How Chhattisgarh has stalled a historic judgment (The Hindu, GS-3, Internal security)

05 Jul How Chhattisgarh has stalled a historic judgment (The Hindu, GS-3, Internal security)

Context:- Supreme Court delivered a historic judgment on July 5, 2011. In that judgement banning a vigilante movement known as Salwa Judum was started in 2005 and sponsored by the Chhattisgarh and Central government. This movement was ostensibly to fight against the Maoists. The Judgement also ruled that the use of surrendered Maoists and untrained villagers in frontline counter-insurgency operations as Special Police Officers (SPOs) was unconstitutional.

What is the History of Maoist?:-

• The left extremist outburst which later became known as the Naxalite movement was started in March 1967 in the three police station areas (Naxalbari, Khoribari and Phansidewa) of Darjeeling district in West Bengal. The word ‘Naxalbari phase’ of the movement (1967-68) was brought under control by July-August 1967. 

Terms related to Internal Security:-

Maoism:- 

• Maoism is one of the forms of communism  which was developed by Mao Zedong. 
• It is the doctrine that captures State power through a combination of an armed insurgency, mass mobilization and strategic alliances. 
• The ‘Protracted People’s War’, this process was called by Mao where he emphasized the ‘military line’ to capture power.

Red Corridor:-

• The Red Corridor is the region that experienced severe Naxalite–Maoist insurgency.
• The districts affected by naxalism and which are part of the Corridor are among the poorest in India.
• This red corridor has a high tribal population. The Corridor is also marked by severe caste and economic disparities.

Important Facts about LWE:-

• There are 126 districts in 10 states as Left Wing Extremism affected according to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
• There has been a substantial improvement in the LWE scenario over the last four years.
• The incidents have declined with a 34% reduction in related deaths in 2017 as compared to 2013.
• There is a shrinkage in the Geographical spread of LWE violence from 76 districts in 2013 to 58 districts in 2017.
• There are about 30 of these districts that account for 90% of the LWE violence in the country.
• The primary criterion for removing the districts and including new ones in the red corridor is ‘Incidents of violence’.
• The States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar are considered severely affected. 

Strategy of the Naxal Movement:-

• The theory and practice of revolutionary warfare has three distinctive phases. 
  • In the first phase organization, consolidation, and preservation of regional base areas which are situated in isolated and difficult terrain so no accessibility to government machinery.
  • In the second phase there is progressive expansion, which includes attacks on police stations, sabotage, terror tactics, elimination of persons with alternate viewpoints, and procurement of arms and ammunition from the enemy, and
  • In the third phase there is destruction of the enemy through conventional battles including mobile warfare, protracted conflicts, negotiations, and unified command and control structures.

Why Left wing extremism and Maoism took birth in India:-

• Land Related Factors:-

• • Evasion of land ceiling laws by the upper caste or class because of this common people didn’t get the due benefit.
  • Existence of special land tenures (enjoying exemptions under ceiling laws) which favours the upper class.
  • There is an encroachment and occupation of Government and Community lands (even the water-bodies) by powerful sections of society.
  • There is a lack of title to public land cultivated by the landless poor.
  • A very poor implementation of laws prohibiting transfer of tribal land to non-tribals in the Fifth Schedule areas.
  • Non-regularisation of traditional land rights. 

Displacement and Forced Evictions:-

• Eviction from lands traditionally used by tribal.
• Displacements caused by irrigation and power projects without adequate arrangements for rehabilitation.
• Government has acquitted large scale land for ‘public purposes’ without appropriate compensation or rehabilitation.

Livelihood Related Causes:-

• There is a general lack of food security, associated with corruption in the Public Distribution System (which are often nonfunctional).
• A Disruption of traditional occupations and a lack of alternative work opportunities.
• Tribal are Deprived of traditional rights in common property resources. 

Social Exclusion:-

• Denial of dignity there by denying human rights.
• Continued practice of untouchability in various forms in many areas. 
• Poor implementation of special laws on prevention of atrocities, protection of civil rights and abolition of bonded labour etc, this led to a soft corner towards extremism. 

Governance Related Factors:-

• There is a huge Corruption and poor provision/non-provision of essential public services including primary health care and education.
• Very Incompetent, ill trained and poorly motivated public personnel who are mostly absent from their place of posting. 
• Police misuses its power very often which causes violations of the norms of law.

What are the Government schemes or other directions to curb LWE:-

• The Government deals with Left Wing Extremism in a holistic manner which includes the areas of security, development, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, improvement in governance and public perception management.
• An integrated approach which has aimed at the relatively more affected areas.
• Giving more space to the state government as ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ being State subjects, action on maintenance of law and order.
• The Central Government closely monitors all the situations and supplements and coordinates their efforts in several ways.

Hard Approach of governments:-

• SAMADHAN Doctrine:- 

  • In this doctrine S stands for Smart leadership, Aggressive strategy, Motivation and training, Actionable intelligence, Dashboard Based KPIs (key performance indicators) and KRAs (key result areas), Harnessing technology, an Action plan for each theatre, and No access to financing.
• Police Modernization Scheme for Naxal movements affected areas. 
• Use of the number of Mine Protected Vehicles (MPV) to reduce the casualties of armed forces due to use of IED by the Naxalites.
• To augment the strength of Central Armed Police Forces.
• There is an establishment of National Security Guard (NSG) hubs at Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Mumbai;
• Strengthening and re-organizing of Multi-Agency Centre which coordinates among all stakeholders to enable it to function on 24×7 basis
• Sanctioning of new Specialized India Reserve Battalions (SIRB) to curb naxalism.
• A Special Infrastructure Scheme has been enacted for funds to the States of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha to raise a Special Task Force to combat LWE.
• Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967 has been amended to strengthen the punitive measures through which the government can designate an individual as terrorist.

Soft Approach of governments:-

• Civic Action Programme:-

  • This programme will act to bridge the gaps between Security Forces and local people through personal interaction and bring the human face of SFs before the local population.

• Media Plan:-

  •  Under this plan activities like Tribal Youth Exchange programmes organised by NYKS, radio jingles, documentaries, pamphlets etc. are being conducted which will take affected areas into mainstream.

• Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY):-

  • This Yojana offers tremendous opportunities for rural road connectivity which provides tribals an access to mainstream.

• National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP):-

  •  NREGP is being implemented in 330 districts affected by Naxalism which universalize the demand-driven programme for wage-employment, there by providing dignity to common man
• Bharat Nirman, National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) are some of the measures for social security schemes of wings of the government of india.

• Aspirational District:-

  • A NITI Ayog brain child which Measures health, Education etc  byMonitoring of Aspirational districts programme in 35 LWE affected districts.

Some Case Studies:-

• Grey Hound Police model of Andhra Pradesh:-

  • The Greyhounds are an elite commando force of Andhra Pradesh which was created to combat left-wing extremism. It is considered the best anti-Naxal force and strategy in the country at this time. 
  • Greyhound is a simple and effective organization which recruits the best of the best from the Andhra Pradesh Police.
  • The Force is also known for its guerrilla warfare approach.

• Salwa Judum:-

  • So called People’s movement was named Salwa Judum which mean, “Peace hunt” in the local Gondi tribal dialect. 
  • This movement was launched by a few villagers who were angered by Naxal interference in the local trade of tendu leaves (used for making bidis).
  • But this movement became a controversy when for maintaining law and order in Dantewada and Bastar these people were outsourced to the Salwa Judum cadres
  • These cadres were made Special Police Officers (SPOs). 

• Operation Green Hunt:-

  • It was to describe the “all-out offensive” by the government of India’s paramilitary forces and the state’s forces against the Naxalism affected areas. The operation was believed to have begun in November 2009 

• A humane Surrender Policy:-

  • Under surrender policy for example, the Jharkhand government offered Rs 50000 to surrendered Naxalites plus a monthly allowance of Rs.2000, one acre of agricultural land, and educational and health benefits to their children.

Download Plutus IAS Daily Current Affairs of 5 July 2021

Swarn Singh

Plutus IAS Current Affair Team Member