A lack of understanding on how to tackle the Maoist challenge is adversely affecting security operations on the ground and not the inefficiency or inability of the security forces to put pressure on the Maoists, says former Chhattisgarh top cop Vishwa Ranjan.
The proposed force will be given training on par with international standards and modern facilities.
The Maoist threat should be taken with utmost seriously and the menace should be dealt with in every possible way, political leaders in Jharkhand opined.
The home ministry has said the Naxals are spreading to states like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala in an attempt to set up a base in South India. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Union Home Secretary Anil Goswami on Monday met Prime Minister-elect Narendra Modi and briefed him about the security situation, including in Jammu and Kashmir, Northeast and Naxal-affected areas.
An internal communication of the home ministry states that the Naxal movement is fast spreading to the southern states, and if immediate action is not taken it could blow up into a full-fledged menace, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
The Maoists who are trying to gain a stronghold in Assam have 114 identified cadres working in the state, as per the information gathered by the special task force of Assam Police that was constituted to study the menace.
The threat posed by the burgeoning Maoist movement is grave and if it is not controlled in time, the Indian democracy could be in serious danger, believes Mahendra Lal Kumawat, former director general of the Border Security Force and former special secretary (internal security).
'I am here to look after people's needs.' 'I am not bothered about who is a Maoist or who is not.'
Police personnel checked vehicles and conducted flag marches at various places in Punjab on Wednesday while central forces maintained a tight vigil in Tripura.
Of the 37 bodies recovered so far, 16 have been identified, police said, adding that the identified Naxals carried a combined reward of Rs 1.06 crore.
Despite a spurt in Maoist activity, the West Bengal government is not contemplating a ban on the ultras and instead wants to tackle them politically, administratively and through adoption of various socio-economic measures. Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya told the state Assembly on Thursday that the government did not think that a mere ban would be able to check the Maoists.He referred to the resolution of the militancy problem at Naxalbari in the past.
Maoists were getting encouragement from civil society and support of well-minded citizens was required to stem the menace, West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan said on Friday."The Maoists are getting the upper hand in people's mind because they are getting encouragement from a section of civil society," Narayanan said. "We need the support of well minded citizens so that matters don't go out of control," he said.
Bharatiya Janata Party president Rajnath Singh said the Chhattisgarh government led by Raman Singh deserves compliment for dealing effectively with Maoists despite not getting the desired support from the Centre.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Friday said the Trinamool Congress was 'hand-in-glove' with Maoists and he had conveyed this to Home Minister P Chidambaram, who 'did not like it'. Bhattacharjee also underlined the need for the Centre and the states to join hands to fight the menace, without blaming each other. "Whenever I meet the home minister, I have been telling him that they (Trinamool Congress and Maoists) are working hand-in-glove," he said.
Union Minister of State for External Affairs General (retd) V K Singh opposed deployment of the Army in Maoist-affected areas on Tuesday, saying that the use of armed forces against "our own citizens" would "tarnish" its image.
The Maoist insurgency is a blatantly illegal and no-holds-barred war against the Indian State, against the idea and existence of Indian democracy, and that includes the poor tribals and farmers for whose cause the Maoists claim to fight. It is not only ignorant but also extremely dangerous to romanticise the Naxal cause, says Harsh V Pant
Gangster Ejaz Lakdawala on Thursday brought the bottle and sought a mosquito net, but his plea was rejected by the sessions court.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Ahead of Home Minister Rajnath Singh's visit to Chhaittisgarh on Saturday, security forces have recovered two powerful tiffin bombs from Naxal-hit Sukma district's Dornapal region.
Sundarraj said, "Security forces are in a dominating position."
Very little is known as to just how Maoists have grown to such alarming proportions in recent years.
'The Chinese media was beside itself with rage that how can a country with one-fifth of its economic power and maybe one-third of its military power stand up to them.'
As the Centre prepares to launch a massive operation against the Maoists, police in the Naxal-hit Andhra Pradesh have a reason to rejoice this year.
Many IEDs explode even when the troops are on foot and their trigger mechanism gets activated just due to the pressure of the feet. These incidents have injured more than 100 personnel over the last two years, the officer said.
The State must stand as a solid tower of confidence to provide a guarantee of safety to its citizens and instill fear in the hearts of offenders. But where is that State, asks Tarun Vijay
The government on Friday ruled out holding any talks with Naxalites but said a balanced approach will be adopted in close coordination with states to tackle the violence perpetrated by Maoists.
Earlier, the high court had permitted the NIA to seek framing of charges in the special court against Gogoi and three of his associates in connection with anti-CAA protests and suspected Maoist links.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday called Maoists a 'national challenge' which he said the government has accepted and will fight it. On a day-long visit to Chhattisgarh, a day after Maoists killed 14 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Sukma district, he also announced a compensation of Rs 38 lakh each to the kin of victims of the Naxal ambush and Rs 65,000 each to the injured.
Naxal activities are not limited to only remote areas of eastern Maharashtra but `urban naxalisation' is being seen in big cities of the state, Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar claimed on Thursday.
Of the 12 seats in Bastar, the Congress won eight. The BJP had secured 11 of these seats in 2008.
Gogoi was the only one whose bail was rejected by the court and he was released after spending 567 days in jail once Special NIA Judge Pranjal Das cleared him along with the three others of all charges.
Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the state governments have been asked to identify Rohingya refugees in their regions and collect their biometric details.
The scam-ridden Congress government in Chhattisgarh has become a model of misrule and people have decided to root it out in the upcoming assembly elections, he said.
Labelling the NIA as a 'mere political tool' of the BJP government at the Centre, Gogoi said the judgment will be a landmark for those arrested through the misuse of the two anti-terror laws.
To combat the rising menace of Naxalism, Home Minister P Chidambaram has decided to hold a meeting of the chief ministers of the four states worst hit by Maoist violence, in Kolkata on February 9.The Centre, along with the governments of West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand, is planning a massive offensive against Maoists, the modalities of which will be finalised during the meeting. The home minister will discuss and fine-tune the action plan to tackle the Maoists.
Maharashtra Director General of Police Subodh Kumar Jaiswal said that the attack was not a result of intelligence failure.
The fight against ultras will be intensified to end the Naxal menace, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday as he took stock of the situation in the aftermath of the killing 22 security personnel in an attack by the rebels in Chhattisgarh.
'...incarcerated in jails, ruining their entire families.' 'You would see that Dalits who displayed so much agitation over the Bhima-Koregaon issue are effectively silenced by the arrests of their activists by the police.' 'What can be a more pitiable state than this for a people who had just seen a ray of hope after darkness of millennia?'
