Search results for: “”

GS1 (Modern History)

The conditionality’s imposed by Lucknow Pact proved harmful to Hindu Muslim unity in coming years of India’s Freedom Struggle. Critically discuss.

i want a essay on that

In the fourth part of the Naxalism series, we focus on the Government’s strategy in tackling Naxalism and the way ahead. (The first part of the series on the history and evolution of Naxalismis is here. The second part on the factors responsible for the rise of Naxalism is here. The third part on the security threats posed by Naxalism is here.)

The Government’s strategy to address Left Wing Extremism (LWE)

1. Ban on CPI Maoist, along with all its formations and front organizations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

2. Assistance to LWE States: ‘Police’ and ‘Public order’ being State subjects, action with respect to maintenance of law and order lies primarily in the domain of the concerned State Governments. However, the Central Government closely monitors the situation and coordinates and supplements their efforts in several ways to deal with the LWE problem. These include:

• providing Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Commando Battalions for Resolute Action (CoBRA),
• setting up of Counter Insurgency and Anti Terrorism (CIAT) schools;
• modernization of the State Police and their Intelligence apparatus etc.

Assistance is also provided by the central government under the following schemes:

• Security Related Expenditure Scheme (SRE)
• Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS)
• Central Scheme for assistance to civilian victims/family of victims of terrorist, communal and naxal violence
• Civic Action Programme (CAPs)

3. Action Plan: The Government has formulated National Policy and Action Plan adopting four pronged strategy in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights & entitlement of local communities and management of public perception.

4. Strengthening the intelligence mechanism: This includes intelligence sharing through Multi-Agency Centre (MAC) at the central level and State Multi Agency Centre (SMAC) at the subsidiary level on 24×7 basis.

5. Better inter-state coordination by way of frequent meetings and interaction between the bordering districts of LWE affected states.

6. Media plan: The media has proved to be a potent instrument in creating awareness among the target population about the socio-economic developmental schemes of the Government and their rights & entitlements. The media has also helped to highlight LWE activities to make people aware as to how LWE violence is preventing implementation of the welfare and development schemes, policies and initiatives of the Government.

7. A Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy for LWE cadre surrenderees.

8. Roshani Scheme (Ministry of Rural Development): It is a placement linked skill development scheme for rural and tribal population, in worst affected districts. It emphasizes on special efforts to proactively cover the particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs) on a priority basis.

Related: What is Salwa Judum? Read here for details.

A few success stories in the fight against Naxalism

Sandesh( Bihar)

Sandesh block in Bihar has seen a gradual elimination of Naxalites. The most important factor which proved instrumental in dismantling naxal dominance was the panchayat elections initiated in Bihar. It created a significant distance between the Naxal leaders and the local community. Social pressure forced many naxalites to switch over to farming and shed off their association with naxal outfits.

Aasdwar project in Jehanabad (Bihar)

Under this project, 5 Naxalite affected panchayats (Jehanabad district of Bihar) are witnessing a flurry of development activities on a war footing e.g. construction of cement lanes, link roads, drains, buildings for schools and anganwadis, individual toilets etc. The people, at large, seem to have embraced the programme in a big way. So, as this case study amplifies, Naxalism can be defeated and eliminated by the process of development and a new social order but the change has to come from within.

AP greyhounds model

Andhra Pradesh’s Greyhound naxal fighting force along with infrastructure development and effective surrender and rehabilitation policy has also proved effective.  Other elements in the Andhra Pradesh model include:

• Culture of police leadership
• Sound knowledge of local terrain
• Incentives to police for good work
• Operations based on local intelligence
• Grass roots involvement in anti-Naxal operations

The way forward:

Naxalism is not merely a law and order issue. To truly eliminate naxalism, we must undercut its raison d’être, its reason for existence. While the methods of Naxalites may be abhorrent, most of their goals (apart from overthrowing the government) are not. The government must fulfill these goals for them so that they have nothing to fight for.

The government must adopt a multipronged composite strategy. We can broadly divide the strategy as follows:

1. Development strategy:

• Better infrastructure in core naxal areas
• Special forcus on political security and accelerated socio economic development in a holistic manner
• Political parties must strengthen their cadre base in naxal areas
• Decentralisation and participative democracy
• Better implementation of government schemes

2. Security strategy

• Promote local resistance groups on lines on ‘village defence committees’ in J&K
• Formation of specially trained special task forces on the pattern of Greyhounds in affected states
• Professional dominance by security forces with primacy of state police at all levels
• Modernisation and upgradation of state police infrastructure, weapons and technical equipment
• Strengthening local intelligence units
• Tightening control on availability of explosives
• Posting of competent and motivated police officers in LWE affected areas

3. Psychological Operations

• Administration should engage with public at large, civil society, NGOs to restore people’s faith and confidence in the government machinery
• Media and public perception management

4. Other measures

• The doors for peace talks should always be open
• There should be genuine attempts to win the hearts and minds of people
• Time-bound conviction of arrested cadre must be ensured through vital reforms in criminal justice system
• Effective surrender and rehabilitation policy ensuring proper safety and care of their families
• Better adherence to law legislated for protection and development of tribals

5. Understanding the tribal psychology and addressing their concerns:

Efforts should be made to better understand the tribal psychology e.g. the tribals having been left out of the development process are also oblivious to the potential enhancement in the quality of life if the growth process were to touch them. If they knew the potential benefits of growth, they would realize the futility of violence and see reason to participate in the growth process and become part of the mainstream without losing their identity and culture.

Another example:The tribals’ opposition to part away with their land is not only due to livelihood concerns, but also their shield against a system they are unfamiliar with. The fear of not being fit enough to participate in a system alien to them also adds as a disincentive to give up their land. This, in the end, results in a conflict as there is a clash of ideas that ultimately drives the tribals further away from the mainstream and the reach of the Indian State.

Efforts should therefore be made to better understand the tribal psychology and address their concerns.

Related example: A tradition that lands tribal youth in jail.

6. Need for policy changes:

Nanadan Nilekani in his book ‘Imagining India’ argues that empowering local tribal communities to take decisions on forest resources and environment through PESA and the Forest Rights Act can enable them to leverage their lands for economic gains. Nilekani argues that the challenges posed by climate change have actually opened up the possibility of integrating the unorganized economic activity of the tribals. He adds that once resource rights are established, rural and tribal communities can earn incomes by participating in carbon cap and trading schemes with businesses and industries. Connecting these tribal groups (in the same way NCDEX has connected India’s farmers to commodity markets) would bring these communities into our markets in big way.

But, measures such as these require drastic policy shifts at the very top. An environment policy for the future could indirectly bring the historically marginalized citizens of India i.e. the tribals into the mainstream facilitating participation in the larger growth process of an economically resurgent India.

Relevant: The example of the Apatani tribe of Arunachal Pradesh.

Better still : Read up our stories on tribal issues and tribal development in 2015.

In the third part of the Naxalism series, we focus on the security threats posed by Naxalism and the challenges faced in dealing with it. (The first part of the series on the history and evolution of Naxalismis is here. The second part on the factors responsible for the rise of Naxalism is here.)

Security dangers are aptly described by a former Pakistani Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence and his description of India’s foreign affairs. He equated India being busy with internal security problems to having two extra divisions in the Pakistani army for free.

Naxalite movement: the biggest internal security threat to India:

Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Naxalism as the most significant threat to internal security being faced by the country. This proposition is true as it highlights India’s interior weaknesses, which make India vulnerable to external threats. It affects several areas including the economy, security and foreign affairs, its citizens and the rule of law:

1. Impact on security and foreign affairs: Links with other terrorist organisations and foreign countries:

The CPI(Maoist) has frequently expressed solidarity with the Jammu and Kashmir terrorist groups and north-east insurgent groups. The CPI(Maoist) has also had close links with foreign Maoist organisations like Turkey, Phillipines,South asian countries     etc.

2. Impact on economy: More the Maoists concentrate in the poor and marginalised regions of India, the more the economic development (which is imperative to improving these regions) will be hampered. The Naxalite activities are using up scarce resources on defence and internal security when it should be spent on areas such as social development.

3. Impact on citizens and the rule of law: Not only has there been a great loss of life since the conflict between the guerrillas and the military, but addressing the problem through violence risks polarizing people further and driving them to subservience.

Guerrilla warfare is a threat not only to citizens’ lives but also to their property. Too impatient and desperate to wait for government intervention, civilians such as landlords are taking matters into their own hands.

As writer Navlakha noted , by portraying the Maoists as a ‘menace’ and separating the movement from socio-economic causes, it “allows the rich and poor divide to impose itself on a formal democratic structure”. Navlakha gives the example of Bihar where Naxalite groups are banned under the Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act, yet a majority of the massacre were committed by landlord armies which were not considered an act of terror under the law. Such treatment for the upper class only serves to threaten the rule of law, state legitimacy and democracy as the political norm.

Challenges in dealing with Naxalites:

 1. Expansion in adjoining areas due to hard combat:

Hard combat against the Naxals pushes them out temporarily but they use other states to regroup and rearm. This can be associated with the Andhra Pradesh model, where the intensive use of Greyhounds had led to a lot of spillover to other states.

2. Expansion due to increasing association with Anti-state forces:

New territory in new states may result in a corridor for Naxals to collaborate with other insurgent groups who are essentially ideologically different but are anti-state. There has been increasing collaboration between the naxals and the pro-Azadi leaders in J&K and ULFA training  the naxal cadres.

3. Expansion of Naxal activities due to international collaboration:

The likely collaboration with international maoist movements, may give it a much more dangerous dimension, to tackle which India seems to be unprepared. There is also an increasing threat of rising terror outfits’ support to the naxal operations in India.

 4. Administrative hurdles in dealing with LWE:

• Poor infrastructure, lack of communication and shortage of manpower
• A virtual parallel government run by Maoists in Dandakaranya region
• Poor coordination among various state police forces
• Lack of proper understanding between the central and state forces

5. Intellectual support to naxalism:

Top intellectuals like Arundhati Roy and Binayak Sen regularly support naxalism, advocating an egalitarian society, human rights and tribal rights. But use of violent means cannot be supported to achieve a noble cause in a democratic setup. Rather than a blind support, the intellectuals should also encourage Naxals to eschew violence, fight elections, join mainstream society and learn the art of give and take of democratic bargaining without aggression.

Thats it for this part! The next part in this series will analyse the Government’s strategy in tackling Naxalism and the way ahead.(Click here for part 4). This is supposed to be one of the most comprehensive series in Internal Security related Issues. Your feedback is welcome ?

In the second part of the series on Naxalism, we analyse the ideology and objectives of Naxalites and the factors responsible for the rise and spread of Naxalism in India. (The first part of the series is here.)

Ideology and objectives of Naxalites:

From their ideology, it appears that naxalites are fighting for the rights of the poor and want to establish a people’s government, but the facts are quite contrary. Social uplifting of the downtrodden is not their real aim, rather it is political power.

They study the local problems and issues and use them as fodder to foster their end game which is clearly the seizure of power through violent means.

Maoists have vested interest in keeping poverty alive because it enables them to expand their territory. They don’t allow district administration to do any development work like building roads, improving electricity and water supply in these areas etc.

Modus Operandi

• Frontal Organisations of LWE

The Maoists use their front organisations like Revolutionary Democratic Front, Democratic Student Union etc to generate people’s sympathy through persistent pursuance of propaganda on issues like human rights violations by the security forces.

• Guerrilla warfare tactics

• Powerful propaganda machinery which is active in all major towns as well as in the national capital. They even have their supporters in the media.

• Tactical Counter Offensive Campaign (TCOC):

Maoists carry out violent activities called TCOC which run from March to early Monsoon in July. The Maoists usually resort to TCOC every year to put the security forces in disarray so that they can go on a recruitment drive.

• Fresh strategy of Maoists is to expand outside forests into the urban areas to win over non peasant classes and other social groups.

• The Maoists have also maimed and murdered those they suspect of being ‘informers’.

Sources of funding and linkages with organized crime:

The main source of funding of the LWE movements is extortion from government projects as well as from corporate companies working in their areas of influence. Most of the time, it is in the form of protection money. LWE is most intense precisely in areas which are rich in mineral resources. It therefore provides them enough scope for extortion.

Sometimes, they also resort to kidnapping and killings to terrorise and extort money.

Factors responsible for the rise and spread of LWE:

1. India’s Land Reform Policy

 Post independence, the land reform policy of India could not be successful in some parts of the nation, leading to the birth and growth of naxal movement in India.

2. Development Projects and Tribal Alienation

The tribals are driven by grievances with the Indian Government over decades long resource mismanagement and systematic marginalisation beginning with a series of development projects in the 1980s that removed tribals from their lands in the name of public good. The conflict between economic progress and aboriginal land rights continues to fuel the Naxalite’s activities.

Arundhati Roy, a Naxalite sympathiser said that the tribal forestlands should be called a “MoUist Corridor” instead of the “Maoist Corridor” as the people of these tribal forest lands have been wrestling with “memorandum of Understanding” (MoUs) of the mining companies.

The sociologist Walter Fernandes estimates that about 40% of all those displaced by government projects are of tribal origin.

3. Forest Protection Act of 1980

Although the legislation was an attempt to protect country’s natural resources from exploitation, the law essentially outlawed the existence of many tribal villages that had been in place for centuries. As areas were delineated as reserve forests, traditional occupations of even gathering twigs were forbidden. People who earned their livelihood through access to forest resources in a sustainable manner suddenly found themselves outside the law.

It was only in 2008 that amendment to forest rights act recognised the tribals’ rights over forest land and forest produce but animosity towards the government had already grown substantially exacerbated by the lack of basic development support to tribal villages.

4. Developmental Deficit and economic inequality

Tribal poverty today is worse than that of Scheduled castes and on par with those of sub-Saharan African countries.The districts that comprise the red corridor are among the poorest in the country.

A key characteristic of this region is non diversified economic activity solely dependent on primary sector. The region has significant natural resources, including mineral, forestry and potential hydroelectric generation capacity E.g. Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Jharkhand account for approximately 85% of India’s coal resources. Exploitation of the natural resources for the economic progress of the country, ironically, has led to displacement and deprivation of the tribals, further leading to a feeling of alienation.

5. Social Conditions:

The area encompassed by the red corridor tends to have stratified societies, with caste and feudal divisions and violence associated with friction between different social groups.

6. The governance deficit:

• Lack of education facilities and basic sustainable employment
• Lack of basic healthcare facilities
• Infrastructure deficit
• Issues related to law and order, grievance redressal
• Lack of routine administration and poorly motivated public personnel
• Mismanagement and corruption in government schemes like Public Distribution System.
• Poor implementation of special laws
• High handedness of the local administration

7. Geographical factors:

The terrain in these areas is suitable for guerrilla tactics.

It is also because of the terrain that the reach and spread of governmental programmes has been slower in these areas.  In these remote upland areas, public officials are unwilling to work hard, and often unwilling to work at all and these postings are often termed as ‘punishment postings’. On the other hand, the Maoists are prepared to walk miles to hold a village meeting, and listen sympathetically to tribal grievances.

The Maoists live among, and in the same state of penury as, the tribals. Also, some of their actions have sometimes helped the adivasis. This is especially the case with rates for the collection of non-timber forest produce, such as tendu patta, which have gone up by as much 200% in areas where the Naxalites are active and the contractors fearful of their wrath.

8. Inability of the tribal leaders to get their grievances addressed by the formal political system. [The reasons behind this have been separately analysed here.]

Thats it for this part!

In the next part, we will analyse the security threats posed by Naxalism and the challenges faced in dealing with it. (Click here for part 3). This is supposed to be one of the most comprehensive series in Internal Security related Issues. Your feedback is welcome ?

It is commonly acknowledged that Dalits and Tribals are the two most disadvantaged sections of Indian society. Then, why is it that the former have been more effective in making their claims heard by the formal political system?

1. Weak literacy rates among tribals accompanied by a weak ‘articulation ratio’:

The literacy rate of tribals is 23.8%, considerably lower than that of the Dalits, which stands at 30.1%.

Tribals do not have national leaders; while such men as do represent them are not conversant enough with the languages and discourses of modern democratic politics.

On the other hand, in the case of the Dalits the presence of Ambedkar, in the past, and of Mayawati, in the present, has been complemented by an articulate second rung of activists, who know how to build political networks and lobby within and across parties.

2. Inability of tribals to project themselves on the national stage:

Dalits have been able to constitute themselves as an interest group on the national stage—they are treated in popular discourse as communities that are pan-Indian.

On the other hand, tribal claims remain confined to the states and districts in which they live. Unlike the Dalits, the adivasis continue to be seen only in discrete, broken-up, fragments.

3. Aspects of geography and demography:

The tribals of central India usually live in tribal villages, in hills and valleys where they outnumber the non tribals among them. However, in no single state of peninsular India are they in a majority. In Andhra Pradesh, for example, adivasis constitute 6% of the state’s population. In Maharashtra, the proportion is 9%; in Rajasthan, 12%. Even in states professedly formed to protect the tribal interest, such as Jharkhand and Chattisgarh, roughly two-thirds of the population is non tribal.

The Dalits too are a minority in every state, but unlike tribals, they live in mixed villages, alongside other castes and communities. This means that when election time comes, they can have a decisive impact even on constituencies not reserved for them. In most states of the Union, and in most districts in these states, they command between 10% and 20% of the vote. Therefore, political parties have to address the Dalit interest in a majority of Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies.

Tribals, on the other hand, can influence elections only in the few, isolated districts where they are concentrated.

4. Lack of mobilization

Dalit mobilization on a provincial and national scale is also enabled by the structural similarities in the ways they experience oppression. For the caste system operates in much the same manner across India. It is therefore possible for them to build links and forge solidarities horizontally, across villages and districts and states.

On the other hand, there are many variations in the forms in which tribals experience oppression. In one place, their main persecutors are forest officials; in another place, moneylenders; in a third, development projects conducted under the aegis of the state; in a fourth, a mining project promoted by a private firm. In the circumstances, it is much harder to build a broad coalition of tribals fighting for a common goal under a single banner.

5. Role of intellectuals:

The Dalits have also been helped by the posthumous presence of Dr B. R. Ambedkar. He has been for them both example and inspiration, a man of towering intellect who successfully breached the uppercaste citadel and who, long after he is gone, encourages his fellows to do likewise.

The tribals, on the other hand, have never had a leader who could inspire admiration, or even affection, across the boundaries of state and language. Birsa Munda, for example, is revered in parts of Jharkhand; but he is scarcely known or remembered in the adivasi areas of Andhra Pradesh or Maharashtra.

6. Role of media:

The contrast between a relative Dalit visibility on the one hand, and tribal invisibility on the other, can also be illustrated with reference to the mainstream media. Both newspapers and television give a fair amount of coverage to the continuing victimization of Dalits. The tribals on the other hand, rarely have their concerns discussed or highlighted in talk shows, editorials, reports, or feature articles.

Most political parties in India are dynastic, i.e. the future leader is almost always a family member of the present party leader, e.g. Congress, SP etc. Perhaps the only two exceptions are the BJP and the CPI. This is ironic considering that India is a democracy and the entire purpose of the political parties is to win elections.

Today’s debate is – Is India being held back due to a lack of democracy in its political parties? Or does the freedom to start a new political party compensate for this defect?

GS1 (Indian society)

Recently certain practices such as triple talaq are being discussed as derogatory to the dignity of women and against the provisions of the constitutions. What other practices are considered derogatory to women and how do they affect society in general?

Demand – Explain briefly about such practices and how they have been derogatory to women. Do they only affect women or also the whole society?

Approach –

– How are they derogatory to the dignity of women? (4.5 Marks)

– How do they affect society? (4.5 marks)

– Way forward (1 mark)

GS2 (Polity and Governance)

The government in power has been focusing on the idea of cooperative federalism. Critically analyse in the view of the meetings of GST council, if GST will be good for cooperative federalism or not.

Demand – Discuss the idea of cooperative federalism and analyse if GST will promote this idea.

Approach –

– Discuss the idea of cooperative federalism (3 marks)

– Brief about GST council and its meetings (2 marks)

– Will GST promote cooperative federalism? Give pros and cons of GST (5 marks)

GS3 (Science and Technology)

In the recent auction of telecom spectrum the government has failed to generate attractive revenue. There was lack of participation from the telecom companies. What are the reasons for poor response? What effects will it have on services to the consumers? Examine.

Demand – Why has the government failed to attract the telecom companies to participate in the auction and how will the low revenues have an effect on the consumers.

Approach –

– Introduction about the spectrum auction. (2 Marks)

– Reasons for low participation of telecom companies. (4 Marks)

– Consequences of low revenue from the spectrum allocation on services to consumers (4 Marks)

GS4 (Ethics)

Can correct decisions be dishonest? Can incorrect decisions be honest? Discuss. How would you decide the correctness or incorrectness?

Demand – Discuss the relationship between correct decisions and honest decisions.

Approach –

– What is a correct decision? (3 marks)

– What is an honest decision? (3 marks)

– Are they always the same? (3 marks)

GS4 (Ethics)

Can correct decisions be dishonest? Can incorrect decisions be honest? Discuss. How would you decide the correctness or incorrectness?