'Elections and audience interest in specific movies are often independent factors.'
The Centre may be open to talks with Maoists provided they abjure violence, but some senior police personnel in Naxal-hit regions feel it is a ruse to regroup and re-arm themselves.
"I am sure that the attempts to stall development and throttle democracy at gunpoint will not be successful ever," the home minister said at the meeting, being held two weeks after 25 paramilitary personnel were killed by a band of Maoists in Chhattisgarh.
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Two officers of Deputy Commandant rank -- S Niwas and Prabhat Tripathi -- and three other men were injured in the blast suspected to be from an improvised explosive device hidden beneath the dirt track by the Naxals, officials said.
Left-wing extremism is a greater challenge to the country than terrorism in terms of the number of lives lost in violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram said on Wednesday. "Terrorism is a major challenge for the security and sovereignty of our country. But left-wing extremism is a greater challenge than terrorism in terms of the number of people killed in violence," Chidambaram said. "Ten times more people are killed in Naxal attacks than in terror strikes," he said.
The Orissa police has got a nod from a Delhi court to interrogate top Maoist leader Kobad Ghandy in connection with cases of Naxal violence including those relating to killing of police personnel.
In her first address to a joint sitting of the two Houses in the new Parliament building in which she touched on varied issues ranging from insurgency to inflation, Murmu said a country can progress at a fast pace only when it defeats the challenges of the past and puts maximum energy into building the future.
An Andhra Pradesh based couple, allegedly behind the spurt in Naxal violence in Bihar and Jharkhand, has been arrested.
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.
An uptick has been noticed in the number of foreign terrorists operating in Jammu and Kashmir post the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan but the overall strength of militants in the valley is low and can be capped below 200, outgoing CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh said on Thursday.
Major urban centres, including the national capital, may witness targeted killings by Maoists in coming months as the ultras are looking for opportunities to carry out violence, intelligence reports have warned.
The task force will make recommendations on policies, plans and programmes for the central and state governments.
As many as 281 persons, both civilians and security force personnel, have died in the naxal-related incidents while in Jammu and Kashmir, 141 persons died in terrorist acts.
A couple of years ago when the Telangana movement was at its peak, there was much talk that its formation could lead to the rise of a Naxal movement. Many Telangana supporters dismissed this view, stating that this was just another ploy by the Union government to stall the formation of the state. Vicky Nanjappa reports
Home ministry officials, who visited Chhattisgarh after the massacre of 25 CRPF men by Naxals, have found that the majority of 45,000 paramilitary personnel undertaking the high-risk anti-Naxal operations in Bastar region have been posted there for over three years.
"Maoists should say 'We will abjure violence. We will suspend violence and actually suspend violence for 72 hours'. We will get the chief ministers on board. We will respond. We will fix a date, time and place for talks and let the Maoists come for the talks on anything they wish to talk," Chidambaram told the CNN-IBN television channel.
The Naxal movement is today facing leadership issues, losing favour with the Tribals and is confused about its future agenda and course of action.
Stressing that Naxals shunning the path of violence is just a matter of time, a top Central Reserve Police Force official on Tuesday appealed to the people from insurgency-hit areas to stand up against militancy. K P Singh, who recently took charge as the deputy inspector general of police of CRPF in the Naxal-infested district of Gadchiroli in Maharashtra, told PTI that his optimism stems from effective policing techniques being adopted by agencies.
The meet will discuss the current national scenario and pass resolutions on issues such as the initiatives of the United Progressive Alliance government for peace and progress in Kashmir, the situation in Nepal and Naxal violence in the country.
Apprehending violence, the home ministry has sounded an alert in eight Naxal-affected states asking them to take maximum possible precautions and ensure peace as the extremists were planning to observe 'black day' on August 15.
Shocked over the Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh, President Pranab Mukherjee said the nation will neither be overawed nor intimidated by such actions.
The Indian government said on Thursday that the use of Indian Air Force helicopters in any offensive against Naxals is not part of a strategy in its new plan to deal with rising Maoist violence.
Maoists on Monday unleashed widespread violence claiming eight lives in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa during their 24-hour Bharat bandh against United States President Barack Obama's India visit. While four persons fell to the bullets of Naxals in West Bengal, two each were gunned down in Bihar and Orissa.
The Centre is keen on a probe to find out if the violence in the Maruti plant in Manesar has any Maoist link.
Fourteen Naxals including four women were arrested in two separate operations in the insurgency-hit regions of Chhattisgarh today, police said.
The Centre has directed security forces deployed in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh to tighten vigil in the three states in view of intelligence reports which suggested that Naxals would try to carry out strikes in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls.
Meet Namrata Jain, the first UPSC topper from Naxal-affected Dantewada
On an average, Naxals kill at least three persons in as many as six attacks every day. In the first six months of 2010, Maoists carried out a total of 1,103 attacks, in which 534 people were killed. This was disclosed by Home Minister P Chidambaram while speaking at a meeting of chief ministers to discuss the situation arising out of Maoist violence in the country. According to the data presented by the home minister, the extremists have killed 325 civilians.
Refusing to bracket Naxals with terrorists, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday ruled out the use of armed forces against them and said that the government is willing to hold talks with them if they abjured violence.
The increase in the frequency of attacks by naxalites on the police and civilians in Vidarbha has law enforcement agencies worried.
Reaching out to the Naxals from the Left-dominated Jawaharlal Nehru University campus in New Delhi, Home Minister P Chidambaram has made a fresh offer for talks to the ultra Left group provided they abjure violence.
Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the Centre today reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states and directed security forces to foil any attempt by the rebels to disrupt the election process.
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.
'The cities are not safe, Naxals will reach them very soon,' feels Mahendra Karma, the tribal leader who championed the controversial Salwa Judum against the Naxalites.
The VHP leaders presented a memorandum to the President, seeking an immediate ban on the conversion activities of Christian missionaries and foreign funds to these organisations. They also demanded a thorough scrutiny of the accounts of these Christian missionaries and urged the President to ensure that no foreigner is allowed to practice religious conversion in the country.
The Naxals are planning to enforce "poll boycott" in the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls by disrupting the election process in Maoist affected states.
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