[2/11] Left Wing Extremism: Where’s the fault of government/Factors responsible for the rise and spread of LWE:

Mao Zedong said that –“Without a political goal, guerrilla warfare must fail, as it must if its political objectives do not coincide with aspirations of the people and their sympathy, cooperation and assistance cannot be gained.”


This comes out to be apt statement if we see Indian experience. Movement exists only in those districts where there is administrative and developmental vacuum. If India’s growth had trickled down a bit to these areas, then story would have been altogether different.


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, Displacement & Rehabilitation 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.
Displacement/ forced eviction of people occur due to developmental projects such as irrigation, industrial projects, mining projects, power plants etc. It can be physical, emotional or cultural. Tribal people are most prone to displacement because tribal areas are rich in mineral resources such as Orissa, Jharkhand. This impacts multidimensional trauma on them leading to serious consequences.


5. Common property resources-
CPR’s contributes effectively to the rural economy and provides sustenance to local communities. CPR includes such as community pasture, watershed drainages, village tanks etc. Hence CPR is vital for rural areas to develop. But due to industrialization, privatization and development projects the CPRs area is shrinking and govt. never look in to this matter.


6. Special Economic Zones-
Land acquisition for SEZ à loss of revenue in the form of taxes à loss of production as huge block of productive lands acquired for SEZ à major impact in livelihood resource, leading to conflict.


7. Delayed process of adjudication & Social Injustice-
Considerable frustration gets built up in the society when conflicts and disputes are not settled in time because of formal & slow judicial system which ends up with illegal extremist mind framework.


8. Labour, Unemployment and Wages- 
High poverty, low education, unemployment & insecurity of livelihood à anger, dissatisfaction amongst youth of extremist affected area. Minimum wages for agriculture work are not implemented, increased share of unorganized workers in unorganized sector, no effective coverage of labour welfare laws. Hence this multifaceted form of exploitation in the absence of any developmental propaganda forms the major cause of spread of extremism.


9. Environmental degradation-
Land targeted for mineral extraction à agriculture land gets barren à pollutes water & air sources à degrade the quality of life.
The way extraction industry operates environmentally or socially doesn't lead to prosperity of the locals but it certainly leads to prosperity of outsiders. 40% of the total population displaced post-independence due to development have been tribals i.e. nearly 10-15 Million. At times they are subjected to not just one displacement but to multiple displacements. Our track record of land acquisition, Rehabilitation is pathetic.
Moreover Tourism industry in this development scenario is posing a great threat to the existing cultural-economy-governance matrix of tribal life which is interwoven with ecology. The introduction of foreign influence and commercialization is triggering the process of disintegration of tribal society leading to extremist activities.


10. 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.


11. 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


12. 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.


13. Inability of the tribal leaders to get their grievances addressed by the formal political system.


14. Political Neglect of this issue 
E.g.: No political party in India can afford to ignore Dalit issues; They are central to India's electoral fortunes (300 constituencies). Similarly Muslim populations(can affect 200 constituencies). Tribals no more than 50 constituencies). Tribal vote is not central to electoral performance. Dalits and Muslims live with other communities which is not the case of Tribals. This has affected the nature of political mobilization of political parties. Sankaran Cmt. condemns Maoist violence for its focus on military actions rather than on the mobilization of people for social transformation.


15. In Bihar : greatest adversary was not so much the administration and the police but the armed gangs (senas) of the landlord class - the Ranvir Sena, the Bhumihar Sena; instead of assuming the characteristics of class struggle as propagated by Maoist ideologues, the skirmishes took the shape of caste warfare.
16. Leadership is 99% from AP; Telugu is Lingua-Franca of Maoist Leadership
17. Majority of Foot soldiers are tribals but few exceptions.
18. Tribal participation b/c of 4Ds tribal Displacement(from their land), Deprivation(of their rights), Disconnect(from the mainstream) and Discontent(with the Govt.)




Why have the tribals not been able to get their concerns addressed by the formal political system? 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 upper caste 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.