The Naxal attack on the Congress convoy in Chhattisgarh, which killed several top politicians, has once again raised questions about security and governance in the left wing extremism-affected areas. Former home secretary Gopal Pillai talks to Avantika Bhuyan about the ways to counter the problem
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
In an advisory to the states, ministry of rural development has also asked them to take effective measures to ensure that rural households receive their 'due entitlement' under the Act in the districts facing drought.
The reasons are too private to be discussed at a round table, listed out during a seminar, or uncovered in an academic course. A proud but insomniac connoisseur murmuring in his sleep may do a better job of explaining the phenomenon than an expert on a podium. Sreehari Nair airs his thoughts.
Jolted by Maoist targeting Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh, the Centre on Monday asked all Left Wing Extremism-hit states to revamp security of political workers and appoint nodal officers to coordinate political programmes so that such deadly attacks do not occur in future.
Citing a Tamil daily's reportage, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Sunday alleged that the Tamil Nadu government administered temples have barred puja for Lord Ram on the day of the consecration of the grand temple in Ayodhya, which was dismissed by the state as a false news with ulterior motives.
At the end of Dec, the government had Rs 47,273 crore in the USO fund, with annual accruals of about Rs 6,000 crore.
Led by Saharan, who is leading the batting charts with 389 runs, the team's performance got better with each match and the only time it has been pushed to a corner in the tournament is the semifinal where it pipped hosts South Africa by a solitary wicket.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy on Monday sought permission from the Centre to carry out a Rs 2,400-crore special road corridor development project to effectively deal with Naxalism, besides requesting for a helicopter to carry out swift air operations.
Of the 156 choppers, 66 would be inducted by the Indian Air Force while the rest 90 would be acquired by the Indian Army.
Expressing confidence that Left wing extremism would be tamed in medium term, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday said poverty and lack of development in affected areas were the main cause of Naxalism.
The Indian Air Force has requested the government to ensure that states hit by left wing extremism spruce up their infrastructure to ensure safety and security of air force helicopters and men deployed in anti-Naxal operations.
India has evidence that social media platforms are being used to raise terror funds, NIA director general Dinkar Gupta said on Thursday, underlining that the issue will be deliberated during a two-day international ministerial conference on countering terror financing.
Shah said that the people of the country will decide about the principal opposition party to BJP in the 2024 polls and they have not given this label to any party.
The Centre has alerted governments of nine naxal affected states in view of the death reports of top Maoist commander Kishenji and asked them to exercise maximum vigil.
Speaking at the Sardar Patel memorial lecture organised by Prasar Bharati, Union Minister Jairam Ramesh said India's left-wing extremism can be solved only if India's polity can rise above partisan political considerations and set aside old Centre versus state arguments to work concertedly to restore people's faith in the administration.
Rejecting the Centre's charge that the Odisha government has failed to contain left-wing extremism, the state's director general of police on Tuesday claimed that Naxal violence had declined in 2011 compared to the year before. "The Naxal situation in most parts of the state had been controlled while it was a cause of concern for the state government in areas bordering Chattishgarh," Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj wrote to Union Home Secretary R K Singh.
Expressing concern over increase in infiltration attempts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Sunday that the Centre and the states should launch coordinated efforts to tackle internal security threats.
Eighty five-year old Swedish writer and political commentator Jan Myrdal was in India recently. Son of Nobel laureates Alva Myrdal and Gunnar Myrdal, Jan talks to Business Standard on elections, politics and the Left-wing extremism in the country.
Naxal violence claimed maximum lives this year as compared to terrorist and insurgency incidents in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast, the government on Tuesday told Parliament.
'Israel has received an extremely hard and rude reminder that it cannot go ahead and talk of normalisation of relations with other Arab countries without addressing the issues pertaining to Palestine.'
Seeking the cooperation of States in dealing with Left-wing extremism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday asked the Planning Commission to design a holistic development programme for Naxal-affected areas.
Opposition parties on Friday alleged that Bharatiya Janata Party leaders displayed insensitivity in handing over a compensation cheque to the inconsolable mother of Captain Shubham Gupta, who was killed fighting terrorists in J-K, and lashed out at them for using the occasion as a 'photo-op'.
'I thought of a suppressed country and a free world.' 'If we travel from one to another, what will that road look like?' 'What colours, music there will be? What kind of people would you see?'
Maoists violence, militancy in Jammu and Kashmir and insurgency in the Northeast continued to be the top areas of concern for the country's internal security in 2011 with Left wing extremism claiming the most lives.
The Centre on Thursday said it was confident of overcoming the Maoist problem in the next three years and had prepared a two-pronged strategy of initiating development and police action in the affected areas.
Chhattisgarh, at the centre of the Maoist corridor and which has borne the brunt of vicious naxal attacks in recent times, wants an integrated action plan for development to check the Left Wing Extremism in the country.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said an "integrated approach" was needed to tackle the Naxal menace as "enforcement action alone" would lead to their wider alienation.
Questioning the government's approach towards Maoists, members of an official panel that had looked into the issue of Left-wing extremism have said that instead of telling the ultras to abjure violence, both sides should declare a ceasefire and create an atmosphere for talks. "If the government is serious enough to alleviate the tribal problem, then it should persuade the Maoists to come for talks," said chairman of the panel and former IAS officer Debabrata Bandopadhyay.
The Andhra Pradesh government defended in the Supreme Court its controversial decision to deploy elite anti-Naxatite squad 'Greyhounds' to quell the volatile Telangana agitation in Hyderabad's Osmania University campus on Thursday.
Singh also said that India will give a befitting reply to anyone threatening its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity as it no longer remained a "weak" country.
With the defence ministry averse to sparing the army to fight Naxals, the Union home ministry will "fend for themselves" and take a fresh look at its strategy to fight Left-wing extremism including reorienting the available paramilitary forces. This was seen as a fall out of Thursday evening's Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, which failed to arrive at a consensus over deployment of Army for fighting Naxals.
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday asked Naxal-hit states to double the capacity of their police training institutes as also police recruitment to fight the menace of Left-wing extremism.
Gearing up for a major offensive against Naxals, the government is contemplating to involve the Army to deal with the Left-wing extremism.
It is necessary to make incremental progress, state by state, rather than aiming for an illusory knock-out punch against the Maoists, write Dr Shanthie Mariet D'Souza and Dr Bibhu Prasad Routray.
Addressing a seminar on "Left Wing Extremism Situation in India", Pillai said the Maoists might be getting the help of some former soldiers in carrying out subversive activities.
On average, about 60 cases were filed by the agency in 2019 and 2020, officials said.
He accused Naxalites of using tribal villagers as a shield.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will visit Raipur on Monday to monitor the coordination of strategies to combat Left-wing extremism in the region. Chidambaram will emphasis the importance of verifying and forwarding intelligence inputs to the Centre. He will hold a coordination meeting with the director-general of police and the joint director of the Intelligence Bureau posted in Raipur.
On a visit to Maoist-affected states of Chattisgarh and Jharkand, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Friday said there is no move to involve the army in the fight against Naxals who pose the "gravest challenge."
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