Naxalism in Jharkhand : Government's step to counter and suggestions

Introduction :-

Just a few years back there was a time when Maoists used to run parallel administration in these areas but with the help of the civil administration we established security camps.Five camps were established in Parasnath (Dholkatta, Maniadih, mb01, mb02 and mb03), four camps in Gumla (Zori, Jamti, Banalat and Kurumgarh), one camp at Chainpur in Lohardaga, two camps in Palamau (Tal and Kukukalan) two camps in Bokaro (Chatro Chatti and Jageshwar Bihar) one camp in Gudari at Chaibasa and three camps in Latehar (Kumandi, Serendag and Chaupat).

Jharkhand is blessed with iron ore, manganese, coal, limestone, graphite, quartzite, asbestos, lead, zinc, copper, and some gold, among others. It supplies to the region electricity from thermal and hydroelectric plants. But there has always been a discrepancy between generating wealth and its application.

The Jharkhand region received minimal development funds from undivided Bihar based on a time-honoured presumption: tribals live there, and they need little. Resettlement and rehabilitation issues were—and continue to remain—poor on delivery,

The area’s displaced tribals were gradually organized by a tribal rights and right-to-statehood organization, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which also took on exploitation by a concert of contractors, moneylenders and public servants. Bihar’s response was to send a large team of armed police, which intimidated and arrested at will. To protest, an estimated 3,000 tribals gathered in September 1980 in Gua, a mining-belt town near Saranda forests to the state’s south, for a public meeting.

There was an altercation with police. The police fired; the tribals fought back with bows and arrows. Three tribals and four policemen died; human rights activists place the number of tribal deaths at 100. Both groups took their wounded to Gua Mines Hospital, where the tribals were made to deposit their bows and arrows before the hospital took in their injured. Then the police opened fire on the now unarmed tribals, killing several more.

The police, thereafter, went on a rampage in nearby villages, in much the same way as some of their colleagues in Chhattisgarh: looting and destroying homes; molesting and killing as much for revenge as suspicion of collusion with rebels. JMM leader Guruji—Soren—became a bulwark for key tribal leaders, who led movements in Saranda to prevent the illegal felling of trees such as sal and teak. As resentment peaked through the 1980s and 1990s, leaders sought allies with greater firepower: the Maoists—through the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), the key rebel entity in undivided Bihar.

This alliance of expediency has since matured. Saranda is a Maoist area of operation and sanctuary. MCC has merged into the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the presiding conglomerate. Besides attacks against police and paramilitary, looting weaponry and imposing levies on small to big businesses to fund the rebellion, Maoists have also carried out spectacular strikes

 The Laws made by Government over the time :-

• Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007 :- The Government issued a rehabilitation policy on 11 0ctober 2007 for the easy rehabilitation of people who lose their land for industrial growth. Under this policy land in change for land will be given, job prospective to at least one member of the family, vocational training and housing benefits including houses to people in rural areas and urban areas will be some of the benefits.
• Forest Rights Act, 2006 :- The Forest Rights Act recognizes the rights of the scheduled tribes and forest dwellers who have been living in the forests for years but their rights have still not been recognized. The Ministry of Environment and Forests has also allowed use of 1 hectare of land for non-forest purposes and conversion of kutcha roads into pukka roads.
• Chhattisgarh Special Public Securities Act, 2006 :-  This bill provides definition of unlawful activities, declaring an organization unlawful, formation of an advisory board wherever the state government feels the need for its establishment, procedure of the formation of the advisory board, action of the advisory board, penalties viz punishments even for not committing a crime, the power to notify a place being used for unlawful activities and taking occupation of such place thereof and revision/bar against intervention by the courts.
• Law and Order Approach :-  To Modernize the Police Force, the government has launched a Police Modernization Scheme in areas affected by Naxal movements. Under this scheme huge sums of money have been provided to the state governments by the central government to modernize their equipment and tactical gear
  including latest communication, vehicles and infrastructure facility. States have also been told to determine police stations 30 and outposts that are susceptible to Naxal attacks and have to be fortified.
• Social Integration Approach :- Social Economic Development, The government started the Backward Districts initiative in 2003- 2004 and the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) under which 55 of the worst affected areas in 9 states were to be provided with funds to the tune of Rs. 2475 crore to tackle the problem of Naxalism.

Suggestions :- 

• Long term solutions :-To combat the Naxal movement undertaking oppressive steps taken by government is however, not a remedy to the problem. The government at the centre and the state should direct their efforts towards finding a long term solution.
• Lessen economic deprivation :-  They have to take such measures which will solve the problem of economic deprivation and in turn will prevent the rise if frustration among the indigenous population of various states affected by the problem of Naxalism.
• Developmental activities :- This will have a long lasting impact and a sense of satisfaction and contentment will prevail. It therefore becomes pertinent for the governments, central and state to seriously undertake developmental activities whose benefits actually reach the poor local masses.
• Local people be the basis of developmental programmes :- While formulating developmental plans the local people should be taken into confidence. The participatory developmental activities will generate a sense of satisfaction among the tribes. The feeling of the contentment will prevent the emergence of frustration and hence the growth of any kind of conflict. This certainly is not an easy task. The process indeed is a long drawn one.
• Control over Multinational Companies:- Taking over tribals land and handling over to corporate and MNC’s for ‘development’ will have serious implications as such development projects will completely bypass and even negate tribals development agenda. Hence the MNC’s be controlled and tribals should be given their share of profit.
• All party consensuses should be arrived at for speeding up the implementation process of land reforms at the village level before the situation goes out of control .Infrastructure should be strengthen..
• Land Reforms :- Correct and up-to-date records are crucial for the implementation of land reforms. Therefore, whenever the records are correct and not up-to-date, necessary steps should be taken to rectify and update them. For hill areas which have not been cadastral surveyed so far, a special programme for cadastral survey will have to be initiated. Apart from the normal survey and settlement operations, which may continue where they are already under way, a record of tenants, including share- croppers and others in cultivating land, possession of the land, and having presumptive evidentiary value should be prepared for all the villages in the course of a year and the records should be maintained by annual revision. This can be done by way of digitization village maps through computers and integrating the village map with the individual plot of record-of-segment of each Saryat and updating of land records by engaging private vendors on computers where latest changes by way of mutation and conversion of lands are incorporated.