Caught between the Naxals and forsaken by her villagers, a young girl tries to come to grips with a new life after she left the Naxals.
Andhra Pradesh police has foiled yet another attempt to supply arms to the Naxalites in the state by seizing a big cache of arms and ammunitions in the Medak district.
Apart from those wearing the number 23 Delhi Daredevils jersey with Gambhir printed on the back, there were 21 others who would have loved to see Gambhir play on Friday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday asked Home Minister P Chidambaram not to resign in the wake of Maoists' massacre of 76 security personnel in Dantewada, saying he should 'not show his back' as it would mean a victory for the Naxals.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on Monday appeared to soft-pedal his controversial remarks about Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief Prabhakaran, by describing the LTTE as an 'extremist organisation'. A day after his remarks created a flutter, he told reporters that the "LTTE was not started as an extremist organisation like the Naxalite movement. It was started as a liberation movement but down the road it became an extremist organisation."
The Centre on Tuesday ruled out use of air power in the fight against Naxalites and admitted obviously some element of failure in the operations led to the killing of 75 security personnel in Chhattisgarh.
They want the authorities to fulfill their security-related demands which include no duty in the mining area after sunset, increasing the number of security personnel and their presence in the workers' colony and in buses used to transport the workers. The operations have halted following a Naxalite attack on the site in which 10 CISF jawans and five Naxalites were killed. About 100 Nalco workers were held hostage by the ultras for over eight hours.
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha party workers shout slogans and wave banners during the statewide bandh called by the party on Monday.
Vowing to combat the Naxal violence with "full vigour," the Orissa government on Tuesday said Maoists must realise that their anti-national activities can't go on.
At the local level, resentment has risen over the rampant corruption in payment of money for tribal land, acquisition of arable land (half the land sought to be acquired for industry in Orissa, for instance, happens to be farmland) and lack of any support for resettlement of the displaced.
This is the fourth IED blast triggered by Naxals in Chhattisgarh in the last 15 days.
In the absence of the promised central paramilitary forces, the Orissa government is struggling hard to protect precious wildlife from poachers backed by Maoists in naxal-hit Similipal Tiger Reserve in Mayurbhanj district.
There is as much difference between the LeT and Maoists as between the Al-Qaeda and Naxalites
A West Bengal minister on Tuesday hinted at the Maoist connection of Sankrail police officer-in-charge Atindranath Dutta, who had been kidnapped by the Naxalites on October 20 and was released after two days.
'If I am not there, the RSS would do that job. They are obviously in power, they can do anything.'
Twelve Maoists were on Tuesday gunned down in an encounter with the police in Palamau district in Jharkhand.
Normal life was affected for the second day on Tuesday in West Bengal's Maoist-infested districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the 48-hour bandh called by the ultras in five states to protest the offensive by security forces against Naxalites in Lalgarh.
CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat points out that states like Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have imposed a formal ban on the Naxalite organisations long ago. "But has the situation improved there? Their situation is similar to that of West Bengal," Karat told Business Standard.
A bloody confrontation with the Naxalites will not solve the problem of governance failure in the poorest states of the country.
An editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana said that the Gadchiroli massacre, after the November 26 Mumbai attacks, had once again shown total inefficiency and irresponsible attitude of the state home administration towards the law and order problems affecting both common people and security personnel.
In the wake of the joint operation against the Naxalites in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal, the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, will meet the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on October 11. On the same day, he will have a separate meeting with the Union home minister P Chidambaram on the joint operation against the extremists in the state. Both the meetings are scheduled to be held in the morning.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Monday declared his government's full support to Salwa Judum, the forest dwellers' peace movement against Naxalite violences, and promised to take steps to secure their livelihood. In his Republic Day speech after hoisting the national flag at Jagdalpur, the headquarters of Bastar division, the Chief Minister said, "it was because of such people and their movement that the country's Republic is secured today."
Denying reports that Jharkhand had slackened anti-Maoist operations, state police chief on Friday said that they will launch a major operation against the ultras within the next couple of days.
A vacation bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Deepak Verma took up the matter on Monday after senior advocate Shanti Bhushan on May 22 mentioned Sen's petition in which a notice was issued to the Chhattisgarh government on May 4.
Chhattisgarh had little respite from naxal violence in 2008 which claimed over 200 lives and forced about 50,000 people to take shelter in relief camps in the state, where elections were held under unprecedented security in two phases.
Ruling out the possibility of Naxals shooting down the helicopter of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, Union Minister M M Pallam Raju on Thursday said the mishap that claimed Reddy's life took place due to bad weather."The possibility of a Naxal strike on the chief minister's helicopter is ruled out completely. It was an accident due to bad weather. There is no hand of Naxalites," Minister of State for Defence Raju said.
Describing the behaviour of the agitating students as "absolutely deplorable", he alleged that the protesters were trying to "disturb peace" at the institute by "instigating the students and seminar organisers to create a stampede-like situation".
Maoists on Monday blew up a mobile tower in Palamau district on the first day of their 48-hour bandh in five states.
A senior secretary revealed that he had not slept well for more than a month, especially after the United Progressive Alliance returned to power.
A Hyderabad court acquitted three accused in the murder of Indian Police Service officer K S Vyas following lack of evidence.
'They (the government) want to tame everything.' 'The entire systems they are trying to change.'
The home ministry's decision to agree to talk with the Maoists without pre-conditions may be the first steps to tackling the problem, writes P V Ramana.
Kobad Ghandy, the politburo member of the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist, will utilise his time in Tihar Jail to write a book on wife Anuradha, who was his comrade- in-arms for two decades in the naxalite movement. Sources said the 59-year-old Ghandy has requested the authorities for paper to write the book.
A leading international human rights group has alleged that the Orissa government is recruiting children under 18 years of age as Special Police Officers to fight Naxalite insurgents, and asked the state to take measures to stop the practice. In a letter to Orissa Chief Minister Navin Patnaik, the Human Rights Watch asked the state government to develop and put into practice measures to ensure that children are not recruited as SPOs.
Ahead of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's rallies in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, security forces averted a possible landmine explosion, as they diffused two Improvised Explosive Devices weighing 50 kg in the Dantewada area of the state.
Even as aluminium maker Nalco plans to restart operations at its Panchpatmali bauxite mines in Koraput district on Thursday, the employees stay too scared to go back to work.
Prominent Indian-origin academics in the United Kingdom have asked for immediate release of renowned human rights activist Binayak Sen, who has been imprisoned in Chhattisgarh since May 2007 for alleged links with Naxalites. "As the world's economic powers gather in London this week, with India among them, we hope they will take the time to consider human rights as well as the credit crunch. In particular, we call attention to the continuing imprisonment of Dr Sen," they said
Naxal violence in Orissa has also put several investment proposals in jeopardy.
To step up the pressure on the banned Naxalite outfit the Communist Party of India-Maoist, the Andhra Pradesh government has announced cash reward worth lakhs of rupees for information on 474 Maoist cadres. The wanted activists include underground extremists, senior members of the central committee and squad members. The list, issued by the government recently, includes 87 new names. The govt has announced a reward of Rs 12 lakh for party general secretary Muppal Lakshman.
Jawans belonging to the 170 Battalion of the force who were on duty were fired upon by the ultras and the resulting skirmish left at least seven personnel dead, they said.
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