GS3 PYQs (Mains Answer Writing): Left Wing Extremism | UPSC Mains: Internal Security & Disaster Management PDF Download

What are the determinants of left-wing extremism in Eastern part of India? What strategy should Government of India, civil administration and security forces adopt to counter the threat in the affected areas?

Left Wing Extremism or Naxal Movement has been the source of extreme violence in some parts of the country specially in Eastern part. These extremists are internally waging wars against the state. It is considered to be the most important security concern. These extremist movements have disconnected several tribal villages from the national main stream. They want abolition of state to establish the rule of people. These extremists attack the symbols of the country’s power such as the police, schools and other government institutions.
Spread of Naxalism The Spread occurred in three phases 

• The first phase started in Darjeeling in West Bengal from where it spread to Odisha, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The phase ended with the Emergency period seeing the arrest of most of the Maoist cadres. 
• The second phase started when the movement emerged in a more violent form after the emergency and spread from West Bengal again to Bihar, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. 
• The third phase started with the formation of CPI (Maoist) in 2004. Thus Naxalism spread in eastern India often referred to as the ‘Red Corridor’, a narrow but contiguous strip connecting Karnataka and West Bengal through Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Factors responsible for the rise of Naxalism in Eastern India Rise of Naxalism is attributed to the gross lack of development even after being mineral-rich areas combined with other socio-economic problems. 

These can be summarised as 

• Developmental Deficit: the Naxal affected areas face rampant poverty and unemployment. The areas also lack education and health facilities. There is also a deficit of infrastructures such as roads, bridges and communication facilities. 
• Governance Deficit: there is a lack of routine administration with incompetent, ill-trained and poorly motivated personnel. There are corruption and mismanagement of government schemes and poor implementation of special laws. Electoral politics is perverted and the working of local government is unsatisfactory. 
• Social Exclusion and Alienation: there are human rights violations and the dignity of life is not ensured. There is a disconnect with the mainstream society which all leads to the discontent against the government. 
• Jal-Jangal-Jameen: the issues of land, forest and water rights. There is an evasion of land ceiling laws and unlawful encroachment and illegal occupation of community lands. The traditional rights are not recognised and there is unfair land acquisition without any compensation or proper rehabilitation. The tribe- forest relations are also disrupted. Such conditions make it easier for an ideology like Maoism to take root. The government and the capitalist class are identified as the perpetrators of the backwardness of the region and the youth are motivated to take up arms against them. 

Current Situation 

• Events of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence came down from 2258 in 2009 to 833 in 2018. 
• The number of affected districts have also come down to 60 in 2018 from nearly 100 in 2010. 
• Official data also reveal that it is on a decline in Bihar and Odisha with Odisha declaring almost 10 districts free from Naxalism. However, Odisha Chief Minister still flagged it as a critical menace that needs close monitoring. 
• Developmental efforts and security measures are seeing success in eliminating the Naxal problem as more and more Naxalites are surrendering and giving up violence o join the electoral process. 

Way forward Developmental Strategy/Government Strategy/Civil administration 

• Political security and accelerated Socio-economic development should be ensured in a holistic way. 
• Better infrastructure like roads, electricity and communication to be installed. 
• Potential youth should be weaned away from the ideology by the decentralised and participatory democratic process. 
• There needs to be effective coordination between departments, police and security forces in implementing the development schemes. 
• Psychological must be done to delegitimize the movement, change the public perception and engage with the civic society and NGOs to restore public faith in the government machinery. 
• Measures to curb financial support to Naxal movement, peace talks, to promote proper criminal justice system, administration of forest laws etc should be taken. 

Security Strategy 

• Hardcore Ideologues should be sternly dealt with a policy of bullet against a bullet. These people do not want development and use the underdevelopment and governance deficit to achieve selfish goals and vested interests. 
• Common people and youth especially should be weaned away from hardcore Naxalites 
• Some of the measures to be taken include – professional dominance by security forces, special training, modernisation of weapons and technical equipment, special forces along the lines of AP Greyhounds model, collective approach and police coordination by the states since it is an interstate issue, rationalisation of surrender policy etc. 

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 Left Wing Extremists 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 and failed ideology.
Consequently, the process of development has been set back by decades in many parts of the country under Left Wing Extremists influence. This needs to be recognised by the civil society and the media to build pressure on the Left Wing Extremists 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.

Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is showing a downward trend, but still affects many parts of the country. Briefly explain the Government of India’s approach to counter the challenges posed by LWE.  (UPSC MAINS 2018)

Left Wing Extremism or Naxal Movement has been the source of extreme violence in some parts of the country. These extremists are internally waging wars against the state. It is considered to be the most important security concern. These extremist movements have disconnected several tribal villages from the national main stream. They want abolition of state to establish the rule of people. These extremists attack the symbols of the country’s power such as the police, schools and other government institutions.

Danger of LWE in India:

• They threaten the locals before the conduct of elections and prevent them from voting. Violating the principle of participative democracy.
• They resort to violence through their guerrilla tactics and attempt to setup their own government in the local villages.
• They destroy the roads, transport system and government resources, thereby creating hindrance in governance and last mile connectivity. The poor are deprived further.
• Urban Naxals, who sometimes operate under the cloak of NGOs or social-work units, raise questions about the use of force by government machinery. This helps them build a strong bastion of sympathisers and volunteers in towns and cities and across social media.
• They resort to extortion, abduction of important personalities like Politicians, bureaucrats, police etc and put up their demand.
• They hire vulnerable people who have low literacy levels, unemployed or low income, particularly the tribals, who aren’t aware of consequences of joining such forces, building up their cadre.
• They also have nexus with politicians, they find this as a medium to put up their demands through voices of Politicians.
• They attack the police, government and collect weapons, technological devices to fight against them on technological front.

Government of India’s approach to counter LWE

• The Government’s approach is to deal with Left Wing Extremism in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, improvement in governance and public perception management.
• The foremost focus of Government is to strengthen the connectivity in these areas so as to improve its engagement with the rest of the country. Infrastructural enhancements like road, railways and airport construction, instalment of mobile towers are taking place. For example- National Policy and Action Plan.
• Smart Leadership and better coordination with the State governments is being encouraged by the Government to expand its reach in the LWE affected areas.
• An aggressive strategy is being followed to modernise and strengthen the capacity of armed forces.
• Special emphasis is being laid on the implementation of Forest Rights Act and ensuring entitlement of local communities over Minor Forest Produce.
• To stop the maintenance and sustained survival of Left Wing Extremism, the Government is attempting to block Left Wing Extremist outfits’ access to financing.
• Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Scheme is being implemented to ensure militants’ rehabilitation and return to the mainstream.
• To counter the ideological effect of Left Wing Extremism on people, gaps between Security Forces and local people are being bridged through close interactions, Tribal Youth Exchange programmes, radio jingles, documentaries, pamphlets etc.
• The Union Home Minister enunciated an integrated strategy through which the LWE can be countered with full force and competence. The new strategy is called SAMADHAN, which is a compilation of short term and long term policies formulated at different levels.

As per reports, the total area affected by Naxalism has shrunk to 90 districts of the country from 165 districts and at least 122 Maoists have been killed across the country in the first six months of 2018 which is highest in past eight years. So, it is true to say that the trajectory of LWE has been showing a downward trend.

Topics Covered- Left Wing Extremism