News Highlight
The prime minister said urban Naxals are working to stop “modern infrastructure projects that could raise the standard of living of people in the country.
Key Takeaway,
- The Prime Minister was addressing, via video link, a conference hosted by the Union Environment Minister on “Environment, Forests and Climate Change”.
What are Naxalites?
- The Naxalites are a group of far-left radical communists supportive of Maoist political sentiment and ideology.
Urban Naxalism
- The phrase “Urban Naxals” is attributed to the people with the Naxalite bent of mind residing in urban areas and working as activists, supporters, and protectors of the ideology.
Factors responsible for urban Naxalism:
- The Land Reform Policy:
- Post-independence, the land reform policy of India could not succeed in most parts of the nation, leading to the birth and growth of the Naxal movement in India.
- The Forest Protection Act of 1980:
- Although the legislation was an attempt to protect the country’s natural resources from exploitation, it essentially outlawed the existence of many tribal villages that had been in place for centuries.
- As areas were delineated as reserve forests, traditional occupations like 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.
- Development Projects and Tribal Alienation:
- The main causes of land alienation and landlessness among the tribals are poor economic conditions, urbanisation, industrialisation, lack of land records, and administrative inefficiency.
- Rising inequality:
- The unevenness of India’s development process and the various development divides are opening up issues such as the rural-urban divide and the inter-sectoral divide.
- Denial of justice:
- Denial of dignity and prevalence of practices such as untouchability, along with the poor implementation of special laws on prevention of atrocities, protection of civil rights and the abolition of bonded labour etc.
Government measure.
- Multi-disciplinary groups to check for funding:
- The Ministry of Home Affairs has formed multidisciplinary groups with officers from central agencies, including the Intelligence Bureau (IB), the National Investigation Agency (NIA), and state police, to choke the financial flow.
- Forest Rights Act, 2006:
- It recognises the rights of the scheduled tribes and forest dwellers.
- The Civic Action Programme:
- The scheme aims to build bridges between the local population and the security forces.
- Aspirational District:
- It was launched in 2018 and aimed to transform districts with relatively less progress in key social areas.
Way forward
- Strong political will:
- It is essential that on the issue of controlling urban Naxalism, there should be unanimity among the political parties. The Centre should take the lead in this regard.
- Have a dialogue:
- Have a peace dialogue in the affected states with urban Naxal groups if they are willing to shun violence and local conditions are conducive for talks.
- Coordination:
- Centre and states should continue with their coordinated efforts where the Centre should play a supportive role with state police forces taking the lead.
- Socio-economic issues:
- The fundamental issues of socio-economic rights, the livelihood of the tribals and development projects in these areas should be speeded up.
- Block funding:
- The nexus between illegal mining/forest contractors and extremists, which provides the financial support, must be broken by establishing a special anti-extortion and anti-money laundering cell by the State Police.
- Best practices-Sandesh (Bihar):
- This region has gradually eliminated Naxalites due to regular panchayat elections.
- It created a significant distance between the Naxal leaders and the local community, and social pressure forced many Naxalites to leave Naxal outfits.
Pic Courtesy: Scroll.in
Content Source: Indian Express