Home Ministry has stationed 25 battalions of central forces
in Chhattisgarh as the state is witnessing the heavy movement of the
red rebels. (ANI)
http://trak.in/news/chhattisgarh-devises-new-strategy-to-combat-naxals/43734/
bademiyansubhanallah
ANI
Posted: Sunday , Jan 03, 2010 at 1115 hrs
Patna:
Bihar has been put on high alert after Maoist threats.
After receiving intelligence reports that the Maoists are planning to
blow up railway installations, security has been tightened in Bihar.
The Railway Protection Force (RPF) personnel frisked passengers and
checked their luggage with bomb detection devices, and stepped up
patrolling of platforms as a part of the drill.
Officials said a high alert was ordered since there was information
that some anti-social elements from neighbouring Nepal had sneaked
into the city.
"We are searching railway tracks. A high alert has been issued after
observing the activities of Maoist rebels. We also received
information that some anti-social elements sneaked in the region that
is why we tightened the security," said Santosh Kumar, RPF official.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/bihar-on-high-alert-after-maoists-threat/562761/
chhotemianinshallah
Noble Savages: A Mumbai Girl in Dantewada
(By Priyanka Borpujari, Times of India | January 03, 2010)
Watch Video (Hindi)
I remember my first periods. For seven days I was treated like a
princess, saatvik food was prepared especially for me, school was
bunked and I slept with a penknife under my pillow. The knife, mom
told me, was to protect me from evil, now that I was a woman.
As I sit next to the kiln, sharing personal histories with Lakhimi, on
a cold winter night in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, she tells me she too
was fed good food during her first periods. But the knife puzzles the
tribal woman, and she asks, protection from what? “From any man’s
lustful intentions that could strip me of my dignity,’’ I say. She
laughs, “I thought women in civilised cities didn’t need to protect
their dignity!’’
I am left wondering about civilisation in cities where we have
specialised NGOs to combat eve-teasing and sexual harassment at the
workplace. We have pepper-spray cans. Paedophilia is rampant behind
tightly guarded curtains while affluent school kids show off their
sexual rendezvous via MMS. Yet, we call ourselves modern; we call
tribals uncivilised.
The tall and dusky Lakhimi tells me how men and women are equal in her
tribal society, frolicking and even drinking together till late in the
night. She does not know what eve-teasing is. Then imagine my surprise
at finding victims of rape in her idyllic paradise. It was in Samsetti
village, 100 km south of Dantewada, where I made this discovery on
Christmas Day. Entering the picturesque village, I saw 100-odd men in
military fatigues, carrying automatic rifles walk out of it. Yes, it
was a Naxal-infested zone, but 100 guns in a village of a few hundred
was a stretch even for the imagination. By the time we halted, an
eerie calm had spread over this village, which had been terrorised
again, all because of four women.
These four girls in their early 20s have been victims of a concept
foreign to their tribal culture—rape. In 2006, each was reportedly
gangraped by SPOs (Special Police Officers) of the Salwa Judum, a
vigilante militia set up by the Chhattisgarh government to flush out
Naxals. Sadly, this sandwiched the tribals between Naxals and Salwa
Judum in a macabre way. Rapes and murders havebecome common in
villages of Dantewada, which is at the heart of the Naxal conflict
today.
Ironically, these SPOs are young recruits from tribal villages, some
even child soldiers, who end up beheading fellow tribals, burning
their own villages, and raping their own women in an inhuman,
statesponsored offensive against Naxals. All this for a hefty salary
of Rs 1,800 a month.The women I mention are only four among several
such cases of alleged rape. Almost each follows a similar pattern of
intimidation and threats to silence them. In this case it took some
sustained intervention and counselling by Gandhian activist Himanshu
Kumar, currently fasting since December 26 to expose such hushed-up
cases.
The rape cases were finally registered in the Bilaspur high court in
March 2009, after the cops refused to file FIRs. However, the sessions
court, in its last hearing in November 2009, declared the accused as
absconding. Absurdly enough, the accused walked into the village in
December 2009, beat up the four girls, took their thumb impressions on
blank papers and warned them against taking the case further. When
Himanshu Kumar tried to make this news public, the accused returned to
the village and took the girls to the police station where they were
tortured for five days. No wonder that when we finally reached
Samsetti the villagers first shielded them from us. Even when we found
them, they refused to talk openly about what had happened.
“Forget your rape; save your Muriya tribe from annihilation,’’ is what
the villagers had told the scared girls. So a society that was truly
independent now faces the scourge of being civilised. While we have
exported our ideas of being civilised to the forests, we haven’t yet
lent them our sympathies. While one IPS officer goes home scot-free
after causing the suicide of a teenager he molested and then
threatened, here too in Samsetti the protectors have become the
persecutors. At least the cities are agitated enough to debate and
gather support for the wronged Ruchika. But have we even heard of
these four brutal rapes in Samsetti? Can we even talk of justice for
them and the scores of other tribal women who have shared a similar
fate? Or is it convenient to ignore them just because they are bow-and-
arrow-carrying tribals? There are no easy answers. All we can do is
begin with these easy questions.
http://designandpeople.blogspot.com/2010/01/noble-savages-mumbai-girl-in-dantewada.html
chhotemianinshallah
Events of the past 12 months have completely exposed the incompetence
of India’s Ministry for Home Affairs (MHA) lead by Home Minister P.
Chidambaram. Chidambaram was transferred from the Finance Ministry to
the Home Ministry after the Mumbai attacks during November of 2008.
It was widely assumed that individuals like Chidambaram were needed to
tackle the tough problem of terrorism facing the country today. But
was it the right decision?
Chidambaram is a career politician who has a legal and a business
background (Bachelor Laws from the Madras Law College and an MBA from
Harvard Business School). From 1985 to 1996 he was a Deputy Minister
or Minister of State in the Commerce department. He was briefly the
Finance Minister from 1996 to 1998 and then became the Finance
Minister again in 2004 under Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
His appointment as the Finance Minister in 2004 was rather surprising
considering that he has no financial background either in terms of
education or in terms of work experience. But it is understandable
when we consider that he reports to Manmohan Singh who without
question is one of the architects of the modern Indian economy and a
financial guru.
But in my opinion Manmohan Singh overestimated the value someone like
Chidambaram brings to a department like the Ministry of Home Affairs.
As in any country the Home Ministry is the most important ministry in
India. The following are the divisions that the Ministry of Home
Affairs is responsible for: Administrative, Border Management, Center-
State, Coordination, Disaster Management, Finance, Foreigners, Freedom
Fighters & Rehabilitation, Human Rights, Internal Security, Jammu &
Kashmir, Judicial, Naxal Management, North East, Police, Policy
Planning and Union Territories Division. What type of leadership,
organizational or management skills has Chidambaram exhibited in the
past that would give us confidence that he is capable of running this
huge ministry at this critical juncture?
2009 clearly was the year of the Naxals and the Maoists. These
movements are inspired and in some cases have the support of countries
like Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. The Prime Minister has mentioned
that these movements present the greatest threat to India’s security.
But has the Home Minister formulated a policy to effectively combat
the Naxal and Maoist movements?
Are we going to make peace with these leaders or are we going to fight
them? Should we treat this as an internal security issue and use our
police force or should we involve our armed forces? Are we going to
talk to some of them and fight the others? The government has the
duty to inform the public about how they are going to address this
critical issue.
Although Chidambaram was not the Home Minister when 26/11 happened
nobody today believes that we are much safer than we were a year ago.
Most Indians know deep inside that the only way we can stop the next
attack is by luck or by outside help as was the case with the
suspected American terrorists David Headley and Tahawwur Husain Rana.
The Home Minister also has done a poor job of prosecuting the case
against Ajmal Kasab (technically this falls under the Ministry of
Justice but the Home Minister in this case has a big stake in the
outcome). It was India’s opportunity to showcase its judicial system
to the rest of the world. Instead the whole case has become a circus
and a real black mark on the Indian judiciary. The trial looks to the
outsider as if it is held in a “banana republic” and not in a country
that has a long history of criminal and civil trials and distinguished
prosecutors and trial lawyers.
The Home Ministry’s response to the David Headley case and the
resulting modifications to the visa rules showed a complete lack of
understanding of the real problem. You cannot catch a potential
terrorist by modifying the visa rules. You are only going to
inconvenience millions of people who are entering and leaving the
country every year for various purposes (tourism, transit, business
and personal).
Chidambaram should explain how making people wait for 60 days before
reentering India will make India safer? He cannot because it
doesn’t. This is one of the most boneheaded responses to fighting a
serious threat like terrorism that I have ever come across (the other
was fingerprinting all Asians travelers upon arrival by the United
States immediately after 09/11 attacks).
All of us know what happened during the recent Telangana issue. The
Home Ministry initially completely succumbed to the blackmail by KSR.
But after some thought the Home Ministery is slowly backtracking from
the initial promises.
But as citizens do we not have the right to ask why certain promises
were made in the heat of the moment without taking the Indian public
into confidence? We now have a sham political process that is setup
to come to the already promised end goal which is a separate Telangana
state.
Shouldn’t the process precede the outcome? Does the Home Ministry
have a policy and procedure in place for anything or is Mr.
Chidambaram just making it up as he goes along?
2 comments
By Hari – January 2, 2010
Cool Gai says “What type of leadership, organizational or management
skills has Chidambaram exhibited in the past that would give us
confidence that he is capable of running this huge ministry at this
critical juncture?”
None, really. I wouldn’t be surprised if tomorrow we learned that
appointments to cabinet posts were made on the basis of one’s
closeness to “Sonia Madam”. I don’t think Chidambaram even knows what
the departments in his ministry are. Ministers have rarely been
appointed on basis of their abilities. It’s usually, sycophancy,
favouritism and coalition politics that are dynamics. How else do you
explain the presence of Mamata Bannerjee and those idiots from DMK in
the government?
“Manmohan Singh who without question is one of the architects of the
modern Indian economy and a financial guru.”
I won’t (can’t) comment on the awesomeness of our Prime Minister, but
I don’t think he possesses the qualities of a leader. From what one
can observe, he doesn’t seem to exercise much control over his
ministers. He may be a really nice person, but is he competent
enough?
“Prime Minister has mentioned that these movements present the
greatest threat to India’s security”
His job is to evolve a policy to combat the menace, not to make such
statements. That’s what reporters are for. But he seems to be acting
more like a sociology professor than a politician. What’s even more
hopelessly annoying is the complete lack of will on the part of the
media in grilling the fellow. That’s the problem, we’re all too
satisfied by a nice,long speech containing a few hi-fi angrezi words
we don’t understand.
But from what one can gather, Chidambaram seems to be going for an out
an out offensive, which is going to fail big time, IMO. The Naxals are
not these bloodthirsty pyschopaths who do what they do because it’s
cool to hate India or something, if anything their rise highlights
miserable failures of the entire Union of India,of you and me. Crush
the violence, but ensure the reasons these people sought recourse to
violence in the first place are eliminated. (That doesn’t mean I
support those “left-liberals”, ofcourse. )
“The Home Minister also has done a poor job of prosecuting the case
against Ajmal Kasab. It was India’s opportunity to showcase its
judicial system to the rest of the world. Instead the whole case has
become a circus and a real black mark on the Indian judiciary”
The trial is in progress in a court which comes under the jurisdiction
of the Bombay High Court. The Union Home ministry has got nothing to
do with the trial per se. I would put majority of the blame on the
media. By reporting stuff like his defecating times and the colour of
his underwear, they’ve made him a superstar, that’s what has given him
the audacity to say the kind of crap he does. It’s because we take him
seriously. This and the occupational hazard that comes with trying
anyone who’s involved in a terror attack having a religious angle in
this country. Push the trial too fast,and you might have our zillion
rights groups screaming “communalism” and “inhumanity” and all that
tripe, not caring for the fact that he killed more Muslims than people
from any other religion. (I’m hypothesizing, but I do feel it would
have happened.) The Afzal Guru fiasco is a case in point.
” You cannot catch a potential terrorist by modifying the visa rules.
You are only going to inconvenience millions of people who are
entering and leaving the country every year for various purposes
(tourism, transit, business and personal).”
It’s more a knee jerk reaction to the Indian consulate goofup in
Chicago. It’s always easier to treat the symptoms instead of the
problem :P
“All of us know what happened during the recent Telangana issue. The
Home Ministry initially completely succumbed to the blackmail by KSR.
”
I didn’t understand why they listened to him in the first place. Why
not just let him die? Nearly a third of India starves every day, yet
we don’t see states being created lest they die! And they’re taking
this loser seriously! The anarchy argument was invalid because it was
happening in any case. Some believe Congress possibly saw KCR as a
potential political ally, which I myself don’t believe really, because
TRS has hardly any political visibility. Another possibility is the
Congress genuinely sees merit in KCR’s argument, i.e. The only way
Telangana can progress is through its separation from AP. That is
again, a classic example of treating the symptoms while ignoring the
problem, i.e. the need for decentralization of power from state to
local self-governing bodies. It’ll only trigger demands for more
states– Vidarbha, Gorkhaland, Cooch Behar, Bodoland etc. from regions
that have (allegedly) received step-motherly treatment from their
respective state governments. Again, it’s easier to create more states
instead of undertaking the much more difficult(and hence much less
appealing) task of examining why the demands originate in the first
place.
“Does the Home Ministry have a policy and procedure in place for
anything or is Mr. Chidambaram just making it up as he goes along?”
No, not unless Sonia Madam approves :P
Nice blog, btw… I’ll try to follow more often…
January 2, 2010, 4:32 PM Reply Hari says Welcome to my site and thank
you for taking the time to respond. I agree with you that Manmohan
Singh is not a leader in the traditional sense of the word. But on
some crucial issues (Nuclear deal with US, Voting against Iran,
Staying put on the climate issue) has has represented India’s
interests well in spite of tremendous pressure internationally and
locally.
You are right about the trail about Kasab. It does fall on Moily and
not on Chidambaram directly. But this is not an ordinary trail and the
Home Ministry has a tremendous stake in the procedure and outcome.
January 2, 2010, 10:29 PM Reply
http://indiafirsthand.com/?p=1121
chhotemianinshallah
STAFF WRITER 16:19 HRS IST
New Delhi, Jan 3 (PTI) With the catchline "who is against
development?", the government is hitting at naxals with a media
blitzkrieg by putting out an advertisement in national and regional
newspapers about the destruction of vital infrastructure by Maoists.
The advertisement carries photographs of a bridge and railway wagons
damaged by the Maoists through their subversive activities and full
particulars of the telephone towers, school buildings and railway
properties destroyed by the extremists during 2009. Through the
advertisement, the Home Ministry wanted to highlight the Naxal menace,
its impact on people and society.
"Who is against development?" the advertisement questions people, in
an attempt to isolate the Maoists.
It says that during 2009, the Naxals destroyed 38 railway properties,
53 telephone towers, 20 panchayat buildings, 47 schools buildings and
121 forest buildings, roads and culverts.
http://www.ptinews.com/news/450979_Govt-corners-Maoists-with-media-campaign
Sid Harth
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
SOCIAL JUSTICE
Lesser citizens
S. VISWANATHAN
Reservation has had some effect on the conditions of the oppressed
sections, including Dalits, but strong government action aimed at
their emancipation is yet to come.
KAMAL NARANG
A PROTEST BY medical students in New Delhi in May 2006 against the
government proposal to make 50 per cent reservation for backward
classes in the education sector and in government jobs. The anti-
reservation protests that year went on for weeks, but the government
came up with the Central Educational Institution (Reservation in
Admission) Act, 2006, which provided reservation in the institutions
of higher learning.
THE first 25 years of Frontline covered a turbulent period in the
political, economic and social histories of the country. The period
witnessed several incidents and events of far-reaching consequences.
These include the brutal assassination of Rajiv Gandhi; India’s
adoption of neoliberal economic policies; the demolition of the Babri
Masjid and the consolidation of Hindutva forces; the growing assertion
of Dalits inspired by the Ambedkar centenary celebrations; the
extension of quota benefits to larger sections as recommended by the
Mandal Commission, the Sachar Committee, and so on; a spurt in
incidents of violence against Dalits and tribal people; and attempts
to empower Dalits and women under the panchayat raj system. The last
three are considered significant in terms of social justice.
Outrage KHAIRLANJI
In a large country ridden with poverty, unemployment and disparities
in income, reservation of government jobs and seats in educational
institutions is an effective instrument for ensuring social justice.
The Constitution provided for reservation in education and employment
for the Scheduled Castes (Dalits) and the Scheduled Tribes in
proportion to their share in the population. This provision was made
as part of positive discrimination in view of the historical
discrimination and social injustice faced by these sections. An
amendment to the Constitution in the early years of its operation
empowered the States to provide reservation for the educationally and
socially backward classes in educational institutions and government
service.
Gohana attack HARYANA
The Janata Party government led by Morarji Desai appointed a
commission headed by the parliamentarian Brindeshwari Prasad Mandal to
identify “the socially and educationally backward” and consider their
case for reservation. (Article 340 of the Constitution enables the
President to appoint a commission to investigate the conditions of
socially and educationally backward classes and the difficulties under
which they labour and to recommend steps that should be taken by the
Union and State governments to improve their condition.)
Although Mandal submitted his report as early as 1980, it gathered
dust for nearly a decade. It was Prime Minister V.P. Singh who took
the initiative in 1990 to implement the commission’s recommendations,
as promised by the ruling National Front during its election campaign.
He announced in Delhi on December 6, just four days after he was sworn
in as Prime Minister, that his government would implement the Mandal
Commission recommendations and that both Hindu and non-Hindu Other
Backward Classes, together accounting for 52 per cent of the
population, would be given 27 per cent reservation.
Khagaria killings BIHAR
The announcement triggered instant protests, mostly from “upper caste”
students. Protesters, who included over 3,000 university students,
staged demonstrations and stopped traffic in many places. Violence was
reported from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. The
next move from V.P. Singh came only on August 13, 1990, when he issued
a notification for the OBC reservation, which was also met with a
series of agitations. Notwithstanding legal battles against the scheme
on one pretext or another, the system has managed to survive.
The next significant move in respect of reservation came in 2006. It
was the Central Educational Institution (Reservation in Admission)
Act, 2006. It provided for the extension of reservation to the
prestigious institutions of higher learning. The Act is a significant
legislative measure – for the first time, Parliament recognised,
through a law, the need for reserving seats in higher educational
institutions as an expedient and necessary measure. The Supreme Court
has stayed the operation of the Act in respect of Other Backward
Classes pending the final disposal of certain petitions. The court
also clarified that the operation of the relevant section to the
Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes had not been stayed. The
Mandal Commission report pointed out that mere reservation of seats in
educational institutions or government jobs would not solve the
problems of OBCs. It recommended many other initiatives, such as the
intensification of land reforms, extension of credit facilities to
deprived sections, clearance of backlogs in respect of poverty
alleviation programmes, development initiatives, and measures to
spread education. A notable point in this context is that most of
those who come under the OBC category live in villages, something that
administrators and political leaders simply ignore.
Khap panchayat HARYANA
In recent years, some State governments granted separate reservation
for Muslims and Christians in the OBC quota. In Tamil Nadu, this has
been done by enacting a law, in response to representations from
people belonging to these two communities. The law was based on the
recommendations of the State Backward Classes Commission. Another
reservation-related step taken by some State governments was the
creation of sub-quotas for Dalit sub-castes such as Arunthathiyars and
Chakkiliyars (in Tamil Nadu), who are the worst sufferers of
untouchability, in the 18-20 per cent quota for Dalits. In Tamil Nadu,
the State government, through a resolution, has provided for a 3 per
cent sub-quota for some sub-sects from the existing 18 per cent
reservation for the Scheduled Castes. The percentage, however, changes
from State to State depending upon the Dalit share in the population.
People belonging to these sub-castes mostly serve as sanitation
workers.
Sixty years after Independence, reservation has not done much to
elevate these hapless people to any higher position in society.
Despite tremendous developments in science and technology, and in
violation of a Supreme Court order, the Centre and the State
governments have failed to bring an end to the practice of manual
scavenging and to rehabilitate those engaged in it in decent jobs
elsewhere.
Dalit rally DELHI
Though reservation has substantially benefited large sections, it must
be remembered that with sections of people remaining outside this
safety net, ensuring social justice to all will continue to be a
distant dream. The disinvestment policy under the neoliberal regime
has posed a serious threat to those employed in scores of public
sector undertakings (PSUs). The dismantling of PSUs and the steadily
falling state investment in employment-generating industries are
posing even more serious challenges to the system. More and more
people are made to be dependent on jobs in private establishments,
which are in no mood to introduce reservation. This has only resulted
in increasing the number of the unemployed in the country. Adding to
this is the closure of a number of factories and the resultant spurt
in the number of the jobless.
In the case of Dalits, the situation is worse, particularly because of
what Dalit leaders describe as “tardy” implementation of reservation.
Dalit activists complain of discrimination against Dalits in this
policy of “positive discrimination”. Bureaucrats from the “oppressor
castes” do not show any genuine interest in implementing reservation.
A large number of posts under the quota remain unfilled, and upper-
caste officials show the least interest in clearing backlogs. This
only proves that reservation in employment and education is not enough
to bring about any big change in raising the social status of Dalits.
Dalits on the payroll of private employers presumably suffer a much
worse form of discrimination.
Tribal homes torched by Salwa Judum activists in Dantewada, a file
photograph. Tribal residents of the Chhattisgarh forests are the worst
victims of the fight between the Salwa Judum and the naxalites.
A shocking expose in recent years is how Dalits, numbering more than
22 crore in the country, were taken for a ride by the governments at
the Centre and in the States in the matter of allotment of funds for
improving their lot. The Centre and the State governments failed to
implement faithfully the Special Component Plan (SCP), now known as
the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan (SCSP). The SCP was supposed to be in
operation for the past over 30 years. Because of the failure of the
Ministries to allot money for Dalit-related schemes in proportion to
their share in the population, Dalits, according to one estimate,
could have lost a whopping Rs.3,75,000 crore in the last 25 years.
(“Plan and prejudice”, Frontline, October 19, 2007). This shows that
even Ministers and highly placed officials cannot claim to be free
from prejudice against Dalits.
It is not surprising that the outlawed practice of untouchability is
very much alive in the country, taking several new forms, and
atrocities against Dalits have become almost a daily affair in most
places. The 1990s saw a steep rise in atrocities against Dalits across
the country. The manifestation of “upper caste” prejudice against
Dalits is now more cruel and vulgar than in the past. However, one can
also see a qualitative shift in the response of Dalits to the physical
and verbal assaults on them. Dalits appeared determined to resist
these, apparently inspired by the nationwide celebrations of the birth
centenary of Ambedkar in 1991. They began to hit back. The caste-Hindu
response to this Dalit assertion has also been manifesting itself in
even more cruel ways. The police force, mostly packed with members of
non-Dalit castes, often side with the attackers.
Human rights activists and political observers say caste-based
violence against Dalits cannot be contained unless the police are
impartial and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Act is effectively used against the guilty. The situation
that Dalits find themselves in has been aggravated by the economic
downslide brought about by the policies of an insensitive, market-
driven, neoliberal regime in the past 25 years. The period saw the
emergence of powerful Dalit leaders in almost all States in which
Dalit concentration is substantial, but not all could succeed to any
great extent in consolidating their base, maybe because of their need
to depend on bigger parties. Also, they did not have an agenda that
could radically transform the social and economic condition of Dalits.
Copyright © 2010, Frontline.
http://www.flonnet.com/stories/20100115270105600.htm
Sid Harth
INDIA'S NATIONAL MAGAZINE
from the publishers of THE HINDU
COVER STORY
India's shame
ANNIE ZAIDI
in New Delhi, Punjab and Haryana
Manual scavenging is still a disgusting reality in most States despite
an Act of Parliament banning it.
SANDEEP SAXENA
AT NAND NAGRI in New Delhi, at a toilet complex that is cleaned
manually twice a day.
`SHAMEFUL', `degrading', `dehumanising', `disgusting', `obnoxious',
`abhorrent', a `blot on humanity' - these are some of the words used
to describe `manual scavenging', which in plain language means people
lifting human excreta with their hands and carrying the load on their
heads, hips or shoulders. If they are lucky, they get to use a wagon.
Over the years books have been written, committees and commissions
have been set up, laws have been enacted and crores of rupees have
been spent to eradicate manual scavenging. But even after six decades
of Independence, India continues to dehumanise, degrade and shame the
most vulnerable amongst us. Governments in several States have denied
in court the existence of manual scavengers despite evidence to the
contrary.
In 2002-03, the Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment
admitted the existence of 6.76 lakh people who lift human excreta for
a living and the presence of 92 lakh dry latrines, spread across 21
States and Union Territories. However, when the Safai Karamchari
Andolan (SKA), along with individual scavengers and organisations
which are working for the cause, filed a petition in the Supreme Court
in 2003, most States hotly denied having scavengers and claimed that
most of them had been rehabilitated in alternative professions. It
took three years and strong admonishments from the apex court for the
States to respond. Most of them submitted affidavits claiming that no
dry latrines exist and, therefore, no manual scavenging exists. Since
then, several affidavits and counter-affidavits have been filed.
Bezwada Wilson, national convener of the SKA, says the problem is not
about identifying, educating or providing alternatives. The problem is
one of attitude. "No reliable data are available. We have conducted
sample surveys with our limited resources and we estimate that there
could be as many as 13 lakh manual scavengers in the country," he
says.
The Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine
(Prohibition) Act was passed in 1993. Says Wilson: "It took another
decade for some States to adopt it. Some States refuse to adopt the
law, saying that they don't have any manual scavengers, despite
evidence to the contrary, while some States adopted the law only after
the SKA went to the Supreme Court. How can you solve a problem unless
you first admit that a problem exists?"
Capital falsehood
A Frontline investigation found that the state of denial extends to
the national capital. The affidavit filed by the Delhi government in
the Supreme Court has accused the petitioners of levelling "bad
allegations against answering respondent without verifying facts". On
a visit to Nand Nagri near Shahdara in the National Capital Region in
order to verify, Frontline met Meena, who is a volunteer with the SKA
and has been working as a manual scavenger since she was nine.
Says Meena, who is in her mid-twenties: "I remember the first time I
had to carry a basketful on my head. I slipped and fell into the
gutter. No one would come to pick me up because the basket was so
dirty and I was covered with filth. I sat there, howling, until
another woman scavenger arrived. She hosed me down and took me home.
But that day I felt like the most unfortunate child in the whole
world."
According to her, there could be anywhere between 100 and 150 families
in that suburb working as manual scavengers. "There is Rampur,
Seemapuri, Tarpur, Kachipura, Ashoknagar, Seva Dham; in Seva Dham
people go into open fields around their kuchcha houses. But
afterwards, they make you clean that open space also," she says. "Many
people just dig a hole in the ground and hang jute mats around it.
Then they call people from our community to clean up."
SANDEEP SAXENA
In the scavengers' colony.
Meena somehow managed to stay in school until she cleared her
secondary level examinations, but education brought little change.
"This is what we've been doing for generations and nobody gives us
other work. In fact, my mother was married to my father based upon the
fact that he lived in a busy, crowded area and there was that much
more to carry."
Meena's husband Mukesh works in a community toilet near their shack in
Nand Nagri. Mukesh wanted to apply for a government sweeper's post,
like his father, but could not. "They ask for Rs.50,000 in bribes for
a government job. At best, I could hope for occasional work, where I
get Rs.100 on a daily-wage basis, but the policeman takes his cut," he
says. "Finally, I cleaned this public toilet, which was run by the MCD
[Municipal Corporation of Delhi] until last year. Now, it is in
private hands. There is no water to clean the toilet, incidentally. I
fill my bucket with water from the open gutter outside." He adds that
many people simply squat outside the toilet, instead of sitting on the
commode; the safai karamchari is left to clean up.
Meena's mother Sharada cleans most of the private dry latrines in the
area. She says: "There are about 10 dry latrines now. I get Rs.10 per
house. Many houses have got pucca latrines now. But the way they are
constructed, the sewage comes from a pipe into the open gutter below.
And we have to clean this gutter. On many days the gutter overflows
with excreta and when there isn't enough water to wash it away, it
accumulates and dries. My husband sweeps it into a corner and I lift
it out of the gutter using two pieces of plastic and put it into a
basket."
Sharada's current grouse is that her basket is broken. A new one costs
around Rs.70, which she cannot afford. So she has hired a rickshaw-
cart, which she pulls herself. She piles it with both garbage and
gutter-filth, which she later sorts to pick out anything with resale
value.
Even Mahatma Gandhi's Gujarat has not learnt to clean its own toilets.
There are about 55,000 scavengers in Gujarat, according to the
Navsarjan Trust, which has been leading the movement in the State. Its
founder, Martin Macwan, believes that it is impossible to determine
correctly the size of the problem because people refuse access to
their homes. "We can know only about those employed with the
government, local civic bodies or panchayats. The estimates are based
on the population of Balmikis, the kind of work they engage in, and
sample surveys," he says. "The State government does nothing except
allocate money. The scavengers are made to believe that this is their
work and they cannot do anything else, so they don't want to talk
about it."
Clearly, State governments are not going to talk about it either, if
they can help it. Haryana and Punjab claim they have no manual
scavengers. However, visits to localities in the two States showed
that they had not only failed in their commitment to eradicate manual
scavenging but also lied to the Supreme Court.
SANDEEP SAXENA
Clearing garbage and sewage on a cart she has hired.
At Sanoli Road, a locality in Panipat town in Haryana, Frontline saw
at least five dry latrines and met three scavengers. Bhagwati, who
lives in Deha basti, has spent her whole life doing precisely the task
the civic authorities deny the existence of - cleaning dry latrines
manually. She says that she carries narak (hell, in Hindi). "I have
been doing this ever since I can remember. My mother did it, my sister
did it and I am doing it." The only saving grace, according to
Bhagwati, is that there is no lack of water in the area. "As it is, my
hands and feet and waist get marked by the `narak'. At least, I can
bathe after work," she says.
Bala, 35, lives in what is commonly known as Balmiki basti in Panipat
town and has been cleaning dry latrines in some of the houses in the
area for the past 18 years. She would gladly stop doing it now if only
she had an alternative. "Who wants to lift other people's filth? But I
am forced to because we're so poor. No household gives me more than Rs.
15-20," she says.
However, as far as the State government is concerned, people like
Bhagwati and Bala do not exist. Its affidavit filed this year in the
Supreme Court claims that until 1992 there were 2.02 lakh dry latrines
but these were phased out and not a single one remains. It also claims
that the Rs.18.36 crores received from the Centre was used up for
training and rehabilitation, that 15,739 scavengers were rehabilitated
and that "Haryana is a scavenger-free State".
Punjab has a similar take. The State government conducted a survey in
1992 after the Centre launched the National Scheme for Liberation and
Rehabilitation of Scavengers and their dependants. The scheme, which
was to be implemented by the States, enabled beneficiaries to get
vocational training and be settled in alternative professions. It also
provided households below the poverty line an 80 per cent subsidy to
build flush latrines.
At that time, Punjab identified 12,444 scavenger families. In the
affidavit filed in the Supreme Court this year the State claimed:
"Since banks were not providing timely loans to the beneficiaries, the
Punjab Scheduled Castes Land Development and Finance Corporation also
started disbursing loans to them under its own scheme to avoid
hardship to this class. The pace of the scheme was very slow as
scavengers were not coming forward to avail the loan under this
scheme; therefore, fresh survey for identification of scavengers was
got conducted (sic) through Deputy Commissioners in all the districts
of the State. As a result, only 531 scavengers were identified."
K. ANANTHAN
IN COIMBATORE, TAMIL Nadu, going down to clear a choked drain with
minimum equipment.
How this statistical miracle occurred is anybody's guess. Of the 531
people identified, the State claimed that 389 "rehabilitated on their
own and remaining 142 scavengers have been rehabilitated by the
Corporation". Most of them are women and that they are "on their own"
is clear to them.
Subhash Desawar, State convener of the SKA, told Frontline that in
Samrala town, in relatively prosperous Ludhiana district, he could
recall readily the names of 20 women. "Incidentally, this is the home
town of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president. We also have
evidence of manual scavenging in Patiala, the constituency of the
Chief Minister," he says.
Most of the women got into this work only after marriage. Shanti, 70,
began cleaning dry latrines about 20 years ago. "Many have been
converted to flush latrines, especially after the SKA people came with
cameras. Those people whose homes had dry latrines got frightened and
were ashamed, so many of them converted," she says. "But there are a
few left. We get Rs.20 from each house, and sometimes leftover food."
Amarwati, another senior citizen, has been cleaning dry latrines for
as long as she can remember. She says: "I don't like it. I have
studied till the 4th standard. I can read newspapers, novels and can
write a bit. But there was no option. It seems I have done this
forever. I didn't let my daughter do it, but I have no alternative for
myself."
At least 15 women confirmed that they clean dry latrines and that they
have not got any help from the authorities. They had not heard of any
government scheme to train and rehabilitate them, no civic official
had approached them with an offer of loans, and, until the SKA
intervention they were neither included in any survey nor asked to
stop doing their work.
Another major hurdle to the eradication of scavenging is the Railways.
The tracks have to be cleaned manually since coaches have the `open
discharge' system, and most stations are not equipped with concretised
platforms that would allow waste to be washed away with jets of water.
In their response to the Supreme Court, the railways cited lack of
money. The Railways claim that a proposal to fit fully sealed latrines
is "under consideration" and "various technologies shall be tried
out", but refuse to set themselves a deadline to end the present
practice.
Challenges ahead
In the 13 years since the passing of the Employment of Manual
Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrine (Prohibition) Act there has
not been a single prosecution; the Act stipulates imprisonment up to a
year and fines up to Rs.2,000 or both. "The law is more like a scheme;
it has no teeth. The powers rest with the sanitary inspector or the
Collector, while the worker himself cannot file a case," says Wilson.
"Workers who clean open gutters, manholes and septic tanks, who are
exposed to great risks, are not covered by the Act. Also, though the
States have adopted the Act, most have not adopted the rules and
regulations along with it."
While the government has made attempts through various schemes
offering loans and subsidies, setting up the National Commission for
Safai Karamcharis and the National Safai Karamchari Financing and
Development Corporation, they have not succeeded.
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, in its affidavit,
claims that 1.56 lakh people were trained and 4.08 lakh were
rehabilitated until 2002, and that Rs.712.14 crores have been released
to the States. It also says that there were only about four lakh
scavengers in 1989, conveniently omitting to mention more recent
statistics.
COURTESY: ADI THAMIZH AR PERAVAI SAXENA
In the same city, a public facility that is cleaned manually.
The Social Justice Ministry, at different points of time, offered five
different sets of figures, as stated in the Ninth Report of the Public
Accounts Committee. For instance, the number of scavengers identified
in Assam went up threefold between 1997 and 1999.
Interestingly, an audit of the National Scheme for Liberation and
Rehabilitation of Scavengers for the period 1992 to 2002 by the
Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) threw up a maze of conflicting
data. In fact, the CAG report on the audit said the Rs.600-crore grant
given by the Centre to the States had "gone, literally, down the
latrine". The latest scheme is a National Action Plan for the Total
Eradication of Manual Scavenging by 2007, under which the
responsibility for liberation and rehabilitation has been shifted to
the Ministry of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation, which is the
nodal Ministry to deal with the issue.
However, the Centre cannot resolve this problem alone, for
`sanitation' is a State subject and manual scavenging is, finally, a
sanitation issue and, more importantly, a health issue.
The SKA petition had mentioned a study by the Environmental Sanitation
Institute, Gandhi Ashram, which said the majority of scavengers
suffered from anaemia, diarrhoea and vomiting.
Besides, 62 per cent of them had respiratory diseases, 32 per cent had
skin diseases, 42 per cent had jaundice and 23 per cent had trachoma,
leading to blindness. Many died of carbon monoxide poisoning while
cleaning septic tanks, it said.
Any public health official would agree that septic tanks themselves
are a health hazard. Sewage and storm-water drains often mix, and the
effluent flows into the local river. Open gutters are another menace,
making whole populations vulnerable to malaria, dengue,
gastroenteritis, hepatitis and many other diseases.
SANDEEP SAXENA
Meena, a manual scavenger, at home with family in Nand Nagri.
Unfortunately, government and municipal authorities tend to ignore
sanitation because it does not bring the voters' wrath upon their
heads as urgently as, say, water and power supply. It takes a plague,
as it did in Surat, to make them sit up and smell the sewage.
As far as the primary issue of dry latrines is concerned, there is no
way of countering it other than the demolition of all existing units.
Uttaranchal, in fact, may have inadvertently struck the nail on the
head when it filed an affidavit saying, "as long as dry latrines
remain in existence, the scavengers to clean the same will also remain
http://www.flonnet.com/fl2318/stories/20060922005900400.htm
Sid Harth
India's National Magazine
from the publishers of THE HINDU
THE STATES
Slaughter of the Dalits
T.K. RAJALAKSHMI
in Jhajjar and Gurgaon
Were the five Dalits killed in Haryana the victims of mob frenzy
following the slaughter and skinning of a cow? Or did the police do it
after failing in an extortion bid, as the victims' relatives allege?
R.V. MOORTHY
The spot near the Duleena police post where two of the victims were
thrown into a fire.
EACH year on Dasara day, the triumph of good over evil is celebrated
with ritual and symbolic splendour in northern India. The day marks
the defeat of Ravana and his forces by Rama. But this year, for five
Dalits of Haryana, it turned out to be the day of victory of evil. On
October 15, the police, allegedly in connivance with communal
elements, ensured that the young men, who had fallen into their hands,
would not escape alive. They were lynched, their eyes gouged out and
their bodies mutilated. The faces of two of them were burnt. Their
alleged crime was that they skinned a cow on the road leading to
Jhajjar town. Ironically, the carcass was sent for a post-mortem to
ascertain the time of the cow's death.
The version of the Jhajjar police is that a mob of thousand people had
found the Dalits skinning a live cow on the evening of October 15. The
crowd, according to the police, was returning after watching the
Dasara celebrations in Jhajjar town. On seeing the "cow slaughter and
the skinning", the crowd dragged the five to the Duleena police post,
5 km from Jhajjar town. The police claim that they were helpless and
could do little to control the mob. The police registered a first
information report (FIR) charging the five persons with cow slaughter
and then handed them over to the mob. The attack started at 6 p.m. and
went on till 10 p.m. Senior officials, including the Deputy
Superintendent of Police (DSP), who arrived at the spot even before
the lynching had started, could do little. It is claimed that the
police tried to convince the mob that the men were Hindus and not
members of the minority community. A leading newspaper even mentioned
that it was a case of "mistaken identity". There is at least one other
version that contradicts that given by the police. That points to the
insidious role played by the police and communal elements. This is not
the first time that communal frenzy has been whipped up based on
rumours of cow slaughter.
ON October 15, it was work as usual for Virender, Dayachand, Tota Ram,
Raju and Kailash. While the first four belonged to villages in Gurgaon
district, the fifth was a hide merchant from Karnal. Virender and
Dayachand were merchants from Badshahpur village, Tota Ram was a
driver from Aklimpur, and 16-year-old Raju, his helper, was from
Teekli village. Around 2 p.m., Virender and Dayachand, both in their
twenties, loaded the hides of buffaloes, calves and goats, collected
over period of a month from various parts of Sohna block, onto Tota
Ram's hired vehicle. They possessed licences from two agencies, the
Sohna Panchayat Samiti and the State government-recognised Adarsh
Gaushala of Teekli village, to skin dead animals and collect their
bones. The panchayat samiti had given them, on payment of Rs.35,000,
the licence valid for the period from Apri1 1, 2002 to March 31, 2003.
(Frontline possesses copies of the receipts issued by both the
agencies.) For the past 35 years, their families had been doing this
job. All five men belonged to the Jatav caste.
The families of Virender and Dayachand were the only ones in
Badshahpur village that skinned dead animals. The skins, which they
sold at nominal prices to traders, seemed to fetch good prices when
they reached the shoe factories in Karnal. The skinners had small
godowns in their homes to store the skins which were salted to keep
the smell away. These families have been living with hides in their
midst for decades. Not many people belonging to the Jatav community
prefer to do this work if they have a choice. With tears in his eyes,
Rattan Lal, Virender's father, told this correspondent that their
source of livelihood had been snatched away from them.
Information gathered from Rattan Lal and others revealed that Kailash
had stayed for three days in the village and on October 15, around 2
p.m., he collected the skins stored in the homes of Virender and
Dayachand. The skinning was usually done in the jungles, away from the
roads. Tota Ram hired the vehicle from the adjoining Teekli village.
The group left Badshahpur in the afternoon. That was the last time
people of the village saw them.
Early the next morning, the families of the five persons were informed
by the police that there had been an "accident" involving them and
were told to rush to the Jhajjar Civil Hospital. The family members
reached the hospital to find the mutilated bodies.
Relatives of the five men do not believe the police version. They
appear convinced that the police personnel at the Duleena post tried
to extort money from the men and an altercation ensued. The five, four
of whom were well-built men, might have resisted the extortion attempt
and might have been killed, they believe. The family members do not
think that the villagers were behind the lynching. "I want justice,
only justice. I don't want any money," says Virender's mother. The
police are the main culprits, say the family members of the dead. They
ask how the police personnel would know the identities of the dead
unless the five had been interrogated and their statements recorded.
The five had also been charged with cow slaughter. Rattan Lal said
that if at all they had skinned the animal, the police would have
found weapons on them. Inderjit Singh, Haryana State secretary of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist), told Frontline that it made little
sense to skin a cow worth Rs.200 on the roadside, especially when the
vehicle was already carrying skins worth thousands of rupees. He also
ruled out the involvement of people from the villages as it was highly
improbable that they would go all the way to Jhajjar town to watch
Dasara festivities.
S. SUBRAMANIUM
At a demonstration organised by the Communist Party of India
(Marxist).
At the Duleena post, a structure with three small rooms, there were
tell-tale signs of brutal killings. There were bloodstains on the road
where the post is located. The stains on the porch of the police post
were still visible. The badges on the uniforms of the three policemen
on duty were conspicuously missing. All three denied that they were
present on the day of the incident. One inspector, who identified
himself as Virender, showed this correspondent the grills of the two
windows that had allegedly been twisted by the mob. In fact, the
frames were intact, and it was surprising how a 5,000-strong crowd
could not break it. The garden in front of the building remained
intact, with sunflower in full bloom. When asked how the plants and
the flowers had escaped the wrath of a rampaging crowd, the inspector
said: "We had to do a lot to get them in shape." He added that the
police could not do anything as the mob had all kinds of implements.
This also sounded improbable, for if the people were returning from
Dasara festivities, they would not have been carrying farm implements.
He said that the Station House Officer (SHO) was hurt, but it turned
out that the officer had only a scratch on his arm.
The cruel deed was carried out in the presence of the DSP, the City
Magistrate, the Naib Tehsildar and almost 50 police personnel. The
District Commissioner's (D.C.) office got the information late in the
evening, but by the time the D.C., Mohinder Kumar, reached the site,
district officials had little role to play. Local Vishwa Hindu
Parishad (VHP) activists and other anti-social elements, who must have
been mobilised from the town, joined the police and the five men were
allegedly beaten to death.
The Superintendent of Police, Mohammad Akil, was unavailable for
comment as he was busy making arrangements for the Chief Minister's
visit to the district. Jhajjar SHO Rajinder Singh refused to part with
the details of the FIR, saying that he was not authorised to say
anything to the media. The charge of cow slaughter recorded against
the victims under the Cow Slaughter (Prevention) Act remains. Another
FIR registered by the Jhajjar police is under Section 302 (murder) of
the IPC against unidentified members of the mob. Till date, nobody has
been arrested.
Of equal significance is the role of organisations such as the VHP and
the Bajrang Dal. This needs to be examined, as there have been
instances of their raising the issue of cow slaughter at periodic
intervals, the most recent being in Loharu town in Bhiwani district in
April when shops and homes belonging to members of the minority
community were selectively destroyed and an old mosque was vandalised.
The incidents followed a call for an all-India bandh given by the VHP
soon after the Godhra incident. Rumours were rife that Muslims were
slaughtering cows. It was also rumoured that a calf with one ear and a
clipped tail was roaming near Loharu town. A total of 39 people were
arrested in connection with the violence, including two office-bearers
of the Dadri unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
On October 16, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal took out a victory
procession in Jhajjar, in which the people responsible for the killing
of the Dalits were allegedly lauded. In New Delhi, the VHP's senior
vice-president, Acharya Giriraj Kishore, defended the VHP's position
stating that it was more important to ascertain if the men had
actually killed the cow or were skinning a cow that was already dead.
He quoted Hindu scriptures to say that the life of a cow was more
precious than that of a human being. Inquiries revealed that the local
units of the two organisations were active in Jhajjar town. They had
submitted a memorandum to the police asking them not to take action
against anybody in connection with the killings. After visiting the
area, a VHP secretary, Surendra Jain, claimed that cow slaughter was
rampant in the Mewat area, which comprised parts of Rajasthan and
Haryana and was home to Meo Muslims. He blamed the government for not
implementing laws relating to the prevention of cow slaughter. Yashpal
Gandhi, another VHP office-bearer in Bahadurgarh, said that the
"Ravanas found slaughtering cows had been punished" and those who
acted against them should be honoured.
THE families of the victims were in a state of shock. At least four of
them have left behind little children. Neighbours cutting across caste
lines were seen commiserating with the bereaved families. More
important, the families did not fall into the trap of the communal
logic given by the police about the killings being a case of "mistaken
identity". Dayachand's brother said that even if the men had been
Muslims, the killings would not have been justified. He was reacting
to reports which held that the police had tried to save the victims by
telling the mob that the men were Hindus and not Muslims. "Are they
not human?" Dayachand's brother asked. He too believes that it was the
police personnel and some anti-social elements who killed the five
men. He explained how the police persuaded them to take a different
route while returning home with the bodies. They were told that they
might be attacked by angry mobs on the way. He said that two of his
relatives checked out the route on a motorcycle and found no mob lying
in wait.
All the four families in Gurgaon district are landless. Tota Ram's
family situation is tragic. He is survived by a near-blind mother, a
young wife and four children, the eldest of whom is six years old and
the youngest three months old. Raju, the cleaner, was learning
driving.
While almost all political parties reacted to the incident,
particularly the Left parties and some of the organisations of
Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people, the Om Prakash Chautala-
led Indian National Lok Dal government took its own time to respond.
On October 20, Chautala visited Jhajjar but did not meet the families
of the victims. It also did not go unnoticed that the Chief Minister
was in Badshahpur two days after the incident but did not visit any of
the families: he was there to visit a party worker, residents of the
village said. However, on October 24, nine days after the incident,
Chautala made a brief visit to the bereaved families. Moreover, it was
only a week after the lynching that Chautala declared that the guilty
would be brought to book immediately. In his opinion, it was a case of
"mistaken" identity. All the 13 police personnel on duty at the
Duleena post have been transferred and R.R. Banswal, the Rohtak
Divisional Commissioner, has been put in charge of the inquiry. On
October 24, after all five families had rejected the compensation of
Rs.1 lakh initially sanctioned by the State government, the Haryana
Cabinet raised the amount to Rs.5 lakhs and decided to provide
employment to the next of kin of the dead persons. The National Human
Rights Commission sent a notice to the State government asking it to
file a detailed report on the incident. Deputy Prime Minister L.K.
Advani, perhaps sensing the popular mood, announced that the Centre
would prevail on the State government to take action against the
guilty. However, so far little has been done to achieve this end.
A joint delegation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the
Communist Party of India and the All India Democratic Women's
Association (AIDWA) was the first such group to visit the families and
meet the district officials. It demanded strict action against the
culprits and a compensation of Rs.5 lakhs to each of the five
families. While the mass organisations of the Left parties held
demonstrations in Jhajjar, the Delhi State unit of the CPI(M) held a
protest rally led by senior leaders such as Brinda Karat and Inderjit
Singh. Congress(I) president Sonia Gandhi visited the families and
assured them of monetary help. Lok Jan Shakti president Ram Vilas
Paswan visited the bereaved families. Significantly, Uttar Pradesh
Chief Minister and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati, also a
Jatav by caste, did not react to the incident for several days.
However, at a rally organised by the BSP on October 25 in Gurgaon, she
railed against the government, particularly the police, but gave a
clean chit to the communal organisations, which played an overt or
covert role in the incident.
On October 27, at a public meeting organised by the All India
Confederation of Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes Organisations and
the Lord Buddha Club, several Dalits, including the families of the
dead persons, converted themselves to Buddhism and other religions.
While the move is being seen as a reaction to the prevalent Hindu
system of social organisation that discriminates against Dalits, it is
unlikely that such measures will result in social change, especially
when the class character of society remains unchanged.
In Haryana, barring protests by some political parties, there is no
discussion of the incident, and there is no sense of shock in Jhajjar.
An employee in the S.P.'s office said that there was no tension over
the incident. Only the media seem to be interested, he remarked. Such
apathy characterises Haryana today. With an entrenched feudal order,
rampant casteism and a declining sex ratio, the only saving grace was
that the State had been relatively free of communal incidents.
However, since 1992, sporadic instances of communal violence have been
reported from various parts of the State, some of them rather serious.
It is clear that apart from the general social discord that already
exists, Chautala will soon have a new problem on his hands if he does
not rein in the political forces that foment communalism.
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