NAXAL MANAGEMENT DIVISION

About the Division

This Division was created w.e.f. October 19, 2006 in the Ministry to effectively address the LWE problem in a holistic manner. The Division monitors the LWE situation and counter-measures being taken by the affected States. The Division coordinates the implementation of various development schemes of the Ministries/Departments of Govt. of India in LWE affected States.

Role and Functions of the Division

Provide assistance to State Governments for creation of operational infrastructure and logistics required to combat LWE.
Deployment of CAPFs in LWE affected States.
Review the security situation in the LWE affected States and Issue advisories and messages to the State Governments concerned.
Reimburse security related expenditure incurred by the LWE affected States on Anti-naxal operations under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.
Provide assistance to the State Governments to fill up critical infrastructure gaps under the Scheme for Special Infrastructure (SIS) in Left Wing Extremism affected States.
Provide assistance to the State Governments for construction/ strengthening of fortified police stations under the Scheme for Construction/ Strengthening of 400 Fortified Police Stations in LWE affected districts.
Coordinate implementation of various development schemes, flagship programmes and distribution of titles under the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, in LWE affected States.
Coordinate implementation of LWE related Schemes of other Central Ministries, especially the Integrated Action Plan for 82 Districts and Road Requirement Plan for 34 Districts.
Media and public perception management.
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Background

Several Left Wing Extremist groups have been operating in certain parts of the country for a few decades now. In a significant development in 2004, the People’s War (PW), then operating in Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), then operating in Bihar and adjoining areas, merged to form the CPI (Maoist). The CPI (Maoist), is the major Left Wing Extremist outfit responsible for most incidents of violence and killing of civilians and security forces and has been included in the Schedule of Terrorist Organisations along with all its formations and front organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The CPI (Maoist) philosophy of armed struggle to overthrow the Indian State is not acceptable in a Parliamentary Democracy. The Government has given a call to the Left Wing Extremists to abjure violence and come for talks. This plea has been rejected by them, since they believe in violence as a means to achieve their objective. This has resulted in a spiralling cycle of violence in many parts of India. The poor and the marginalised sections like the tribals are bearing the brunt of this violence. Many well-meaning liberal intellectuals fall prey to Maoist propaganda without understanding the true nature of Maoist insurgency doctrine which glorifies violence and believes in annihilation of the so called class enemies. Since, 2001, more than 5661 civilians and 2036 security force personel (till 30-07-2012) have been killed by the Maoists in different parts of India. A majority of the civilians killed are tribals, often branded as ‘Police informers’ before being brutally tortured and killed. In fact, tribals and the economically underprivileged sections have been the biggest victims of the so called ‘protracted peoples war’ of the CPI (Maoist) against the Indian state.

Dynamics of Maoist insurgency

Many sections of society, especially the younger generation, have romantic illusions about the Maoists, arising out of an incomplete understanding of their ideology. The central theme of Maoist ideology is violence. The Maoist insurgency doctrine glorifies violence as the primary means to overwhelm the existing socio-economic and political structures. The Peoples Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), the armed wing of CPI (Maoist), has been created with this purpose in mind. In the first stage of the insurgency, the PLGA resorts to guerrilla warfare, which primarily aims at creating a vacuum at the grass-roots level of the existing governance structures. They achieve this by killing lower-level government officials, police-personnel of the local police stations, the workers of mainstream political parties and the peoples representatives of the Panchayati Raj system. After creating a vacuum, they coerce the local population to join the movement. A strident propaganda is also carried out against the purported and real inadequacies of the existing state structure.
In areas under Maoist domination, the absence of governance becomes a self- fulfilling prophecy since the delivery systems are extinguished through killings and intimidation. This is the first step in the strategy of the Maoists to seek to control the countryside. In the meanwhile, many Front Organisations are created to facilitate mass-mobilisation in semi-urban and urban areas through ostensibly democratic means. Most of the Front Organisations are led by well-educated intellectuals with firm belief in the Maoist insurgency doctrine. These ideologues function as masks to cover the violent nature of the CPI (Maoist) ideology. They form propaganda/disinformation machinery of the party.
They stridently take up issues like human rights violations by security forces etc. and often make fantastic claims in this regard which gets reported even by the mainstream media. The Front Organisations also skilfully use state structures and legal processes to further the Maoist agenda and weaken the enforcement regime. The important functions of these Organisations include raising funds for the insurgency, creating urban shelters for underground cadres, providing legal help to arrested cadres and mass- mobilisation by agitating over issues of relevance/ convenience. The Front Organisations aim to provide short-term democratic subterfuge to cover-up the totalitarian and oppressive nature of the Maoist ideology. Finally, the CPI (Maoist) also have a strategic game-plan to create a ‘United Front’ with all like-minded insurgent / terrorist outfits in India. It needs to be remembered that many of these outfits are supported by external forces inimical to India and the CPI (Maoist) consider such alliances as strategic assets.
In a nutshell, the CPI (Maoist), the main LWE outfit in India, aims to overthrow the existing democratic structure with violence as their primary weapon, and the Front Organisations and Strategic United Fronts as secondary weapons and plan to usher in so called ‘New Democratic Revolution’.

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA’S APPROACH

The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights of local communities, improvement in governance and public perception management. In dealing with this decades-old problem, it has been felt appropriate, after various high-level deliberations and interactions with the State Governments concerned, that an integrated approach aimed at the relatively more affected areas would deliver results. With this in view, a detailed analysis of the spread and trends in respect of Left Wing Extremist violence has been made and 106 most affected districts in nine States have been taken up for special attention with regard to planning, implementation and monitoring various schemes. However, 'Police' and 'Public Order' being State subjects, action on maintenance of law and order lies primarily in the domain of the State Governments. The Central Government closely monitors the situation and supplements and coordinates their efforts in several ways. These include providing Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA); sanction of India Reserve (IR) battalions, setting up of Counter Insurgency and Anti Terrorism (CIAT) schools; modernisation and upgradation of the State Police and their Intelligence apparatus under the Scheme for Modernization of State Police Forces (MPF scheme); re-imbursement of security related expenditure under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme; filling up critical infrastructure gaps under the Scheme for Special Infrastructure in Left Wing Extremism affected States; providing helicopters for anti-naxal operations, assistance in training of State Police through the Ministry of Defence, the Central Police Organisations and the Bureau of Police Research and Development; sharing of Intelligence; facilitating inter-State coordination; assistance in community policing and civic action programmes etc. The underlying philosophy is to enhance the capacity of State Governments to tackle the Maoist menace in a concerted manner. The Division also monitors the implementation of Integrated Action Plan for LWE Districts and various other development and infrastructure initiatives of the Government of India.

REVIEW AND MONITORING MECHANISMS

A number of review and monitoring mechanisms have been established by the Government of India in this regard. They include:
A Standing Committee of the Chief Ministers of States concerned under the chairmanship of the Union Home Minister, to work out a coordinated policy and specific measures to deal with the Left Wing Extremism problem on the political, security and development fronts.
Review Group (earlier called the Task Force) under the Cabinet Secretary to review coordinated efforts across a range of development and security measures.
A Coordination Centre chaired by the Union Home Secretary to review and coordinate the efforts of the State Governments, where the State Governments are represented by the Chief Secretaries and the Directors General of Police.
A Task Force under the Special Secretary (Internal Security), Ministry of Home Affairs, with senior officers from the Intelligence agencies, the Central Armed Police Forces and the State Police Forces, to coordinate inter-state issues.
An Empowered Group of Officers, headed by the Member-Secretary Planning Commission, with officers from the development Ministries and the Planning Commission, to oversee effective implementation of development schemes in Left Wing Extremism affected States.

NEW INITIATIVES

The Prime Minister chaired a meeting of the Chief Ministers of Left Wing Extremism affected States on 14th July, 2010 and a number of decisions were taken to provide larger assistance to the affected States to curb the menace of Left Wing Extremism. In pursuance, inter alia, the following new initiatives were taken:
A Unified Command has been set up in the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa, which are the most affected States. The Unified Command will have officers from the security establishment, besides civilian officers representing the civil administration and it will carry out carefully planned anti-LWE measures.
The Central Government approved a new scheme to assist the State Governments for construction/strengthening of 400 fortified police stations @ Rs. 2 crore each in Left Wing Extremism affected districts on 80:20 basis.
An Empowered Group of Officers was set up at the level of the Central Government to over-ride or modify existing instructions on implementation of various development programmes and flagship schemes, having regard to the local needs and conditions in Left Wing Extremism affected areas for accelerated development.
The Left Wing Extremism affected States have been asked to effectively implement the provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) on priority, which categorically assigns rights over minor forest produce to the Gram Sabhas.

IMPORTANT SCHEMES FOR LWE AFFECTED STATES

Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme : Under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme, funds are provided for meeting the recurring expenditure relating to insurance, training and operational needs of the security forces, rehabilitation of Left Wing Extremist cadres who surrender in accordance with the surrender and rehabilitation policy of the State Government concerned, community policing, security related infrastructure for village defence committees and publicity material.
Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) : The Scheme for Special Infrastructure in Leftwing Extremism affected States was approved in the Eleventh Plan, with an allocation of Rs. 500 crore, to cater to critical infrastructure gaps, which cannot be covered under the existing schemes. These relate to requirements of mobility for the police / security forces by upgrading existing roads / tracks in inaccessible areas, providing secure camping grounds and helipads at strategic locations in remote and interior areas, measures to enhance security in respect of police stations / outposts located in vulnerable areas etc.
Central Scheme for assistance to civilian victims/family of victims of Terrorist, Communal and Naxal violence : The broad aim of the Scheme is to assist families of victims of Terrorist, Communal and Naxal violence. An amount of Rs. 3 lakh is given to the affected family under the scheme. The assistance given to those who are adversely affected by naxal violence under this scheme is in addition to the ex-gratia payment of Rs. 1 lakh paid under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) scheme.
Integrated Action Plan : The Planning Commission is implementing the Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 82 Selected Tribal and Backward Districts for accelerated development. The aim of this initiative is to provide public infrastructure and services in 82 affected / contiguous Districts. Originally, a sum of Rs. 25 crores and Rs. 30 crores was released to 60 Districts during the financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively. This Scheme has now been extended to 22 more LWE affected Districts, taking the total coverage to 82 Districts. The nature of major works/projects taken up by the districts under the IAP include construction of School Buildings / School Furniture, Anganwadi Centres, Drinking Water Facilities, Rural Roads, Panchayats Bhawan / Community Halls, Godowns / PDS shops, livelihood activities, skill development/ trainings, Minor Irrigation Works, Electric Lighting, Health Centres/Facilities, Ashram Schools, construction of Toilets, construction of multi-purpose chabutra, construction of passenger waiting hall, special coaching classes for students, construction of ANM Centres, development of play grounds etc. Out of 81180 projects taken up by the states under the IAP, 61677 projects have been completed till 21.8.2012.
Road Requirement Plan for LWE areas : The Road Requirement Plan (RRP) Phase-I was approved in February, 2009 for improvement of road connectivity in 34 extremely LWE affected districts in 8 States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. The RRP-I envisages development of 1126 kms of National Highways and 4351 kms of State Roads (total 5477 kms), at a cost of Rs. 7300 crore. A length of 848 kms has been built at an expenditure of Rs 1363 crores till 31st December, 2011. The stretches for Phase-II of the Road Requirement Plan have been finalised by the Ministry of Home Affairs in August, 2011, based on the priority indicated by the State Governments and is under consideration with the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
Scheme of Fortified Police Stations : The Ministry has sanctioned 400 police stations in 9 LWE affected States at a unit cost Rs. 2 crores under this scheme.
Civic Action Programme : Under this scheme financial grants are sanctioned to CAPFs to undertake civic action in the affected states. This is a successful scheme which aims to build bridges between the local population and the security forces.

Conclusion

It is the belief of the Government of India that through a holistic approach focussing on development and security related interventions, the LWE problem can be successfully tackled. However, it is clear that the Maoists do not want root causes like underdevelopment to be addressed in a meaningful manner since they resort to targeting school buildings, roads, railways, bridges, health infrastructure, communication facilities etc in a major way. They wish to keep the population in their areas of influence marginalized to perpetuate their outdated ideology. Consequently, the process of development has been set back by decades in many parts of the country under LWE influence. This needs to be recognised by the civil society and the media to build pressure on the Maoists to eschew violence, join the mainstream and recognise the fact that the socio-economic and political dynamics and aspirations of 21st Century India are far removed from the Maoist world-view. Further, an ideology based on violence and annihilation is doomed to fail in a democracy which offers legitimate forums of grievance redressal.