Discontent, poverty fueling Naxalite rebels

from the Christian Science Monitor

A government-appointed committee says violence by the Maoist insurgency is growing and urges the government to talk with rebels.
By Mian Ridge

Amid increasing violence sparked by India's Maoist insurgency, politicians and observers have called for leaders to tackle the causes of the rebel movement: poverty, landlessness, and unemployment.

India's Maoist revolt, or Naxalism, is thought to have killed thousands since it began in the 1960s. Some 13 of India's 29 states have been affected by the insurgency. India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, has previously described the movement as the biggest domestic security threat facing the country. Since surprise Maoist wins in Nepal's general elections last month, there have been fears in India that the Naxalites would be emboldened by that victory.

New government figures also show that Naxalite violence is on the rise, reports the website of Zee News, an Indian TV channel. Some 698 deaths were reported in 2007, compared with 678 the previous year. The rise was attributed to a greater use of improvised explosive devices and land mines by the rebels and more attacks.

On Monday, the Times of India reported that a high-level committee appointed by the central government had urged the government to focus on the discontentment that fuels Naxalism. The report was written by members of the Planning Commission, an Indian policy think tank. It also urged the government to seek peace talks with Naxalite leaders.

On growth of Naxalism, the report said that while policy documents admitted direct correlation between extremism and poverty, in practice, the government treated it as a law and order problem. "It is necessary to change this mindset and bring about congruence between policy and implementation," the panel said.

The report has exhaustive details about social, political, economic, and cultural discrimination faced by [Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, who are among India's poorest people] and how that resulted in discontented people finding succor in immediate justice provided by the Naxalites.

To buttress its point, the committee did a survey of four districts affected by Naxalism and compared it with four comparatively more developed areas [in eastern India, including] Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Orissa.

It was found that the districts where Naxalism had grown were different from developed ones in 10 ways: [a higher percentage of poor], low literacy, high infant mortality, low level of urbanization, high forest cover, high share of agricultural labour, low per capita foodgrain production, low level of road length, high share of rural households without bank accounts, and high share of rural households without specified assets.

Naxalites have found willing recruits among some rural poor, who feel left behind as India rushes to modernize. Forest-dwelling tribal people, in particular, have suffered displacement by large development projects – including dams – and a government failure to ensure food security.

Last week, the chief minister of the southern state of Tamil Nadu, M. Karunanidhi, said that efforts should be made to dissuade young men from joining the Naxalites, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI), a domestic news wire.

"Do they lack education? If be so, what is the reason? Economic conditions? If that is the propelling factor, then we should take steps to improve the conditions," he said....

And over the weekend, Rahul Gandhi, heir of India's Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and a probable future leader of the ruling Congress Party, toured insurgency-hit areas of the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, where Naxalism is especially prevalent. Security was tight, says the News Post India, an online newspaper, which also reported that Mr. Gandhi had wanted to spend a night with a tribal family but was cautioned against it.

Gandhi asked why Maoism was on the rise in the area, reports the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS).

Congress sources said that [nongovernmental organizations] and party local tribal youths informed Gandhi that "decades of total neglect of local tribal masses by various governments in welfare schemes and the government's failure to work out a proper plan for the social and economic development of tribals have nurtured Maoism".

In the meantime, the violence continues. Over the weekend, Naxalites murdered three policemen in the eastern state of Jharkhand, reported the Telegraph, a paper published in Calcutta . A rebel and a villager were also killed in the crossfire.

Last week, a group of armed Naxalites attacked an iron ore plant in Chhattisgarh and set fire to 53 trucks, reported the Business Standard, India's leading business newspaper. Sources suggested that the attack was a protest against the exportation of iron ore outside the state.

And while some urge the government to address the causes of Naxalism, others call for might to fight the "Maoist menace" as Indian reporters have dubbed the rebels' armed struggle.

The Khaleej Times reported last week that a senior Maoist leader told journalists the rebels would never back down from their armed struggle. The rebel leader said that unlike Nepal's Maoists, who triumphed in last month's general election, the Naxalites would continue to believe "in capturing power through armed struggle."