My "Encounters" with Maoists/ Naxals

Well, to be honest, I did not have any such "direct" encounters... only some "vicarious" ones

One of the most recent ones was today, when I finished reading Sudeep Chakravarty's travelogue "Red Sun: Travels through the Naxalite Country"...

For those who have not read the book, it is highly recommended. It breaks through the veil of denial, which the aspiring urban middle-class, the "India Shining" media, the politicians and bureaucrats tend to deny/under-represent in the public awareness/ discourse... Even when this growing phenomenon is publicly noted, it is seen/described as a regional problem; the news gets covered in the regional newspapers/editions...

However, if one pays attention, the phenomenon is growing, and becoming increasingly noticeable. I tried to find out and in Google News, there were 210 news items on "naxal maoist" in last one week....



And as the timeline shows, the trend has shot up in last 3-4 years...


In any case, when the Prime Minister of India describes "Maoists" as the "single largest internal security threat" (as he did last year) - and accepts that 165 of the 600-odd districts are affected by this threat - then, if you are travelling into the hinterlands of India, the chances are more than one-in-four that you have a direct or vicarious brush with this "threat"

(These 165 districts, incidentally, are spread across 14 Indian states. Among the other non-Maoist-effected states are the otherwise-troubled J&K, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and Meghalaya - thus, leaving only eight Indian states as "peaceful")

Reading the book, brought back these memories of my "encounters" during last few months. During last couple of months, I had a chance of travelling across the interiors of Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh in connection to some assessment of NGOs... This was also an opportunity to cross-check the official line that the Maoists - described as "these thugs/ anti-national elements/ criminals" etc. - resist "development" (industrialisation, mining projects, large dams, investments, job-creation, building of infrastruction, etc.), because they feeds on poverty, misery and lack of development and so on.

Here are some snapshots from my "vicarious" experiences:

Snapshot 1:
I was in Hazaribagh (Jharkhand). My hosts were one of the largest - and oldest - NGO in the region (Bihar & Jharkhand). The NGO was started by four engineering graduates in 1971, who were inspired by the ideas of Gandhi, Binoba Bhave and Jai Prakash Narain. They had continued working in programs related to socio-economic development (e.g., supporting micro-entrepreneurship), health & sanitation, education, community mobilisation through forming SHGs, etc... And they covered virtually the whole of Jharkhand and Bihar.

"Just out of curiosity," I asked, "all that you are doing is in the region heavily infested by Maoists. And all that you are doing goes against what these people stand for. Your funding comes from foreign, mostly foreign donors, and your work helps people becoming self-sufficient... And so, they will not have any reason to join the Maoist revolution. Don't you come in conflict with the Maoists?"

"Not really," one of the founders told me, "yes, sometime they accost our people. But you only have to tell them that you are part of "Samiti" - that's how we are known - and they let us do our work. We may not agree with them, but they do agree with what we are doing.... No, there is no conflict of objectives."

Snapshot 2:
This was in the interiors of Chattisgarh. My hostess, an old self-effacing missionary sister, managed an NGO which had worked in the four districts of the state in area of healthcare since 1969. Over a period of time, they had established more than 90 Rural Health Centers (serving 1200 villages), managed by registered nurses, and supported by Mitanis - the Village Level Healthworkers - who were trained by the organisation. It had pioneered a Community Health Insurance scheme, at an yearly premium of "2kg of rice", which provides comprehensive healthcare to more than 90,000 poor and tribals in the region.

The focus of their activities, however, goes beyond the just the physical health. It is a holistic approach, which delves deeper into the causes of ill-health, and deals with them through people-centred activities like leadership training, health education, livelihood-promotion, formation of self-help-groups and tackling the various antecednts of malnutrition. It is more like a social movement, than just a healthcare venture...

When I asked the sister the same question, she said, "No, we never had any problems with them. Maybe, we are not in "The Corridor". But even if we were in their area, why would there be any problems? We, these women in the SHGs, have often achieved the same aims, like fair disbursal of money from government schemes, social justice in a caste-ridden village, through more peaceful means." She thought about it, and then added, "we do have problems of wild elephants, though."

That was January 26th, a very cold day in Pathalgaon. We celebrated the Republic Day by hoisting the Tri-colour...

Snapshot 3:
"You see that hill over there? Beyond that is "The Corridor"," Mr Meher - the "Public Relations Officer" of the NGO I was visiting - mentioned in passing, as if he was describing the location of a roadside dhaba. It was early morning, and I had gone to see the "innovative schools" which the organisation runs in the interiors of Orissa. These classes were held in the premises of the local government schools.

"No government teacher comes to teach here," Mr Meher told me, "but we use their building before the school timings. We recruit a local educated youth to teach the basics of reading and maths, and about health, hygiene, environment, their rights and responsibilities, etc."

There was, of course, an incentive to attend for the kids - free soya milk and bread... which, of course, was also a great attraction for many to even bring their toddler siblings to the school :0)

Later is the day, when we were returning, I asked him about the Maoists. "Your activities cover the whole of Orissa. Even though an NGO, you are almost like a mid-size private-sector company with a "turnover" of Rs. 250cr and employing 1200-1500 professionals" - they are into everything from micro-finance, micro-insurance (with tie-ups with some of the well known corporate insurance companies), micro-enterprise, social development (from running a home for destitute women to SHGs for village craftsmen... including a chain of retail outlets for the produce from the SHGs) - "You are trying to bring income, prosperity, self-sufficiency at grassroot level. Doesn't your work come in conflict with the Maoists?"

He weighed the question, looked at me quizically, and said, "We are doing things which are good for people. Why would we come in conflict with anyone? Yes, there were instances when one of our people were caught by them. But we explained, and they released him."...

Snapshot 4:
I was packing my bags to return the next day, and glanced at the headlines of local edition of Indian Express. Its headline screamed of about the murder of an ex-surpanch by the Maoists/Ultras - he was supposed to be a police informer. What caught my eyes was this line in the news:



"The ultras left behind the posters in which they warned against sale of liquor, trafficking of timber and encroachment of tribal land".
!!!?

I was/am confused. Do I sympathise with the violent "ultras"? NO!... There are better - non-violent - ways...

On the other hand, shouldn't such posters be distributed by the government/ state to its populace?...

We live in confusing times...