Besides weakening the Maoists' lethal capacities and reducing violence, it is essential to ensure that governance is improved, so that those prone to sympathising with, or supporting, the Maoists would, in the long run, realise the needlessness and futility of doing so, says P V Ramana and Raj Bala Rana.
A home ministry report revealed that among the worst Naxal-infested states, maximum rebels were killed in Chhattisgarh, Director General of Police (DGP) Vishwa Ranjan said. Minimum Naxal incidents had taken place in the state in the last one year as well, he added.
In a major haul, over 1500 rounds of cartridge, two box-loads of Naxalite literature and wireless sets were on Monday recovered in Sasaram, the district headquarters of Bihar's Rohtas district.
Three important trains - Howrah-New Delhi express, Jammu Tawi express and Dehradun express were diverted due to the blast.
Three Chhattisgarh Armed Force jawans and a Naxalite were killed in an encounter between the ultras and security personnel in Maoist-hit Narayanpur district on Tuesday.
With the commencement of the new year, the Centre has decided to strike the Naxals. The much-touted anti-Naxalite offensive of the Central para military forces in coordination with the state governments, which should have begun by now, has been quietly put off to January.
At least five to six Naxalites are suspected to have been killed or injured in an exchange of fire that took place at Pomke Tadgaon in Bhamragarah taluka in Gadchiroli district on Wednesday morning, the police said.
Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury rubbished Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's charge that Maoists and Marxists were two sides of the same coin and said she had no knowledge of communist movements in the country.
Could the massacre of the 75 jawans at Dantewada been avoided? Was the state prepared for a strategic counter-offensive such as this by the Naxalites?
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, various states have announced partial or complete lockdown and also there is increased focus on social distancing to curb the spread of the deadly virus which has infected over 400 people in the country.
The report covers 20 countries, including war-torn Syria, Afghanistan, and Yemen and also the situation in India, the Philippines and Nigeria.
'Today, we being the majority pass a law and if the Opposition parties do not like it, they throw files at the Chair, and beat up women marshals.'
In the first operation of its kind in a long time, the Chhattisgarh state police, the Special Task Force and the Central Reserve Police Force launched a combined offensive against Naxalites in the forests spanning two highly Naxal-infested districts to register their first major success in many months.
Cricketer Gautam Gambhir too expressed his support and congratulated everyone on the dilution of Section 377.
At least seven policemen were killed and six others were injured in a Maoist land-mine blast in Chattarpur area of Palamu in Jharkhand.
The NDA candidate tells the Election Commission that the Maoists plan to kidnap him.
In a letter to Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, copies of which were released to the media, he said: "History has proved that annihilation of Naxalite leaders cannot supress the movement."
Addressing a massive public rally to celebrate the signing of the accord on January 27 that is expected to bring lasting peace to the troubled state, Modi said now the time was to work together for peace and development of the North-East.
The revelations were allegedly made by Arun Pereira, who the police accuse of being a Naxal ideologue, during a narco analysis test in Bangalore. Pereira says the information released after the test is fabricated.
The encounter took place under Kalasa police station when an ANF team began combing operations following a tip off late Tuesday night. During the operation a gang of four Naxalites, including a woman, started firing at the ANF team, A M Prasad, IGP (Western Range) told PTI from Kalasa over phone.
Communist Party of India-Maoist guerrillas on Thursday shot dead six persons of rival naxalite outfit, Sashastra People's Morcha, in Bihar's Rohtas district, the police said. The victims, involved in armed resistance against the CPI-Maoist, were renegade members of the organisation. The police denied that those killed were police informers.
Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said as per information available, Naxalites have sophisticated weapons and communication systems. The extremists primarily get a substantial bulk of their weapons by looting and illegal weapon manufacturing units, Jaiswal said.
If the Congress recovers some of its earlier influence among the Dalits, the BJP will be in a quandary since the Dalits were among the party's latest acquisitions. To lose them will be a disaster for the saffron camp not only in UP, but all over India, observes Amulya Ganguli.
Five men and two women Naxalites were among those killed in the gunbattle, DIG (Kolhan) Manoj Mishra, said.
Police teams from Bihar and Jharkhand are likely to launch a joint operation against Naxalites in the border districts in the two states. The operation follows a Naxal attack at Chilkhadia village in Giridih district on Saturday morning which killed seventeen people, including the younger son of former Jharkhand chief minister Babulal Marandi. Official sources in the chief minister's office in Patna said that a joint operation against Naxalites will be launched soon.
'BJP leaders are trying to save their lives in Punjab.'
Inspector General of Police (Operation) S K Bhardwaj told PTI that the encounter between the police and the naxalites lasted for over an hour in which over 200 rounds were fired from both the sides in which six naxalites and two policemen, including an assistant sub-inspector and a CRPF constable, were injured.
In a major explosives haul in Bihar, the police on Saturday seized 6,000 kg of gelatine in Nawada district from a truck bound for Naxalite-hit districts in the state and arrested seven persons.
HRW said that all parties in the Chhattisgarh conflict have used children in armed operations. The Naxalites, a Maoist armed group, admitted that it is their official practice to recruit children above age 16 in their forces, and they have used children as young as 12 in armed operations.
Police recovered about 400 kg of explosive material, suspected to have been hidden by the banned Communist Party of India-Maoist for making landmines and bombs, on Monday in Bihar's Gaya district.
The 91-year-old went beyond her role as a writer to help tribals in organising themselves in groups so that they could take up development activities in their own areas.
Ironically, the BJP, which seeks to unseat the TMC from power, has taken a leaf out of Mamata Banerjee's strategy of soliciting tinsel town's support towards causes and fielding actors in elections.
A large number of Naxalites on Monday ambushed a 14-member Central Reserve Police Force party and killed three of them in the hyper-sensitive Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
In May 2013, Naxalites ambushed a Congress party's convey on the Darba ghats killing 31 people. R Krishna Das revisits the spot a year later
The Bharatiya Janata Party's carping ally said the police assertion about security threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Maoists was just a 'conspiracy theory'.
The two were kidnapped when they were returning from Antagarh, about 30 km from Koyilibed on their own motorcycle after collecting their salary, police added.
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