Indian Express Editorial Analysis
09 April 2021

1) Developing a counterinsurgency strategy that actually works

Any strategy to counter left-wing extremism would need to have the dual objective of defeating the insurgents militarily and fully quelling insurgent impulses.

GS3: Linkages between Development and Spread of Left Wing Extremism.

Context:

  • In the backdrop of the recent killing of 22 security personnel by Maoists, Author discusses the counterinsurgency framework that is to be adopted.

Background:

  • Left-wing extremism is a form of armed insurgency against the state motivated by leftist ideologies.
  • They reject parliamentary democracy and aim at waging a war against the government.
  • Maoists, one of the extremist groups derive their ideology from Maoism, a form of communism backed by Mao Zedong of China.

Editorial Analysis

  • In the past few years, Maoist violence is decreasing owing to the factors like an increase in arrests and surrenders.
  • However, the drop in violence can be attributed to tactical withdrawal by Maoists and the recent attack stands as a wake-up call.
  • Maoists key strength include
    • Efficient intelligence network
    • Devolution of authority to local commanders
    • Support of local tribes
    • Domination of local landscape

Nature of the strategy to be adopted

  • One school of thought believes that the people-centric approach is to be adopted by winning the hearts and minds thus avoiding coercive action.
  • Another school of thought believes that enemy centric approach needs to be adopted and the success of erstwhile Andhra Pradesh can be attributed to the enemy-centric approach.
  • States need to rise tactical forces like Greyhounds to counter the attacks being made by the maoists.
  • States must also coordinate with each other since better coordination acts as a deterrent for the Maoists to move from one state to another during attacks.

GOVT STRATEGY

  • SAMADHAN doctrine comprises of the short-term policy to long-term policy formulated at different levels to tackle Left Wing Extremism.
  • SAMADHAN stands for-
    • S- Smart Leadership,
    • A- Aggressive Strategy,
    • M- Motivation and Training,
    • A- Actionable Intelligence,
    • D- Dashboard Based KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
    • H- Harnessing Technology,
    • A- Action plan for each Theatre,
    • N- No access to Financing.
  • Other steps taken
    • Special Central Assistance for improving the public infrastructure.
    • Road Connectivity Project for better access to town centers and improving livelihood opportunities.
    • Educational initiatives like Eklavya model schools for the development of tribal areas.

Way forward

  • An institutional overhaul is needed for defeating the insurgents militarily and quelling the insurgent impulses.
  • States should rationalize the surrender policy in order to bring innocent individuals caught in the trap of Left wing extremism to the mainstream.

Value Additional Matter:

  • Left-wing extremisms also known by Naxalism in India that originated in Naxal Bari village of West Bengal, now spread across 11 states infamously known as “Red Corridor”
  • After the consolidation in 2004 of all fringe groups associated with left-wing, a single all-India-wide outfit known as the Communist Party of India(Maoist) emerged.
    • It is the major, left-wing outfit that is responsible for the majority of violent incidents involving the killing of civilians & security forces.
    • The objective is to wage an armed revolution and overthrow the existing democratic state structure with violence as their main weapon in order to usher the formation of their own government.

 

The current state of Left Wing Extremism in India:

  • According to the Min of Home Affairs, in India, 90 districts across 11 states are affected by LWE.
    • But the geographical spread of LWE violence has also shrunk considerably to 60 dist in 2018
    • At the same time, the arc of violence has been restricted to just 30 districts accounting for 89% of LWE violence.
      • Where the majority of incidents are hovering around Gadchirowli, Dantewada, Bastar, Sukma & Bijapur dists.
    • In the last decades number of persons has been killed more than 1500 but there has been a gradual decrease in intensity of deaths.

Causes of LWE:

  • Economic development under the fiver plan led to the formation of the growth poles restricted only to some urban areas that led to unequal development.
  • Alienation of Forest Land because the failure of land reforms and harassment of govt servants.
  • Agrarian development policies focused on improving output without reducing economic and social disparity.
  • Industrial development policies helped the capitalists to exploit tribal of their rights & resources.
  • Lack of basic infrastructure required for the developments to connect these remote areas with dist headquarters, helped extremisms to thrive.
  • The skilled human resource deficit such as doctors, teachers, etc led to further deprivation of these areas.
  • Inaccessibility of government schemes & the presence of parallel governments in the remote region hindered state led development

Steps were taken:

  • Security Led Measures:
    • Specialized anti-Naxal forces like a Black panther, Greyhounds, etc have been established with multi-disciplinary groups of officers from various agencies.
    • Central govt under Security Related Expenditure(SRE) scheme, reimburses security-related expenditure relating to various state requirements.
    • To LWE affected states center is providing CAPFs, UAVs, funds for modernization of state police forces, intelligence sharing, etc
  • Development Related Measures:
    • Implementation of Infrastructural Development schemes such a Road Connectivity Project, Universal Service Obligation Fund(USOF) to provide connectivity & mobile services in LWE affected areas.
    • Skill development measures such as ROSHINI under DDU Grameen Kaushal Yojana for training & placement of rural poor youth.
    • Increasing thrust for financial inclusion & opening up of Livelihood centers in the region

 

  • Confidence Building Measures:
    • Since 2011 to bridge gaps between security forces & local people Civil Action Program has been implemented.
    • Surrender & rehabilitation policies such as imparting vocational training to eligible surrenderees.

Way forward:

  • A consensus-based approach needed to pursue against extremists.
  • A permanent institutional mechanism in the form of a coordination center can be established to even out the differences between center & state.
  • Augmenting the capacities of the police force against Maoist violence will be key to neutralize.
  • Govt needs to focus on developing tools that redistribute the resources without disparity.
  •  Development must operate in tandem with the security forces. Such as resumption of administrative activity should immediately follow the clearing of an area by the forces.
  • Holding elections for institutions of local self-government in the affected areas followed by the strengthening of these institutions with additional financial and decision-making powers is a necessity.
  • The success of security force operations needs to be based on the concept of just war that strives to do the maximum to avoid collateral damage.
  • The government needs to stay away from propagandist claims about winning the war in a quick time.

Conclusion:

To prevent the spread of Naxalism, the best strategic response would be to work with civil society actors to counter the Naxal narrative & ideology, which requires re-conceptualization of the counter-strategy. A consensus-based approach needs to arrive that can serve as a force-multiplier for the security forces. With the effective implementation of the SAMADHAN approach, left-wing extremism will contend.

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