Order of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of Romila Thapar & Others Vs Union of India & Others dated 29/08/2018 regarding arrest of activists for their alleged Maoist links. Apex Court directs that the activists be kept under house arrest at their own homes. The next date …
One year after jailing the eminent doctor, Binayak Sen, State authorities have arrested another leading civil liberties activist, journalist and filmmaker, Ajay T.G. A file picture of Dr. Binayak Sen with his patients in Chhattisgarh. On May 5, the Chhattisgarh police announced the arrest of Ajay T.G., a Raipur-based journalist …
The report of the expert group (EG) on "Development Issues to Deal with the Causes of Discontent, Unrest and Extremism' associated with the Naxalite movement, set up by the Planning Commission two years ago, has the merit of making the relevant issues visible in an official milieu blinded by a …
The Communist Party of India (CPI) on Saturday urged the Centre to immediately disband the Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh and stop aiding and abetting it in the name of promoting "local resistance groups.' In a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a CPI delegation, led by party general secretary A.B. …
Kudremukh was notified a national park in 2001. Protests have ensued ever since and the demand for denotification of the park has intensified over the years. The tribals fear they will be forced out of the park and relocated elsewhere. The state's relocation plans, however, haven't taken off yet. But …
Naxal presence in Karnataka was confined to the north of the state, particularly Raichur district, which borders Andhra Pradesh. Wildlife experts see no reason other than the eviction issue for Naxalism to flourish in the region. "Compared to the dry areas of Andhra Pradesh where the still-prevalent zamindari system breeds …
Five people were killed in July 2007 when the police cracked down on "Naxals' in Menasinahadya village in Koppa taluka near Sringeri. People gave varied accounts of the "encounter'. Some villagers told Down To Earth that the police had barged into a villager's house and fired indiscriminately. Some said it …
New Delhi: A high-powered committee set up by the Planning Commission has said that people's discontent and failure of the system has led to the growth of Naxalism. The committee recommended that the tribal sub-plan be brought under the fifth schedule and forest produce be provided protection of minimum support …
The ongoing conflict between India's Maoist rebels and the government across states in the east and centre of the country has displaced thousands of people. Refugees living in camps and settlements face a multitude of health problems.
The Jharkhand police is going hi-tech. It will install video cameras for surveillance in the Parasnath Hills, where an operation, carried out in coordination with the Central Reserve Police Force, unearthed a base of Maoist outfit this January. The cameras, to be put at vantage points in the thick forest, …
Widespread discontent among the people has plagued the Indian polity for sometime now. It has often led to unrest, sometimes of a violent nature. Over the years, statutory enactments and institutional mechanisms for addressing the various aspects of deprivation have been brought into being. But the experience has been that …
coordinated attacks by Naxalites in Nayagarh, killing 13 police personnel and a civilian, on February 15 clearly caught the Orissa administration and security forces unawares. That the strikes took place just 100 km from state capital, Bhubaneswar, and the rebels decamped with a large cache of ammunition, was further embarrassment …
the Naxalite attack at Orissa's Nayagarh town is not a wake-up call for the state. It is a big slap on its face. The busy township, hardly 100 kilometres from the state capital, is not a usual target for Naxalites. It could not be dismissed as a stray incident as …
From the highway the gravestones were visible. Thirteen headstones, rough and blunt, carved with names of each dead tribal. Each stone was placed so that together they formed a semi-circle looking down at us. In front of the 13-stone platform was a fenced area with scattered burnt sticks lying as …
An argument over a Valentine's Day gift leads shubhranshu choudhary to the politics of an aluminium ladder On the eve of Valentine's Day, a friend of my son persuades me to take my wife "out for dinner and buy her a nice gift'. I thank her for the idea but …
the centre will recruit around 37,000 personnel under the Indian Reserve battalion scheme for deployment in Naxal-affected states. The decision comes after prime minister Manmohan Singh urged states to "choke Naxal infrastructure and cripple their activities' in a two-day chief minister's conference on internal security in the capital on December …
prime Minister Manmohan Singh rightly called Naxalism a "virus' during a meeting with chief ministers of Naxalite-affected states. Unfortunately, he did not take the analogy further. A virus cannot grow or reproduce without a living cell. Naxalites, thus, must have living hosts. Singh failed to identify the living organism that …
Sometimes, a fortnight can mirror a year. With the year-end approaching, a flashback is usually in order. But recent events have made completely clear to me where we are and where we are headed. This year, the world's who's who landed up. Our leaders basked in the floodlight of economic …
a primitive peasant rebellion is not quite in keeping with the modern India with its soaring Sensex, extravagant malls and industrious call centres. A ragtag militia of rabble-rousers mouthing Marx and Mao and demanding land rights seems horribly antediluvian in times of Bollywood dreams and it ambitions. A hit-and-run force …
