On- Naxalism-in- India

Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Ii A • DEVELOPMENT MONTHLY Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET DEVELOPMENT & DISCONTENT Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation February 2007 Chief Editor: Anurag Misra Joint Cover Editor: Dr Sapna N. Singh e-mail: Vol 51 Director Design: (Prod): N.C. Mazumder C.H. Patel DIDnD • editoryojana@hotmail.com ce.yojana48@yahoo.co.in Website: www.publicationsdivision.nic.in Let noble every side Rig Veda CONTENTS THE PROBLEM ISSUES AND CONCERNS Manmohan Singh : 11 : 5 9 VIOLENCE: Devendra CENTRAL BIHAR Sharma 47 REPORT 51 : 44 Mishra & Subhash J&K WiNDOW SACHAR COMMITTEE RURAL UNREST D. Bandyopadhyay. Imtiaz Ahmad BEST PRACTICES , BUOYANT 55 56 59 : 61 DEVELOPMENTAL K. P. S. Gill PANACEA . L. C. Jain NAXALITE Prakash COULD WOES 15 REFORMS MUST TO KEEP GROWTH M.S. SWAM INATHAN LIE IN PANCHAYATS 21 INTERVIEW: WOMEN AND PLANS MOVEMENT IN INDIA , 23 DevakiJain DO YOU KNOW? , IN DELHI 64 66 Singh 29 GREYHOUNDS M. S. Shanker AN INTEGRATED R.K. Bho"nsle INDIA'S GORDIAN Ajay K. Mehra SECURITY A. S. Kalkat IN THE AGE OF GLOBAL TERROR KNOT : STRATEGy CYCLE RICKSHAWS . Geetam Tiwari 31 RELIGIOUS D. C. Bakshi 37 RURAL FINANCE G. S. Kainth 41 IN THE NEWS , :. 72 IN INDIA 70. SHRINES 68 Our Representatives: Ahmedabad: Dhiraj Kakadia, Bangalore: A.G Joshi, Chennai: I Vijayan, Guwahati: P. Chakravorty, Hyderabad: Kolkata: Anindya Sen Gupta, Mumbai: D.L. Narayana Rao, Thiruvananthapuram: Madhu~udan Vernia. Khan Shakeel, YOJANA seeks to carry the message of the Plan to all sections of the people and promote a more earnest discussion on problems of social and econontic development. Although published by the Miuistry of Information and Broadcastiug, Yojana is not restricted to ..expressing the official point of view. 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Road, Nampally, Hyderabad-500001 (Ph. 24605383) *lst Floor, 'F' Wing, Kendriya Sadan, Koramangala, Bangalore-560034 (Ph. 25537244) *Bihar State Co-operative Bank Building, Ashoka Rajpath, Patna-800004 (Ph. 2301823) *Hall NO.1, 2nd Floor, Kendriya Bhawan, Sector 8, Aliganj, Lucknow-226024 (Ph. 2325455) *Ambica Complex, 1st Floor; Paldi, Ahmedabad-380007 (Ph. 26588669) *Naujan Road, Ujan Bazar, Guwahati-781001 (Ph. 2516792) *C/o PIB, e.G.O. Complex, 'A' Wing; A.B. Road, Indore (M.P.) (Ph. 2494193) *C/o PIB, 80, Malviya Nagar, Bhopal-462003 (M.P.) (Ph. 2556350) *C/o PIB, B-7/B, Bhawani Singh Road, Jaipur-302001 (Rajasthan) (Ph. 2384483) 2 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation About the Issue HE GOVERNMENT has admitted now that its writ no longer ran in parts of 160 districts affected by Naxalites converting them into "Liberation Zones" and taking upon themselves the functions of the state administration and police. Naxalism is seen as the single largest internal security challenge ever faced by the country. - T , Of the 13 affected states, the movement is intense in parts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, while it is making inroads in Kerala, Kamataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttarahchal and Haryana. There is growing professionalism in Naxal ranks and their attacking strategy. . The National Common Minimum Programme of the UPA says that the Union Government does not consider the Naxal violence to be a mere law and order problem and it needs to be tackled as a socioeconomic problem. The Naxalites will continue to breed internal unrest and upset peace till such time the economic inequalities are not addressed. Studies show that the poorest of our people are concentrated in the Naxalite belt from Bihar's borders with Nepal to Rayalseema in Andhra Pradesh. Unless their grievances are addressed speedily, their resentment and anger would continue to fuel the Naxalites. Good governance and effective implementation of development programmes are the key elements to counter socio-economic causes of Naxalism. The changes in character and style of the movement must be recognized. There is growing militarization and superior army-style organization. This needs strengthening of local policing and intelligence gathering system. Competent officer's need to be posted in the Naxalite affected districts and areas with stable tenure. "Greyhounds" of Andhra Pradesh can serve as model to other affected states. Winning the confidence of local population is another important area-. In several meetings called by the Centre of affected states, it has emerged that the drive against movement have often been hit by the lack of coordination between states and central intelligence agencies. The positive outcome of these meetings has been that the Centre has now made it clear that it will closely monitor the implementation of counter-revolutionary strategies in different states. Earlier the Union Government's role was only confined to sending paramilitary forces, reirnburs~g security related expenditure to states and modernization- of police. Addressing the meeting of Chief Ministers of naxalism affected states, the Prime Minister said, " our strategy to handle Naxal menace has to walk on two legs - one, to have an effective police response and at the same time focus on reducing the sense of deprivation and alienation", Another important point by the Prime Minister was "The police response is necessary so that the obligation of the Indian state to uphold public order is fulfilled. However, an effective police response does not mean that we need to brutalise the Indian state". The time has come to translate Prime Minister's works into action to halt and curb the spreading of Naxalism and allow.fruits of economic development to reach faster to the affected areas. 0 YOJANA February 2007 3 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Leading. f.romthe front . 4 . Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET . YOJANA February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation The Problem :"N"~;'~;~'i ~l.l - . ~: .--.< -- AXALITES OPERATE in a vacuum created by of administrative and political institutions, "::i .'-- ---- _. inadequacy ,ll-: 'espouse local demands and take advantage of the prevalent disaffection and injustice among t~e exploited segments of the population and seek to offer an alternative system, of governance which promises emancipation of these segments from the clutches of 'exploiter' classes through the barrel of a gun. Naxalite menace remains an area of serious concern. In 2005, naxalite violence claimed over 660 'lives as against 566 casualties in 2004. While the quantum of naxal violence registered a marginal increase of 3.8 per cent in 2005 over 2004, resultant casualties went up by 18.1 per cent. In 2005, the states of Bihar and Jharkhand witnessed a few high profile incidents like looting of weapons from the Giridih Home Guard training centre (Jharkhand) and the J ehanabad jailbreak. However, the overall nax~l violence increased mainly in Andhra Pradesh due to stepped up violence by naxalitt?s following their unilateral withdrawal from the peace talks and ~n Chhattisgarh mainly owing to greater offensive by naxalities to derail Salva Judum, a voluntary and peaceful antinaxalite m~vement by local people. sustain theIr fraternal and logistic links with Nepalese Maoists, though there are no strategic and operational links between the two. Recent Trends The naxalite leadership continues to pursue their ideology to wage protracted people's war.through the Spatial spread: Of the total 12,476 armed struggle to capture political police stations in the country, naxal power, while a significant number of violence was reported' with 460 police naxalite cadres are anti-social and stations in 11 states in 2005. During the criminal elements, In the recent past, current year so far, 372 police stations naxalite groups seem to lay greater have been affected by naxal violence. _ focus on organising along military lines, Avaiiable reports, however, suggest They are also acquiring contemporary that CPI (Maoists) have been tryin~ to weapons. Their constant effort is to increase their influence and activity in upgrade technology and sophistication parts of Kamataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu of, their weaponry and techniques. and Dttaranchal and also in new areas The. latest taCtics adopted by the in some of the already affected states. naxal outfits are to engage in After the merger of Communist Party simultaneous multiple attacks in large Marxist Lennist-People's War (CPMLnumbers particularly against police PW) and Maoist Communist Center of forces and police establishments. Iridia (MeCI) into CPI (Maoist) in In the recent past, there have been a September, 2004, they are reported to number of naxalite attacks on railway be trying to woo other splinter groups infrastructure mainly in Andhra and have also consolidated their front Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and organisations into 'Revolutionary Bihar, DetentioIl--of a train in March, Democratic Front' (RDF) and People's Democratic Front of India (PDFI) to 2006 Latehar District in Jharkhand was also a serious incident even though it intensify then- masS contact programme, Indian naxalite groups continue to did not involve any casualties. YO.J:ANA February 2007 5 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation The overall counter action by the affected states. in terms of naxalites killed, arrested, surrendered and arms recovered from them achieved better results in 2005 and 2006 so far, . however there is an urgent need to .. further improve and strengthen police response particularly by the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra by improving actionable intelligence collection and sharing mechanisms and strengthening their police force~ on the pattern of SIB and Greyhounds in Andhra Pradesh. The Government has taken the following measures to improve poli~e and development response to control the naxal problem:I~~r::~bl:~~:~ Key Initiatives at the State Level ..~t~:~~t~t:~o:~~~b:c' i a~~~fopfuefl,t:iandjh~ti~e, •. Ensure effective implem~;ntatioll of l~nd'leforms:P~nchaYllt (Extension to Sched~IM Areas) A(;t (PESA) and formulation .of resettlement and rehabilitation (RR)policy for. displacea.tribaIS. • fmprove governanceand'establishbetter deliyel)' systems for people centric developme!?-tal activities in thenaxal affesteddistricts .. • Ensure proper andfUlfutilisation of ,fUnd~un4ery~rious developme~t~ . ~,chemessuch as,Bharat. Nirman,!3DI! :BR;,GF',National R;?ral EmploYll,lent.GuaranteeScheine,PMGSY;. Mid (iayMeal Scheme;~tc. areas. This Scheme has been extended for a further period of five years beyond 31 March, 2006. Supply of Mine Protected Vehicles: Keeping in view the increased casualties of police personnel and civilians caused by lED/land mine blasts, the naxal affeCted states have been provided 80 Mine Protected Vehicles (MPVs) under the Police Modernization Scheme. This supply has been streamlined by taking up the matter with the Chairman, Ordnance Factory Board. Long-term deployment of Central Para Military Forces: In order to supplement the efforts of the states in providing an effective response to the naxal violence, Central Para Military Forces have been deployed on a longterm basis as requested by the affected states. India Reserve Battalions: The naxal affected states have been sanctioned India Reserve (IR) battalions mainly to strengthen security apparatus at their level as also to enable them to provide gainful employment to the youth, particularly in the naxal areas. Ten additionaL IR battalions have also been approved for the naxal affected states. Recruitment in Central Para Military Forces: In order to wean Police Response Modernization of State Police:. Funds are given to the states under the Police Modernization Scheme to modernize their police forces in terms of modern weaponry, latest communication equipment, mobility and other infrastructure. The naxal affected states have also been asked to identify vulrterable police stations and outposts in mixal areas and take up their fortification under the Scheme. Revision of Security RelaJed Expenditure (SRE) Scheme in February, 2005: At present, 76 districts in 9 states badly affected by- naxal violence are covered under this scheme. The level of reimbursement under the Scheme was raised in February, 2005 from 50 per cent to 100 per cent and new items like insurance scheme for police personnel, community policing, rehabilitation of surrendered naxaliies, expenditure incurred on publicity. to counter propaganda of naxalites, other security related items not covered under the Police Modernization Scheme etc., were also included. The Scheme has enabled the states to improve ground level policing in the naxal affected 6 away the potential youth from the path to militancy or naxalism, recruitmenC guidelines have been revised to perrni.t 40 per cent recruitment in Central Para Military Forces from the border areas and areas affected by militancy or naxalism. Protection of Railways: In the wake of increased attacks on railway properties, the matter has been. discussed with the Ministry of Railway so as to take appropriate preventive measures in this regard. Salva Judum in Bastar region, Chhattisgarh: An anti-naxal movement began in June, 2005 in' Bastar region of .Chhattisgarh as a spontaneous expression of pent-up anti-naxalite sentiments among the local 'people. The movement was triggered. off by a meeting of eight villages. at Tebmar village in district Bijapur, whereas the villagers expressed their unhappiness with the modus operandi of naxalites causing harassment and starvation of common villagers due to cutting off of emploYII,lentopportunities. Salva Judum activists mobilized villagers/tribals against naxals through a series of rallies, meetings and padyatras in naxal strongholds of the two blocks (Bijapur and Bhairamgarh). of Bijapur police district in South Bastar. This voluntary and peaceful movement by local people has now spread into Bijapur, YOJAN~ February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET . .•.... Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation . Bhairamgarh, Usoor, Sulana and Konta .. fill in critical gaps in physical and social development in the naxal affected areas. blocks in Dantewada district. So far, Apart from these districts, other naxal Salva Judum activists have held more affected areas/districts have also been than 150 anti-naxaliterallies. included under the Backward Regions Keeping in view the importance of Grant Fund (BRGF) Scheme which Salva Judum movement as a major covers 250 backward districts in the bulwark in sustained campaigfl against country. muals and view of the naxalite attacks. Tribal and Forest related issues: In on innocent Salva Judum activists, the to address the areas of state government has been advised t6 order disaffection among the tribals, the enhance the deployment of. security government has introduced the ,forces to provide effective area Scheduled Tribes (Recognition of domination, ensure safety of S~lva Forest Rights) Bill, 2005,. in Judurn activists and strengthen security Parliament. Further, to facilitate of relief .camps. social and physical infrastructure in the forest areas, Ministry of Deve~lopment Response Environment and Forests has, as Backward Districts Initiative requested by the Ministry of Home (BDI): Since the naxalite meanace has Affairs issued general approval to to be addressed on the developmental allow such infr~structure by uti.)ising front also, the Government has provided up to I hectare of forest for non-forest financial assistance of Rs 2,475 crore purposes. The Ministry has also for 5:\ naxal affected districts in 9 states permitted upgradation of kutcha roads of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, constructed intopucca roads. Orissa, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Land reforms employment Madhya Pradesh, Dttar Pradesh& West opportunities in the naxal areas: Bengal under the Backward Districts Naxal groups have been raising mainly lnitiative (BDI) component of the land' and livelihood related issues. If Rashtriya Sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY). Under this Scheme, an amount of Rs 15 land reforms are taken up on priority and the landless and the poor in the crore per year has been given to each of the districts for three years so as to naxal areas are allotted surplus land, this would go a long way in tackling the developmental aspects of the na;x.al problem. The states have been requested to focus greater attention on this area as' also accelerate peoplecentric developmental activities and create employment opportunities in the naxal affected areas with. special focus on creation of physical infrastructure in terms of roads, communication, power as also social infrastructure such as schools, hospitals etc. Conclusion The Central Government views the naxalite menace as an area of serious concern. The Government remains firmly. committed .and determined to addressing the problem. Essentially, the .state governments would need to pursue effective measures to further improve . ground level policing and development response, besides countering the negative propaganda unleashed by naxalites, to contain and control this menace. The Central Government will continue to coordinate and. supplement the efforts and resources of the state governments on both security .and development fronts to meet the challenge posed by naxalism. 0 . (Compilation Yojana, English) by Editorial Team, I ..'.,' T .... I 'Enact Naxal Surrender Scheme' -' - . heU~~?n hbrn~~stryhas , ...•.... requesiedalLrnajor naxal...........affect~~states'to strictlY whether the naxalite has surrendered with .. rms or without. arms. a '"i ," " The .jh~khandGovebllnent has offered sops to naxals to surrender. The main componets .. re: a • M<>nthly allowance of Rs 2,000. • • • Rs 50,000 iIi cash. Life insurance w?rthRs 10 lakh; f9f two years. im~lem~n tl~e .. suriender-cum" rehabilitati0l?:'l'\~chem~s!or ... naxalites whQwant to shu.n' violen~e and' join the mainstrearn. The Gent,ralg()vernment r~in~~urses, u~~er t~eses<y-related exp~ndi~~re,s~reme .• .~'.'. nax~l~ the affectedstat~~,~xpe~~tllre of. upto Rs20,000 per'l'erson,dep~nding upon Major naxahaffected states already have surrender-cum-rehabilitation" schemes for naialites who' 'Wantto shun viole~Ce and jOin the mainstream. The Centrel)as requested all Naxal-affected state~overnme~ts to strictly implement .the;iheme. The Centre also provides assistance to the state govemments. TPe .. ,incentive packages vanesj'from. state-to '--'" • \"ocati?naltraining Lawyers tdfight th~rrc~es in court ,,~ state. • o;Zacre ag~cultur~t~ land. • Free educa~gn ~d he:althf~cilities for the surrenderednaxaliteand faniily. YOJANA February 2007 7 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation ..hff tmom IilPPT !Milts Rail VikasNigal11lil11ited (A Govt. of India Enterprise) First FloQr,August Kranti Bhawan, Bhikaji Cama Place, R.K.Puram, New Delhi .. 110066 Tel:91-11-26182963~26182969,2~182970,Fax:-26182957, Website: www.rvnl.org Creating Rail Tran~port Capacity ahead of Demand ~ , "-"f /tl;__::_'::"W . "~-': ~"-},:,--~-.-; ,:-,-~\ s: <-' ,"":;' t ) ',,'J ,,;: .na aev~lopmel!t.(tqf :<}""', "':%"' , '.""'. eorrlfJorsto hinterlandinclu ~-. Y' ; ,<, "''; ,;~., ,,:,,' :h "fr for mo.•ement -{"3' COD miners, 8 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANAFebruary 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation I:ssues and, Concerns Manmohan Singh rr" , HE FOREMOST concern to-day is internal security, ; "The Centre and the States " , must jointly find solutions to • " the problems we face, The country confronts a wide array of complex internal security problems and threats, Each of these need to be dealt with in different ways, - Inc'reasingly also, they call to.r closer cooperation between the Centre and the states, since problems are no longer confined to a single state but encompass several states, Integrated functioning in a federal set up such as ours, where law and order is a state subject, is not easy but we must' find ways and means to deal with this situation and rethink some of our past practices, intelligence generation and collection, as also the overall strengthening of intelligence mechanism. Analytical capabilities need to be enhanced. Proper benchmarks need to be established against which progress and performance can be measured. The meeting mainly.focused on Left wing extremism, terrorism, and how to assuage feelings' of insecurity among our IJ?inorities, specially Muslims. The developments in the North East and Jammu & Kashmir. also need to be reviewed. The Chief Ministers of'the NorthEastern states and J&K shall recognize a fundamental. reality, namely, that in dealing with problerns of peripheral The real key in the fighting naxalite violence is' 'good' intelligence. This states and societies, we need to be specially sensitive to the nuances of , would involve effective integration of Internal Situation each situation, and the encyclopedic strategic and tactical intelligence, To improve matters, the main stress character of regional and tribal demands properly leavened with ground level which, if not anticipated and dealt with 'information avaj.lable at the level of the has. to' be on capaCity building and Police StationS. The Police is the first improving the capabitity of the states . in time, could culminate in a fullresponder in naxal-related situations, (as also thatofthe Centre) to deal with fledged militancy. States like Mahipur and Nagaland in the North East appear and is a: very important pole. in this current and future .problems, Capacityenti~e effort: Sensitiiing the PoliCe is, building at the state level is most specially vulnerable today demand your crucial, and if there are any financial personal attention. There is little scope therefore, a criticai require~ent. , constraints, the Centre would be willing 'for personal predilections that override Special training for Forces engaged to provide necessary assistance, Out national considerations and in naxalite operations is equally understanding, however, is that the states requirements. important. Andhra Pradesh has an are not doing enough even regarding the The same can be said of J&K. Even excellent training establishment for antifilling up of existing vacancies in the though the situation has shown signs of naxalite operations. Police and otherlawand order agencies; improvements these past two years, we or improving the quality of the state An 'Empowered Group' of Ministers should remain on our guard in view of , Sp~~cialBranches, or toning up -the law continuing efforts by anti-India and is constituted which could be headed by .and order administration, Without the Home Minister, imd include select anti~national elements to whip-up effecti ve lmv and. order; economic emotions' and transform these into a Chief Ministers, to closely monitor the development would be impossible. spread of the naxalite movement .. The violent movement. Group could meet at frequent intervals More attentiqn is needed to improve Naxalite Movement and review special measures that Heed the 'software' for the maintenance of to be taken, nature of assistance ,to be The approach to the Naxalite peace,. This means improving 9 problem needs a blend of firm, but sophisticated, handling of naxalite violence with sensitive handling of the developmental aspects. It is'in the most neglected areas of the country that Left wing extremism thrives today. These are also the main recruiting, grounds for naxalite outfits. While Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are in the forefront of naxalrelated activities today, many other states remain vulnerable: .Chief Ministers must personally take in hand what deliverables are possible even while preparing to meetnaxalite violence through effective law & order measures. YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation 2002 l-+ No. oflricidenls Head No. of Incidents Policep'ersonllei ..killed Ciiriiianskiiled Naxaliteskilled Source: Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) provided. exchange between States. of -personnel Terrorism Concern about the increasing activities of externally-inspired-and directed-terrorist outfits in the country is justified. Intelligence Agencies warn of a furhter intensification of violent activities on their part, with the possibility of more 'fidayeen' attacks; use of suicide bombers; attacks on economic. and religious targets; targeting of vital installations, including nuclear establishments, Army Camps; and the like. Reports also suggest that terrorist modules and 'sleeper cells' exist in some of our urban areas, all of which highlight the seriousness of the threat. These are serious matters and we must find ways and means to deal with these decentralised micro-terrorist outfits. This will necessitate greater alertness on the part of the States and local Intelligence Agencies, as, also the Police who have a locational advantage. Unless the 'best constable' is brought into the vortex of our couIiter-terrorist strategy, our capacity to pre-empt future attacks would be severely limited. In the battle against terrorism, the role of the public will be vital. A major effort is necessary on our part to sensitise the public into becoming allies in this war and persuade some of them to function as counter-terrorist 'wardens', who would report on any 10 kind of unusual activity. Siplliarly, coopting the media and getti~g them to play more positive role would be useful and this should form part of an overall media management strategy. None of this will, however, happen without your personal direction and involvement. On the prevailing insecurity among minorities, specially Muslims, the adverse consequences of this can be extre~ely deleterious for out polity. The responsibility to ensure that this does not happen lies squarely upon all of us. It is unfortunate that terrorism has resulted in certain sections of our populations being targeted, with the result that a wrong impressi,on has been created of the radicalization of the entire Muslim community. It is, hence, imperative that we embark immediately upon a proactive policy to ensure that a few individual acts do not result in tarnishing the image of an entire community, and remove any feelings of persecution and alienation from the' minds of minorities. All religions recognize the existence of certain 'sacred values'. We should seek to highlight the commonality of such 'sacred values' and campaign against pernicious ideas and philosophies such as the "clash of civilizations". Instead we should propagate the idea of a: 'confluence of civilizations' .'Sacred values' are. ideals which are transcendental in nature. We should encourage sober elements in all communities to agree to a proper articulation of 'sacred values' for ,dissemination among people. Both education and the mass media must be actively encouraged to promote, this integrated vision. e must recognize that the Muslim community in large parts of our country nurses a strong grievance of not having been an active participant and beneficiaries of processes of social and economic development. All of us have an obligation to redress legitimate grievances of our minorities. CMs must pay personal attention to ensuring that our minorities are effective partners in processes of social and economic change. In dealing With terrorism, scrupulous regard and respect for fundamental human rights of citizens, particularly of minority communities, ought to be a core concern of our law enforcement agencies. No innocent person should be harassed in our struggle against terrorism. If a mistake is made, effective. remedial corrective measures must be .taken well in time. Government agencies, particularly law enforcement agencies must establish intimate contacts with community leaders and show adequate sensitivity to their concerns. CMs ought to put in place effective mechanisms to achieve these objectives. 0 (Adapted from Prime Ministers opening remarks in the Chief Ministers' Conference on Internal Security.) W . YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Rllral Unrest D Bandyopadhyay EASANTS DID not disappear. Tribals' could not be assimilated with the mainstream populace. Dalits continue to be the landless hewers of wood and drawers of water for the upper classes and castes. The projected trajectories of the development. paradigm .of large scale 'withdrawal of surplus labour from the rural areas to be absorbed in the massive development of the secondary and tertiary sectors had gone awry. Fifty eight per cent of the Indian labour force is still engaged in agriculture and allied occupations. Tribals are being pushed up the hills because of illegal incursion of outsiders in their traditiDnal domain. Dalits continue to swell the ranks of agricultural prpletariat which is increasing in an alarming way. 'Poverty ratio among the SCs and STs continue to be much high~r at 35 per cent and 44.2 per cent respectively as against the national average of little over 26 per cent. Neo-libeJ:al development pro.cess totally by-passed them. Not only that the invasion of the corporate sector into agriculture and forestry and enhancement of ceiling limits on land in some states has exacerbated the incidence of landlessness with the consequential rise in the free floating mass of rural poor moving around in search of employment. This has depressing effect on rural wages and has aggravated casuaUsation of labour on terms grossly unfavourable to them; This is supported by different rounds of NSSO data on agricultural wage from 1983 to 2000. Victims of development - the project affected people (PAP) - add another unpleasant dimension to the scenario of rural alienation and turmoil. There is no fIrm official fIgure regarding the total number of PAP rendered landless due to coercive acquisition of land by the State for "development" purposes. Scholars have made various estimates. The generally accepted fIgure (calculated by Walter Fernandes) is that between 1951 and 2005,50 to 60 million persons were forcefully evicted from their hearth and home. It is it colossal fIgure. It is more than the total population of majority of the member countries of the United Nations. Among the PAPs tribals constitute 40 per Cent. The absolute fIgure would be 20 to 24 million out of the total tribal population of a little over The. smouldering ember of rural unrest in India can be doused by proper action undertaken with understanding. and sympathy, dialogue and . reasoning T1ly author is Executive Chairper~on and Hony. Director, Council for Social Development. He is the Chairman of the'Planning Commission, Expert Groilp on Development issues dealing with discontent, unrest and extremism." , ,J, ' ..• YOJMrA February 2007 11 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation 80 million. It appears that the main brunt of the adverse effects of development had to be borne by the tribals who had the least sustaining power.Not only that, it is estimated that of the 50 to 60 millionPAPs only 28 to 30 per cent has been properly resettled and rehabilitated. This is bad enough. The situation in the case of tribals is far worse. It is estimated that only 18 to 20 per cent of them had been properly rehabilitated. Thus a vast number of displaced, homeless, landless and jobless tribals are roaming about as flotsam and jetsam of the cruel developmentprocess.They are depressed and dejected, irritated and angry. Tribals did not have any concept of "exclusive title or possession within community. Ownership was best understood as mutual respect and recognition of access of an individualor family to a separate plot of land to be used for special requirement of the family" (Prabhu 2002 from Reclaiming Land) which traditionally gave sustenance to the tribals. Tribals lost their control of traditional livelihood resources through several state actions. First is the forest reservation policy which declared forests, degraded forests,waste lands on the periphery and even partly arable lands as reserved forests where hhman habitation was prohibited. These, reserved areas sometimes included Half way across the globe in the villageswhich were allowedto continue Chiapas region of southern Mexic'o without any right or title and which . indigenouspeople declared in 1980"we supplied free or cheap labour to Forest demaI).d absolute respect for our Department and ) to forest persortnel. . communitarian self-determination over The second means of alienatiop was our lands, over all our natural resources the leasing of forest lands to the and over the forms of organization that We . corporate sector for mining, processing we wish to give ourselves are opposed to have our natural industries, agri or forest based business, logging. and timber felling or for resources plundered in the name of a tourism ventures. Tribals were denied supposed national development" (Bart.a access to pasture lands and forests A & Otero.a, 2005). which had been providing 'them with livelihood. The demands of the Chiapas indigenous people in Mexico fully represents the aspiration and demands of 80 million tribals of our country as well. jobless. It is not surprising, therefore, that social unrest has emerged. in the affected areas. It manifests itself in defiance of the authority from simple form of demanding right of community managementof forests to militancy.The State cannot avoid the responsibility of creating conditions in which in sheer desperation and rage, tribals resorted to violence. .ThirdlY; there were the draconian laws regarding wild life. Extension of general laws and their protection and national parks accompanying institutions to the and sanctuaries which forcefully Our old national leadership was well Scheduled Tribal areas created a hiatus excluded all habitations from vast areas aware of it. Way back in 1942 between the "modem" laws and their notified under these laws. By a sly of Mahatmaji wrote in Harijan (18-01agencies and the traditional mode of hand of the forest authorities local 1942) "The Adivasis are the original tribal life and living style. This resulted rightful residents became interlopers or inhabitants whose material position is in a conflict between the traditional encroachers on their own lands. The perhaps, DO better than that of Harijans systems and the formal institutions, . traumatic reversal of the position from and who have been victims of neglect esp«cially with regard to the rights of rightful owner -occupiers to illegal on the part of so called high classes. tribal people over land and resources on encroachers pushed the affected people The Adivasis should have found a which they had subsisted for centuries to desperation to use any means to vent special. place in the constructive without formal ownership deed or title. their resentment. In some places this programrrie" (Gandhi, M.K. - India of Beginning with the colonial time and deep human tragedy was compounded my Dreams, Navjivan Trust, 1947). continuing in the post colonial era, the by the extinction of the species for - Orily Mahatma could have the moral intrusion of formal economy with which such cruel methods were used. courage'during the freedom struggle to privileged individual rights and R~nthambore provides an example own up that the society had neglected individual or corporate profit motive w~ere with the exclusion local tribals die Adivasis. It is not therefore strange has systematically undermined or the tiger population also disappeared. t6 find in the Party Programme of subverted.the' informal. communitarian The story 9f Sariska is not different, Central Comnlittee (P) of CPI (Maoist) system of the tribals and their either. - dated 21.092004, the observationthat livelihood. This crisis has been further Lastly, as already noted the coercive "The State will ensure various forms of aggravated by the recent influx of , acquisition of land for "development" autonomy to all Adivasi communities individuals and corporate bodies into purposes has already displaced about for their full fledged development and the tribal domain and their take over of 80 to 90 million tribals turning them execute special policies accordingly". tribal lands and other natural resources homdess, lalldiess, resourceless and Why sh~t'ld it beieft to CPI.(Maoist) 12 , YOJANA, February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation <-or any odler militant group to do so ? Can't the mighty Indian State do it? Common Property Resources (CPR) where every member of the community had easy access and usage facility used to be an integral part of the social and economic life of the village poor, particularly, for the landless and land poor households. Among the landless vast majority belonged to'Dalit groups. Some scholarly studies have pointed out that dalits are concentrated among the landless agricultural labourers because under the traditional caste system they were excluded from ownership of land. Consequently, for sheer survival they had to depend heavily on the CPR. A study of seven states in semi-arid areas indicated. that CPR accounted for 9 to 26 per cent of household income of landless and marginal farmers, 91 - 100 per cent of their fuel wood requirements and 69 - 89 per cent of the~r grazing needs (Jodha - 1986, Reclaiming Land). However, this CPR is getting increasingly scarce through state possession or privatization including corporatization. In different states corporatiions are being given huge tracts of so called waste land, degraded forest land and semi-arable lands which constituted CPR for the dalits and the village poor; This has badly affected the economic positions of these people. Neo-liberalism has put the dalit and agricultural wor~.ers under triple jeopardy of social, economic and political exclusion. Exasperated and desperate dalit groups constitute the tinder dry flammable substance' awaiting a spark to i~te. The overall employment situation in the rural areas is rather bleak. Out of the total labour force of 363 million (1999 - 2000) in the country, 251 million workers were employed in -the rural ,areas. The primary sector employed roughly 58 per cent of the total labour force. Development of secondary and tertiary'i;'eC'tors could not absorb the surplus labour from the primary sector. YOJANA February 2007 contracts; Incidentally, the protagonists Employment in the organized sector of this move in the State machinery increased very slowly from 24 million in 1983 to 28 million in 1999-2000. It should do well to remember that about 90 years ago in 1917, Mahatma meant an annual average incremental growth in employment of little over 2 Gandhi's first public action in India after coming from South Africa w3;s to lakh,per yem:, which was insignificant , fight for the cause of peasants of compared to the annual rate of growth Champaran in Bihar against unfair of labour force. It is now recognized that in the era of "jobless growth" the terms of contract imposed on them by the European Indigo planters. organised sector's capacity to absorb surplus labour would remain minimal to Advocates of this system should also nil. As a result under compulsion of appreciate that between two unequal circumstances the vast majority of partners there cannot he any fair additional labour force will have to be contract in favour of the weak. absorbed both in the farm and non-farm Land ceiling laws have been segments of the rural economy and in implemented in a tardy and improper the unorganised segment in the urban manner in our c"ountry. Only 7.35 areas. million acres of ceiling surplus land :t ould have several adverse w were vested in the State (March 2002) :consequences. This large army of of which 5.39 million acres were landless workers would tend to distributed among 5.65 million _depress rural wage rates thereby beneficiaries. Even distribution was not accentuating poverty as already done, correctly. In many cases mentioned. It would also increase the beneficiaries with "patta" in land did number tenancies with harsh and not get physical possession of the land . extortionate conditions and terms. The allotted to them. Old owners continued NSSO figure of 7 to 8 per cent of to possess and enjoy the usufruct of tenancy is generally recognized as gross these lands. Worse still are the"cases of under-estimation. Micro-studies by well the same vested land being distributed known scholars indicate that the to different sets of beneficiaries at incidence of concealed tenancies vary different points of time, of course, giving between 15 to 35 per cent in different no physical possession to anyone -of states which have formally abolished them. It only made the poor to fight the tenancies. Extremely severe forms of poor so that the erstwhile landlords could exploitation are noticed in respect of. lord oye!: their former estates. these "inyisible" tenancies. Land holdings after several decades Expropriation of CPR for handing of implementation of ceiling laws still over the land to corporate sector for remain highly skewed. In 1995 tiny agri-business or industry has caused holdings constituted 78 per cent of the depeasantization among the farming tota} operational holding and communities and accentuated commanded 32 per cent of the area.' immiserisation of already poor landless Thus 22 per cent of operational holding and. marginal farmers most of whom controlled 68 per cent of the arable belong to dalit groups. Depeasantisation land. While figures clearly justify directly increases landlessness and further reduction of land ceiling and acute poverty coupled with rationalization of various categories of assetlessness results in debt bondage. land for ceiling purposes, under the pressure of neoliberal economic Active encouragement of the state policies different states are doing the for "contract farming" is putting, selfopposite by enhancing the ceiling limits employed autonomous peasants under in the name of commercialization and harsh and often disadvantageous I 13 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation modernization. of. agriculture. Thus the possibility of getting a parcel of land by the landless for minimal livelihood and household food security is becoming dimmer by the day. Apparently, in different' parts of the country' in different depressed and oppressed groups, there are kegs of dry powder waiting for fire to set in. But the flaming bush fire is not taking place as there is a lack of country-wide political mobilization among the landless and the deprived. Instead of being united on the .basis of class, the poor are fragmented' along caste, ethnic, religious and other divisive lines. Moreover, land struggle tend to differ for different interest groups. Landless strive for land ownership. Tribals and indigenous groups strive for the protection of their traditional righfs on forest and other livelihood resources. Marginal and small farmers strive not only to retain their land but also to make it more productive and to acquire and, or, to enhance their political power and. influence. Thus with disaffection all around th,ere being no coalescing of interests and objectives, no combined determined J;Ilovement was possible to seriously threaten the establishment. hi an agrarian economy like India land confers personality'tO"all individual or a group. It endows 'social respectability. It is a means of political empowerment. It is the ,basic ingredient of a dignified life and living. Hen-ce a just and fair distribution of land resources is of utmost importance for building ~n egalitarian and strife - free society. It is for the state to arrange for equitable redistribution of hind and water .resources and to restore the traditional livelihood rights of the tribals in" the forest areas. Unmet just demands may provoke the sufferers to use force whether for occupation of land or for exercising rights over forestry resources. The ruling establishment cannot avoid "t;akingresponsibility for its . failure to read' the writing on the wall .. 14. Another major cause of rural discontent is the trident of malgovernance by the Forest, Revenue and the Police administration. Rajiv Gandhi pithily described the situation. He observed "the experience of the vast majority of our people at the grassroots have been that, at the interface between the 'people and .the 'administration, the administration is unresponsive, inefficient, unsympathetic, often callous, sometimes even cruel to those whom they meant to serve". The situation is far worse in the tribal areas . What we are witnessing in India and some Latin America~ countries in' the form of rural land movement of violent nature is basically the "third wave" or left politics (Moyo & yeros, 2005). When the agrarian crisis is becoming more acute, there is a deepening of political vacuum in the country side. Traditional parties of the left which had a rather nebulous relationship with the dispossessed in the countryside have, by and large, succumbed to the. logic of capital either to obtain power or after obtaining power, eschewing Marxian Left policies, though many of them still carry the name of Marx in their breast plates .. They are openly and unashamedly promoting neo-liberalism in its crude form discarding even the fig leaf of egalitarianism not to speak of socialism. The "third wave" of virulent left politics is the direct result of the traditional left's subservience to the needs of capital :exhibited. through their adherence to the neo-liberal economic . reform policies. The social base or this new movement which includes the Maoists' of India, is the masses of rural poor Jallen by the wayside because of relentless pursuit of',neo-liberal economic policies. Its leadership is largel y. confined among: the. peasant intellectuals who have disassociated themselves from the established political parties and their university based intellectuals. Their tactic is, predominantly direct action centeri~g round direct physical occupation of land and other natural resources. Some 'of them have opted for armed struggle like the CPI (Maoist) in India. Zapatistasin Mexico and the FARC in Colombia. Their strategy is autonomy from the established political parties and the state. This line is being followed by the rural movement in the Philipplines, India (CPI-Maoist), South Africa, the Zapatistas in Mexico 'and MST in Brazil.' Their ideology' tends to fuse Marxism with the local brand of ethnic or racial discourses. They are quite. sensitite to gender and ecological issues. In fact there is a conscious effort to indigenize the Marxian theory to the specifidocal situation (Moyo & Yeros, . 2005). Long ago Mao Zedong propounded' the 'thesis of "Fish in Water". "Fish" were rural militants. Disgruntled disaffected and resentful poor peasantry, agricultural workers, forest dwellers, displaced persons and the like" constituted the "Water". If their disaffection could be removed or substantially reduced water would evaporate and the fish would be left high and dry and they would cease to exist eventually. Since almost all the demands and grievances of the tribals, Dalits, landless' agricultural workers and the.like could be met and resolved' within the parameters of the Constitution and existing legal and policy frame, a responsive and sympathetic political leadership at different levels can solve the issue of rural unrest if they had the will and if they could transcend their proximate class interests. The smouldering ember of rural unrest in India can be doused by proper 3lction undertaken with understailding and sympathy, dialogue and reasoning. Harsh counter violence might not be the correct response as it had failed so far duting the. last four decades since the "Spri):g thunder" of 1967. 0 YOJANA Feb~ary 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Developmental Woes K P S Gill NDIA'S MOST significant sequity challenges, today and in; the foreseeable future, are internal, although, with hostile ne~ghbours constantly fishing in troubled waters, these have a considerable external <;limension as well. Terrorism and sub-conventional warfa!e ar~ the most important and dangerous manifestations of this threat. As time passes, we h~ve seen. terrorist strategies, tactics and access to technologie~ systematically improve the lethality arid disruptive efficiency of their attacks, even. as. evidence of continuou~ state support and sponsorship by Pakistan and Bangladesh mounts. Each new terrorist ,outrage - ~specially when it occurs in . India's ciries and not in neglected 'hinterland; areas, where such things have become a daily norm - provokes a hysteria of analysis and polltical _ posturing. strength and capacities to deal firmly and effectively the scourge of terrorism. Soon enough, however, the incident is forgotten and there has been little noticeable change in the basic structure of national responses to terrorism over the past decades. The political discourse on the subject of terrorism reflects a range of utterly fruitless peculiarities. Other civilized countries and communities across the world have made the fight against terror an article of faith, where ,the political establishment has risen above petty and partisan politics, giving priority to the fate of the innocent and vulnerable over their own personal and political fortunes. The inteUigentsia and the administration - including justice administration - in these societies,' while they have,remained committed to fundamental values of democracy, have recognized the grave and extraordinary threat to civilization that terrorism constitutes, and have adequately empowered the executive, intelligence . and enforcement agencies to deal with the challenge. There is little evidence that the ruling and 'intellectual' claSses in India will do Public expenditure needs to be directed forcefully to the creation of productive assets in India's villages of . As terrorist capacities augment,. there is a palpa~le expectation after each major incident that, this time, something will change; the Government will announce ~ome new set of measures and policies.J:hat will create the national The author is former Director General, Punjab Police and is President of the Institute for Conflict Management; cum:ntly Adviser to the Government of Chhattisgarh on Naxalism; New Delhi. He is YOJANA February 2007 15 1, Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation this in the foreseeable future. The Indian politiCal perspective and agenda on terroriSm remain unalterably muddled. The political classes in India, unfortunately, seek to make political capital out of everything, often and increasingly to the detriment of the national interest. But a consensus across party lines is necessary on the issue of terrorism and on counter-terrorism policy. Terrorism is a problem that has been, and will remain, with us for many years, and alternately burying our heads in the sand, or responding with hysteria, can only undermine public confidence in the state machinery. Western democracies have, virtually on the ftrst sign of terrorism on their own soil, immediately. secured a consensus on response, establishing necessary and elaborate legislative -instrumentalities, and empowering their enforcement machinery to the hilt. On the other hand, after decades of terrorism on Indian soil, we continue to muddy issues and engage in the game of mutual recrimination and populist posturing. Terrorist organisations across the world are linking up and establishing an immensely c.oordinated and globalised network - but we fail even to secure a minimal agreement on, or coordination. of, national responses. he upshot is that, wherever . terrorism rears its malignant head, more and more troops from the country's various security forces are simply throWn into the conflagration, .willing sacriftces to the state's failure to evolve effective and proactive mechanisms' for the containment and neutralization of this spreading affliction. But the 'security forces' are not the faceless, formless, mechanical 'force' th~t the media, the politicians and the general public think them to be, to be pitched into' the void at will. Human beings make up these forces, and there 16 T will be limits to their willingness for There is, of course, SOme evidence sacrifice if they find that the very' of positive movement in certain people, powers and institutions that they spheres. A new Police Act, long ftght for, and so often die to defend, are overdue, has now been drafted - though careless of their needs and their it has visible and enormous flaws. concerns. And 'such carelessness is Funding no longer remains a bottleneck ~anifest everywhere, as the political for police and security forces' classes remain concerned exclusively modernization - though the utilization with their own survival, security and of funds is riddled with inefficiencies proftt~ rather than with the wellbeing of and leakages. Coordination between the the nation"s fighting men, or of the Centre and State Governments shows nation itself. It would be difficult, today, signs of improvement, though points of' to ftnd.an example of a political leader friction persist. The general awareness who has raised issues relating to the among the political classes and Central interests of security personnel, or even bureaucrats regarding the threat and concerning the necessary powers, dimensions of terrorism. in the country equipment .and facilitiesrequired by appears to be rising, slowly but these forces to secure. effectiveness consistently. While a confusioQ of against an enemy that is constantly perspectives 'persists, early signs of availing of the very latest techriiques, some emerging coherence, at least of technologies and processes of intent if not policy, are becoming modernity. On the other hand, you will visible. find numberless leaders and public evertheless,the long-promi.sed figures who are willing to speak the 'synergy' between various language of the terrorists and their security forces, and between apologists; who constantly exhort us to the states and with the Centre, remains understand 'root causes' and the a chimera, even as systems of command motives of 'our children' and 'our and control of counter-terrorism forces brothers and sisters' who inflict mass remain inchoate. It is useful to notice, murder on innocents. in this context, that, in areas of multiToday, so many of those who bravely force operations involving the Army, the fought terrorism have been abandoned 'unified command' model remains to the mongrel formations of the dominant. This structure, in practice, is terrorists and their 'human rights' fronts, patently violativeof the Constitutional and to the vagaries of a flawed and scheme of the supremacy of civilian deeply prejudiced judicial system; and authority in all matters, including the weight of national institutions internal security and counter-terrorism. appears disproportionately to be exerted The unifted co~and has traditionally to beneftt those who are intent on the meant the supremacy of the Army and 1"'" . destruction of these very institutions, . the subordination or marginalisation of rather than those who s.eek to protect state police forces and para-militari~s, them. Today, it is the terrorists and their and has not been conducive to better proxies who are best protected by our operational coritrol in theatres of multilegal and institutional safeguards, and force operations. It has had only limited by our political orientation; innocents, succe"sses in bringing an end to national assets - both institutional and terrorism or insurgency anywhere. individual - and the men who ftght to Nevertheless, this remains the preferred defend the staty, are often left to their model of command and control own devices in the face of a merciless wherever the"Army is depl6yed,and it and unremitting onslaught. is time for a radical review, and the N Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA February 2007 . Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 02002 ., ......... ---. Naxal Violence in C.hhattisgarh -- 700 ~ 600 500 400 .. __ .... . 2003, 300 ~ --" 200 100 0 2004 2005 ------2005(31.11l.2005) -'-Pollce personnel killed ------- ----" ---- :-.. '. , 2006 (31.10.2006) --- Civilians killed "*",Naxalnes.killed I-+- No. of Incidents -.- Police personnel kiUed .••.•••Civilians kUled "*"' Naxalites killed I I -+-Incldents ~ l Head No. of incidents Police Personnel Civilians killed killed 2002 304 09 46 10 2003 256 30 44 08 2004 352 08 75 15 2005 380 47 118 32 Head No. of incidents Police Personnel killed Civilians killed Naxalites killed Naxalites killed 2005 (31.1 0.2005) 319 45 94 23 2()06(31.10:2006) 627" .' 73 292 52 .' -MHA adoption of a more effective model of coordination and cooperati ve command. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has now been designated the lead agency for countercterrorism and counter-insurgency operations across the country, and continues to be deployed in all major theatres of violence, including Jammu & Kashmir and the Northeast, where the unified command structure is applied. Even in states where the Army is not present, as . in Maoist affected areas, problems of inter-force coordination, as of inter-state coordination, persist. These have been repeatedly underlined by the political leaderships both of the affected states and the Centre, but little headway has been made in securing the necessary 'synergies'. The CRPF is still to secure the wherewithal, the mandate, and the institutional Jransformations necessary to meet the demands of its new role. The prob~em is an .approach that is, at best, piecemeal and accretionist, seeking the arbitrary augmentation of specific capacities - principally manpower, weapons and technologies froni time to time, in response to particulilr emergencies, and without reference to a coherent gameplan. The lacunae in this approach are manifested, for instance, in the pattef:lls of YOJANA February 2007 'modernization' of police and paramilitary forces. 'Modernization' is, in fact, a misnomer for what is happening, and this can at best be described as 'technology enhancement' . The technologies that are being passed out to the forces in the name of modernisation are often 30 to 40 years old, and even in the sphere of emerging technologies such as communications, the acquired models' are often on the verge of obsolescence by the time they are made available. Considering the sheer pace of contemporary technological transformation, it is necessary to set up a special committee for continuous technological evaluation and acquisition. Technologies today are shackling rather than enabling the Security Forces, and large proportions of funds are completely wasted. Another aspect of technology acquisition is its centralization, which has meant, delays, the acquisition of unsuitable technologies and corruption. As corruption in p).lrchases rises, it rather than the requirements on ground begins to detennine which technologies are acquired, and this is tremendously demoralizing for the forces. Modernisation funding, moreover, must become more specific and must be released for use under separate heads. 'Lumped' funding lends itself to greater diversion and 'leakage'. Modernisation, moreover, is not simply a matter of buying better weapons and technologies. The modernisation of systems and minds has entirely escaped the scope of current efforts. Often and 'in certain areas, modernisation may demand a discarding or diminishing lethalitjof weapon systems, rather than their continuous enhancement. More significantly, the manpower profiles; management systems, strategies, methods and protocols for security forces, their respon~es and administration, need to be extracted from the primitive constraints of inherited systems, before we can shape effective counter-terrorism forces and responses. F or years now, the national leadership has been deluding itself, and misleading the nation, into believing that terrorism is something that can lend itself to an easy solu~ion' across the negotiating table ...:. with Pakistan, with terrorist front organisations, and with terrorist groups themselves. The truth, however, is that these are long wars of attrition, and there should be no doubt whatsoever of the malevolent vision or of the determination of India's enemies to keep these wars alive. These are protracted wars, which will require an 17 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation effective and enduring state apparatus to the Government's extension networks in create powerful instrumentalities to hunt areas of conflict simply collapses, down and destroy the terrorists, and to particularly in the rural hinterland, the impose unbearable costs on their endemic 'ieakage' of developmental supporters and sponsors. Unfortunately, resources across the country is we seem to be moving in exactly the magnified even further in such areas, as opposite direction, as appeaseme~t of systems of accountabIlity disintegrate; the' enemy dominates our political a vast proportion of the developmental vision, as security agencies are allocations actually find their way to constantly asked to operate with their insurgent and anti-state groups and little hands tied behind their backs, and as the benefit eventually accrues to the target enveloping environment is made more populations. ,Essentially, fimilly, you arid more conducive to exploitation and cannot 'out-develop' a full-blown operation by terrorists. insurgency. Another aspect of the Indian political discourse on terrorism is the false dichotomy that is created between the 'military vs developmental'solution, or the 'military vs political' solution. This is utter nonsense, but it is politically correct nonsense, and to be an advocate of the 'developmental' or 'political' solution, while excoriating the supposed irrationality of the military solution is a highly rewarding public posture. Thus, rising terrorism and violence across the country is continuously accompanied by much talk on the need f()r development, political and land reforms, and the social emancipation of long-neglected populations in areas of persistent or escalating conflict. Development, we are repeatedly told, is the only solution to the menace of widening insurgencies and terrorist movements; unless we address the 'root causes' of poverty, backwardness and deprivati~n in these areas, the extremist forces will ~nly go from strength to strength. There are several levels at which these perspectives are. wrong, and as a result of which they will necessarily yield counter-productive policies. It is not possible to take up these arguments in detail here (I have written about these elsewhere), but it is useful to notice, basically, the fact that no unique set of 'root causes' actually explains the emergence of insurgent or terrorist violence. The administrative system and 18 ut there is an even more fundamental difficulty with this approach: a modern Government is required to address the problems of backwardness and mass distress not because and where there is anti-state violence; it is required to address these problems across its entire jurisdiction because that, precisely, is what it exists for. A corollary, here, is that by disproportionately allocating resources and efforts for reform (however unsuccessfully) to the .'development' of violence-driven areas, the state validates the idea that social and economic transformation cannot be secured in the absence of such violence, thus producing a demonstration effect that catalyses a further spread of violent ideologies. Consequently, unless conditions conducive to. the efficient delivery of public goods, including education, health and minimal social security, and to massive private investment and decentraliz;ed, widely disperSed, rural enterprise can be created, various 'packages' for areas of conflict or of endemic poverty will have inconsequ~ntial impact. Public expenditure needs, now, to be directed forcefully to the creation of these conditions, of productive assets and capacities, ofa minimal modern infrastructure and facilities in India's villages, which can help them integrate with the booming urban economy, and through this, to the globalizing world. It is crucial to understand that law and order is a precondition for, and not a consequence of, these conditions, and must be maintained across the country and throughout the year, not fitfully, when a particularly urgent challenge confronts us, or when a high profile target or victim is affected. Unless disruptive anti-state violence is contained and conditions of security prevail, ilone of the other terms for this process of reconstruction can be met. The military thinker Carl von Clausewitzwams us that, in war, "the mistakes which come from kindness are the very worst. .. If one side uses force without compunction, undeterred by the bloodshed it involves, while the other side refrains, the first will gain the upper hand." This is the principle that must be kept in mind while framing an approach to counter-terrorism (we are still far from framing a counterterrorism policy or strategy). There is, in the Indian discourse, an air of utter bafflement regarding the question of use of force within the' context of democracy, with the dominant thinking endorsing the idea that all use of force is somehow a violation of democratic principles, and that the state must negotiate a solution to every emerging problem or conflict. Within this bafflement, the idea of the .--rule of law - which (and not the electoral process) is the essence of democracy - has been completely sacrificed. Regrettably, those who claim to speak for democracy seem to be unfamiliar with the most fundamental aspects of c;lemocratic theory, and particularly with the debates on the role of force in democratic governance. Politically correct rhetoric has left us indifferent to the plight of the victims of crirninaland terrorist violence', even while there is a constant harping on the YOJANA February 2007 B Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation concerns and grievances of those who resort to crime and terrorism. In doing this, the dominant discourse, In effect, removes all constraints from those who resort to violent excess, while it places extraordinary and irrational constraints on the agencies of the state that are intended to protect the rule of law. The nature of terrorism demands quick, indeed, immediate and decisive application of appropriate -force; it requires the creation of institutional structures and protocols of response, not only for counter-terrorist action, but for relief and containment of the impact of terrorist acts; above and before all, however, it demands a measure of clarity and an understanding of the nature and necessity of use of force, a realization that the use of capricious, weak and ineffective force compounds and escalates violence, and that continuous emphasis on political and extraordinary locus of instability, with negotiated solution actively privileges violence and terror at the cost of the each of India's neighbours skirting state deeply interests of the law abiding citizen, and ,failure. India is, itself, susceptible to a complex dynamic of of the nation. Thus, when we argue that that has already 'these are our brothers and sisters' , and destabilization 'these are our children', we ignore the extended areas of disorder and nonfact that those whom they kill are also governance to large parts of the country, with nothing resembling an adequate set 'our brothers and sisters' and 'our of responses in e'vidence. The use of children'; and tliat it is the prior, inescapable and constitutional duty of force in the defence of freedom, and of the state to protect. the latter, and to its laws and Institutions, is not just a moral necessity, it is a survival impose the laws of the land, before imperative. It is a demand that must be unrealistic considerations of a universal pacifism destroy the possibility of such. fulfilled, moreover, not with jingoism or' with protection. Counter-terrorist policy and and hyper-nationalism, emerging patterns of communal response are an awful responsibility of polarization and coercion', but rather the state, and must anchor themselves with a strong and sustained reliance on in a practical wisdom, "without conceding too much either to pity or to rationality, on' a detailed understanding of the challenge of terrorism and indulgence." Through history, nations have had to disorder, ap.d of the imperatives of a democratic, lawful and effective maintain and often refresh their independence through the force of arms. response to the threats to the nation's 0 The South Asian region has become an freedom and survival. , Naxal Activity on the Decline, Says Union Home Secretary Centre to help States Strengthen their Police Forces training to the . '~II1~e 1\f.~x~l.~,am~ct~d"Sfate~ "]IJS~O.~ld'~~~rth~"PPtimu!U ;" ...•.•. utIIi~ation of,. fu~ds unde: 'yariou;~.~e?tr;at~c~eIlle!, fat; ~~~~~1al ~~ ..~pr9ye~~~t .. ; i o " .•.... ,~~!iti~~~nrllral ar~~ s;r~~. ¥?i~?'lf9!U~,~~qretaryVK"D'\lgg~1 ~!a:!e~~er~,h~faid,~e,'GovetJlment's ~~p~o~~h','vy.lls,t??!~ngthe Left wing ••• extremists back into the social mainstream. However, firinaction betalcenjfth~y attacked ... pglice. nelnr innoce.nt people. Quggalsaid, the menace was n;o ql'lted'toBihar, Jharkhand, 'qr}s~~,'~h~att~sgarb,. Andhra ~2ad~~h1,e!s~~rJJ ••Aaharas~traand t ~e~t;~etI¥aL~hiteatot!l1 oi51 0 ~0!ic7s~~iqn~;aqed n3:f'a1J?r?blems i~.~pP~.:~h~??mberhaddecteased to ?:72tbis year. < He reiterated that the sai,d. ' ' . "."'- ,- c,,:-, '.,.,,:, EX~!7~s~ri~sa~i~facfioll overt~e: ~'.,'}n?~~al.,a~tiYIty;~rf?ll&&~l ~U~,~?T<1~y~lg~~~lltwgU;ldg? . '~~r.i~~~ntai~i?~th~ :,~~eft~te'~ "wi~nes~i?g ~~llttll!hewa~.e~f !~~!i?n;~holl~dh~v~~e!t~r """rrept and rehabilitation P9lici~~, ~~q~F~!'i?~p~ess~er~o?satt?:. llatio tI~$ol'!*e;;~3;tlaxal:affecte~ Govertlm~~~iwa~r~e~rtoholdtalkS with th.e?~falities .... they .. avenp if g artl1,s'lie1l2ged~eaffected .. tate!> S to~do~tas~rren~er poliqy for naxalities on the1ines of the one in AndhratBnidesh! OntaIks;\Vitll,;:u~i!edJ.,ib~r~ti?u Front ofAs9Ill,~~~~g~l saidth~t the .. oyern~~nt?-"as;cea~y~ort~lks G Provided theygave.iuV$!iting that they ",auld shll.hiWe patllof violence. Brt,d, ?~,~;tr;(}}~~~iSog2~i ? ...... ~~~~~~,4~n~ip.t~e demand~by $tateChief Secretaries; police ditf7re~tsfa!e~; tylrJ)uggal ...•. assured ~7tl}9fa~. ,i!!.!!! being 'deployed. It was notwithst<:tnding, it was encouraging to therefore music to hear panchayat raj hear thepanchayat raj revolution being minister Mani Shankar Aiyar flag a portrayed as a "long term process". lllessage he had picked up at the thr~eNearly 2.5 lakh elected Panchayati Raj day conference on paIlchayats at Vigyan Institutions (PRIs), which, along with Bhavan (June, 2006) that there is a nonthe urban local bodies, constitute an police way of halting the spread of army of some 32 lakh elected Naxalism. Aiyar said that he had heard representatives, with proportional that in tribal areas, where the Panchayat representation for Scheduled Castes and Extension to Scheduled Area Act Scheduled Tribes (and Other Backward (PESA) is effective, and where there is \ Classes in many states). Most respect for traditional institutions, dramatically, PRIs and urban local customs and usages as stipulated in bodies have thrown up 12 lakh women PESA, there is an absence of Naxalism. representatives. And, one half of the Hence implementation of PESA and the . total of 32 lakh representatives are holding of meetings of the Tribal youth below 35 years of age. Advisory Council as stipulated in the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, he Attention was drawn to the threeadded, is ."critical to ending the ~a:xalite point democratic deficit in our system, menace that threatens our unity, stability namely, representativeness limited to its and democracy." arithmetical sense; the deficit in the mandate for panchayat raj despite going The' participants underscored that as far as we could in stretching the gram sabha activism and .social audit and the deficit in an are the only way of securing better' and Constitution; intelligent political relationship being cleaner government at the grassroots. It established between the different tiers of has been brought out that in states and has worked extensively on Panchayati Raj issues. l '{!,.,!"" AXALISM HAS extended where there is better governance in terms of law and order, there is better \~O The author is a noted economist, former Member, Planning Commission, . 21 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation our hierachical system of governance, res~lting in panchayats being perverted into instruments of patronage rather than participation. The answer lies in two other thoughts placed before the conference, both based on the perceptions of the Mahatma: ,one, that Gandhi's demand was for Village Republics, not Village Kingdom. PRIs must function democratically and transparently and be accountable to lively gram sabhas. The other thought brought to attention was Gandhi's concept of governance as oceanic circles spreading outwards as in the ocea~ without anyone circle imposing itself on any other. The conference endorsed the Big Bang approach to devolution in Karen, which has rendered such remarkable results compared to the incremental model preferred by far too many of the other states. Also that funds must be made available to PRIs in such quantum as to reach a critical mass. The funds should flow united; devolution with strings attached will be a debased form of devolutjon. While panchayat raj is revolutionising social relationships in the countryside in. the three vital areas of promoting development, strengthening democracy and ending discrimination, it is also true that policy makers need hard facts for a sound, scientific, scholarly approach towal:ds policy-making for panchayat raj. Aiyar concluded on a haunting note: It is a horror that while in terms of millionaires India ranks eighth in the world, in terms of the Human Development Index it ranks at 127. That is the heart of the development dilemma with which the country is faced. Panchayats are not a panacea-but they can ply our boat to a wholesome life. 0 (Courtesy: 'The Asia.n Age') NEXT STOP: MOON ISRO working on launch of unmanned mission to orbit moon in 2008, followed by manned mission by 2020 22 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation NlUALtSM ;' .'~,,',' /"j" :;to ~ ~ '>f > ¥' ,,' '" l' ~ ~~ ~ .""~ {.. /~IEW'POINT Naxalite Movement in India Prakash Singh HE NAXALITE movement derives its name from a small village Naxalbari on the tri-junction of India, Nepal.and what was then East Pakistan, where tribals took up arms against the oppression of the " landlords in 1967. The movement spread like wildfire to different parts of the country. Some of the finest brains and the cream of India's youth in certain areas l~ft their homes and colleges to chase the dream of a new weld, a new social order. Two decades had passed since th~ dawn of independence and yet large segments of the Indian population _ peasants, workers and tribals cor.tinued to suffer the worst forms of exploitation. The peaceful political process; it was felt, would not be able to brin"g about the necessary change because vested interests controlled the levers ()f power, regulated the wheels of industry' and had a feudal stranglehold over the predominantly agrarian economy. An armed struggle was the only way out, they thought. The ~atithal tribals of N axalbari, armed with bows and arrows, forcibly occupied the land of the kulaks and ploughed them to establish their ownership. Demonstrations were organized against persons holding paddy in their godowns. In many cases, the entire stocks were lifted and distributed or sold locally at cheaper rates. There were violent clashes. Between March and May 1967, nearly a hundred incidents were reported to the . police. The situatior. progressively deteriorated. After some dithering, the West Bengal government ordered the police to take action. The movement was squashed, but "Naxalbari exploded many a myth". The extremists, following Mao's dictum that "if there is to be revolution, theJ:e must be a revolutionary party", formed, on April 22, 1969, the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist). It was declared that "the first and foremost task of our Party is to rouse the peasant masses in the countryside to wage guerilla war, unfold agrarian revolution, build rural base, use the countryside to encircle the cities and finally to capture the cities and to liberate the whole country": Government has prepared a comprehensive 14-Point Plan to deal with the problem. How far these measures produce results, remains to be seen The author is former DG, BSF. He was also DGP, Uttar Pradesh and DGP, Assam. He is Padma Shri awardee on national security. 23 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation , 500 400 300 200 100 o 2002 2003 2005 2005 (31.10.2005) -+-Incidents '~Police-personnel killed """*-Civillans killed '''*Naxalites killed •••.•No. of IncIdents •.•.• Police personnel killed __ Civilians killed, -;{- Nal5 ~ i .:;.'"; ~ ~v q;r element' of popular support for them of the essential state functions like .~ ~ 'Co' ~ NGf ~ ' o;;;.~ ,~ CJ~.he' from the poor in the areas where they heald, education and justice are true, 0"'>;.,1 .~ !'.,# ~ "c:: ~ ilcy have consolidated. then the fudian state has faltered in a big ,s-e,;~ ~ ~ I '. '0, ~;;S; v ~~.$ In SOCIO-econOffilC terms; thi'thIS e way. Though it would not be easy to s . ;;S; ~O~. ~~ ~~ ,ro.?;:,-';'t 'area which the Indian state needs to 'recover the lost ground, it is important "'" ~. ~ lie . .~ .4 . attend to. There are mstances from. the that it should be achieved . .••s~ 2Jf 1946 very outset that whenever the land and : ":r While development deficit in terms :t$' If 1967 development question has been of basic necessities remllins enormous, /I~ both attended, the support to Maoism has there is complete failure on the. land .,~. , a.atIOn of also declined. Popular support to the redistribution front, which has been {ship had Telangana movement started dwindling further aggravated by the agrarian crisis the CPI after Mahatma Gandhi's disciple and reflected in the farmers' suicides in .' 0-- sparked by Sarvodaya (literally meaning upliftment Vidarbha: Andhra Pradesh and other '~""'---:ail"1ffiffie(liate incident, in both cases the of all) leader Acharya Vinoba Bhave states. Unfortunately, land reform does organisational strength provided by the toured. Telangana extensively and not figure in the agenda of the Indian party became the main sustaining factor. realising the importance of ,land state in the post -liberalisation era. The Even the revival of the Maoist launched his famous bhoodan (donation Union as well as the state governments, movement in Srikakulam (Andhra of land) movement from there. In fact, including the Left Front government in Pradesh) in 1980 by Vempatapu Charu Mazumdar too realised this when West Bengal, are busy wooing FDI, Satyriarayana followed intense the' CPM-led United Front government obviously in a bid to cash in on the mobilization of the girijans. However, in West Bengal launched its land 'advantages' of globalisation. Indeed,_ the 1946 movement was different and redistribution policy in 1967 in the globalisation is as much a policysignificant in One distinct way from the wake of the Naxalbari. Reacting to its oriented and plimned process as it is two. The rebellion organised by the CPI impact, he observed: fortuitous one in the era of increased since 1944 was against a feudalinternational travel and the IT boom, . . hI ... wherever there been co Ioma I or d er, m w hi coca 1 was very 1 have 'th but a government can push the agenda . muc h t h"' lOCUS.Th oug h not orgamse d movements on vested . and, e peasant . e of the forces of globalisation by being , . . who gets the possessIOn of the vested agamst the IndIan state per se, ItS 1 d d th I' t 't d .' . an an " e lcense 0 occupy 1. oes oblivious of its own ground realities substantIve battles were fought agamst . only on its own peril. If a large part of th e m depen d ent Indi an state. Ind ee,d th e not rem. am actIve any longer m the . t 'SOCIal order was unhkely to change . . peasant movemen . the Indian populace is tied to land and forests and dependent on it for .overnight and the landlords were quick He further added: livelihood, this reality has to be part of to make alliances with the new ruling ...within a year (of the possession of the government's globalisation oriented elite, but' the party carried forward the the land), the class character of the poor policies too. This means that land and movement in the hope of a great peasant changes and he becomes'a agrarian policies need attention. communist victory and looked forward middle peasant. He no longer shares the Indeed, the anti-poverty programmes to support from the Soviet Union, which economic demand .of the poor and have found a boost with the National was not to be. The Naxalbari movement landless peasant. Thus, economism drives Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, too displayed its distinctiveness and a wedge in the unity of the fighting but, for one, they do not attend to this contradictions as it flourished and peasants and plunges the landless and issue of land rights in rural India and, for decayed on a second split in the poor peasants in despondency. another, the NREGS too is not fairing any communist movement in India. The No wonder, the Naxals today resist better than earlier programmes in ,Srikakulam experience, which in a way . any move by the governments in the reducing poverty. A recent study of the is the spark that has carried the Maoist respective States to carry. out any scheme in Jharkhand concludes: revolution forward despite intense developmental work in the area under 'The picture emerging from this brief factionalization and - splits, is an their control. For, even developmental investigation is far fTOmencouraging. As e;+~ .,anisational skill and understanding # ~# f I> ~ ' ~ ° 38 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation 2004' .84 ,06 09 02 2005. 95 24 29 03 22 27 03 -MHA things stand, there is little difference betwleenNREGA and earlier employment programmes such as NFFWP (National Food for Work Programme). and SGRY(Sanjay Gandhi Rozgar Yojna). And the basic purpose of employment on demand at the statutory minimum wage . is nowhere near being achieved. Further, the forest resources in the country too have been commercialized alienating the adivasis/girijans from forest produce. Industrialisation, mining The security. response too appears to and the const:n:Iction of big dams have have lacked vision, as strategically and Neither the Salwa Judum experiment caused massive displacement of the trainingwise, the Naxals clearly have an ih Chhattisgarh, which is reported to have tribals without proper resettlement edge Over the security forces. Not only pitched the tribals against their own policies. The tribal and dalit have they demonstrated that their development programmes over the intelligence network is superior to the brethren, nor raising a girijan Greyhound years have created new elite structure in police, they have also exposed that the force, which too is having a similar effect, appears to be an appropriate security the community, leaving patches of acute armed police (State or Central) neither response to Naxalism. A movement like poverty and causing distress migration have the training, nor a strategic from there. Moreover, corruption thinking to engage them effectively. Of Salwa Judum which also plans to arm the community against the Naxal attacks by networks involving politicians,. locally course, this is linked also to the larger designating some of them as Special . dominant persons and families, debate on institutional decline of the Police Officers, could also have the contractors (the three could be Indian police at every level, particularly negative impact of some of them settling overlapping too) and bureau,cracy. in at the cutting edge level that is critical areas with forest resources are only for day to day intelligence, and lack of their scores. In any case, the brutal attacks on the Salwa Judum camps in pervasive, they are invasive in the lives a policy for policing violent recent past gives the impression that the of the tribals too. The recent political phenomenon such as the Naxalism. tribals in Chhattisgarh are increasingly crisis in Jharkhand, the State created by Iehanabad would not have happened getting exposed to pressure from both bifurcating from Bihar the mineral rich otherwise.That tl).e Naxals i~ Andhra the sides. Therefore, in order to involve tribal inhabited' Chhotanagpur plateau Pradesh could mine the surroundings of because the interests of the tribals were an police station before mounting an the community in policing such social being ignored in Bihar, amongst other attack so t~at the police persons are upheavals as Maoism, the Indian state and its security agencies need to win the things reflects that the interests of poor neither able to react, nor chase, them, confidence of the. people. The Indian and the marginalised can be clearly shows they have honed in their compromised under ariy dispensation. guerilla tactics to perfection, while the state as manifested at the local with its bureaucracy and security agencies in The naxalite challenge rests upon the security forces do not have a counter YOJANA February 2007 39 issues of agrarian transformation, tribal people's rights, nationality movement and resisting imperialism and globalization adding up to an integrated programme of what they characterize as people's democratic revolution to change the nature of the Indian state. Because of the issues that pursue they have a social base which sustains them despite a variety of repressive measures pursued by the Indian state. strategy either of offence. or defence. Obviously, policing needs, strategies and attitudes require redefinition in the context of the current Indian realities and Naxalism, along with terrorism, is one of the very serious, emerging challenges. The seriousness of the challenge of Naxalism is that though the movement has been using terror as an important tool, it cannot be equated with terrorism because of its socioeconomic dimension and considerable grassroots support to it. Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation areas with perv~ive deprivation does not Manoranjan Mohanty had' three. inspire-enough confidence. The pressures propositions in his perceptive study of of policing a high risk and high tension Naxalism in the 1970s: (i) The Naxalite activity such as Naxal rebellion normally movement was a pre-organisational brings out the worst in the police and movement; (ii) it practised ideological security agencies, leading to custodial parallelism to a large extent crimes such as torture and rape as well mechanically applying formulations of as fake encounters, which indeed indeed the Chinese revolution to contemporary have worse impact than collateral India; and (iii) the strategy pursued by damage, for such acts are premeditated. the Naxalites was a narrow construction Clearly, beyond the common parameters strategy and was not always one of 'like modernisation of equipments revolutionary violence. mentioned in the MHAAnnual Report as . Reviewing the movement in the a strategy to combat Naxalism, current context he finds both change and modernisation of rninds and attitudes IS continuity in each of the three required, which is easier said than done, dimensions. He finds their ideological For, if we are talking of dealing with formulation still underdeveloped on the Naxal violence in thirteen States, we are issue of class -caste-gender relationship, referring to' thirteen State police though some of the groups have been organisations and the Central paraactive on the issues of nationality. military forces being used for anti-Naxal However, they have not realized or operations. This obviously makes the task accepted that the liberal-democratic of police modernisation more complex. process in the country has created space to accommodate people's causes. Second, he finds the Naxalites organised The Maoist expansion in the past few into three major formations-one, having . years has been impressive, if not rejected Cham Mazumdar's line, focused phenomenal-from 55 districts in nine on mass organisation and took states in 2003 to 156 districts in 13 states . parliamentary path as well; second, in 2004 to 170 districts in 15 states in continued Mazumdar's lines and rejected 2006. In their strongholds in about 55 parliamentary politics; the third stream is districts in 12 states, they run parallel sYlJlbolised byCPI (ML) with the governments, which is not surprising legendary Kanu Sanyal as its general given the retreat, if not collapse, of the secretary. Perceptively, he sums up the state in key social sectors such as currelit stage of the Naxalite movement education and health in many states and saying: stranglehold on political power of those While the state failed to recognise who. control land and other economic the character of revolutionary violence, resources. However, only thing the Naxalites failed to abide by the prominently known about their parallel norms of revolutionary violence. government so far is the jan adalat, basically kangaroo courts, and their brutal Conclusion summary punishments that keep the V R Krishna Iyer, whom the people in the area l!.deqwitely terrified. Naxalities would certainly not regard as The expansion of their area of influence inimical to their ideology and cause,. in 170 out of 604 districts of the country appeal to them to stop their mindless and the 'parallel' government they have violence. The July 17 attack on Salwa been able to establish, give them Judum camp has raised several sustenance in a dubious way, give them questions' regarding their tactics; Two a territory to train on and plan their things have in particular been striking. 'revolutionary' foray against the state and First, the slaying of women and children the people. This is impressive given their (as little as three years old) and, second, legendary splits, many of them based on the presence of teenagers among their 'ideology' and 'strategy', which ranks. Both raise disturbing questions, continued till recently. beyond the ideological maze that an Maoism Today intellectual discourse can create, regarding the current nature of the movement as 'Yell as the post-revolution society they would like to create, in case they succeed. They need to indulge in a social audit of their movement without compromising on the principles they stand for. It is questionable if they can . reach ideological high ground with mindless violence they often indulge in. Nax~sm throughout the course it has' followed, has been part of the political churning going on in the country since independence. It is today facing far too complex nationai 'and global environment than in thel940s, 1960s and 1980s. Nationally, it is functioning within the universe of the liberal, what they would describe as -bourgeois, democracy. Despite rejecting it, many of them have been involved with the negative dimensions of the local power politics. Indeed, such engagements are explained away as strategy, but they do lead to the dilution of the ideological morality. Even the ideological realities of the MarxismLeninism-Maoism have changed globally with the collapse of the Soviet state and far reaching changes adopted by China for its economic growth. The question whether it is taking these changes into account while analysing its strategies remains unanswered. The Indian state, in fact, has far too much introspection to undertake both in terms of policies and their implementation. It has to go beyond its knee~jerk.attitude towards a phenomenon like Naxalism. It is indeed not terrorism in the traditional sense of the word, despite using terror as one of its prime tool. Therefore, even the immediate strategy of gealing with Naxalism must take into account. The questions of land reforms and poverty alleviation in the country has ,to be strategised' for visible results at the earliest. Development. programmes must not be perceived as anti-people due to the displacementresettlement hiatus. Indeed, without economic development, strong"arm tactics will not succeed against the Naxalites even with the strongest possible anti-terror law. 0 YOJANA February 2007 40 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Security Terror In • the Age of Global AS Kalkat Terrorism needs a < .top-down approach whi~e Insurgency requires a bottomup approach . terrorism can be attributed to the MAJOR impact of the . development of exclusive instead of globalising world is that inclusive societies. Terrorism draws its security can no longer be strength from one of three sources: comparttnentalised 'militant religious fundamentalism, regionally or nationally and ethnic intolerance or deprivation. any analysis of the security environment Religion sans frontiers, therefore of a region or area has to take into consideration global issues that have a religious militancy, has to be addressed globally. Ethnic. intolerance and direct or indirect impact on the region. deprivation are region-specific, with the Simultaneously the heightening levels of political and social' expectations by common thread of economics running the people and consequently states and through them, and are b~st. dealt with regiollally or nationally. societies are coming under pressure. The changed environment after 9/11 Since.Afghanistan the 'Islarnist holy and the U.S. perception that the warriors' or jihadis, emboldened by definition of national security is not defeating a superpower have constituted necessarily common for all states a grave threat to countries that had highlight the reality that in an interbeen insulated earlier due to their dependent world' security cannot be strength' or distance. Militant Islamist achieved at the cost of others, fundameAta1lsm in its new avatar as . . . (~ Al-Qaeda is now a global phenomenon , . In the long list of weapons of mass and a global threat. His-important that destruction available to the violent this form of religious fuildamentalism is societies there is a new player with an differentiated from religious orthodoxy unlimited reach infinitesimally small which exists in all religions in some cost of production, and fairly basic .1 technology : terrorism in the form of the proportion or other, primarily to. keep the flock together, and 'is no. threat to 'human bomb'. No state, howsoever society or the state. Militant religious powerful, is immune from this weapon fundamentalism, on the other hand, that has the capability of striking from outside or within. The genesis of advocates the use ,of unbridled violence '. The author is former Chief, Indian Peace-Keeping Force (lPKF) and has had extensive experienc~ in combating terrorism and ihsurgency. YOJANA February 2007 41 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation . to terrorise the population and the state is destruction of the established social . the power, res~urces, and authOrity-~ to achieve their ends. The impact is not . system and structure, that is, the whole the disposal of the state. Our laws were' confined to specific regions or weak way of life offree societies. This virus made for the normal law-breakers and and under- developed states but is faced does. not take long to infect homegrown criminals; our forefathers did not across the board by all' societies, products imd soon enough local envisage the rise of this new threat to entailing a global responsibility to criminal gangs get drawn into the humanity and civilisation. jointly confront it. terrorist's web. It is important to make A structured two-pronged approach a distinction. between terrorism and Terrorism isa deadly act committed i's needed to combat the .new threat: by highly trained and motivated people .insurgency, as different approaches are first, a set of laws or 'rules of who are 'devoid of humanity and ,have required to tackle each of them: . engagement' for dealing with terrorists; no value for human life. Tackling it on errorism needs a top-down secondly, a special force organised and conventional lines is unlikely to approachwhiIe insurgency trained to operate under these special succeed. In the fight against terrorism requires a bottom-up approach. laws, with the authority to operate the strengths. of a free society are a!so . For an insurgent movement to flourish, domestically and externally to prevent its weaknesses. Terrorists use the rights it must have support of a segment of the disconnect. This special force should be and liberties inherent in a democratic population whereas terrorism can be supported by a dedicated countersociety to operate with comparative effective with just a few sympathisers terrorism intelligence unit, the freedom and then use the democratic and supporters amongst the popuiation. composition of which should be not the laws to circumvent or evade the In tackling an insurgency, it is a fight for usual police and intelligence operatives consequences. World leaders make the 'hearts and minds' of the people and but social and political scientists, profound statements like 'if ,you the people have to be addressed and psychologists, and cyber and financial sacrifice freedom for ~ecurity you end won over. With. terrorism the leadership experts. This is not to suggest that law up getting neither' and then promptly or perpetrators of terrorism need to' be e~forcement agellcies do not have a proceed to laws in their own country to targeted. Insurgency usually has rural role. Law enforcement is central to curb civil rights and liberties to ensure roots while terrorism has an urban bias. sustaining the normal way of life and security, underscoring the point that The terrorists are as well trained as, and vital for domestic intelligence gathering. extraordinary circumstances need often better equipped than, an army However, operations against terror extraordinary measures. soldier and to pit out paramilitary and groups require capabilities more akin to , . There are no 'good' terrorists, police forces against them is an unequal the military; this requires highly whatever their grievance or cause. Nor equation. Our ~pproach .so far has been specialised forces and a dedicated does terr6rism' have a religion. There to deal with it as a law and order issue, . organisation. This may be the time to are or have been terrorists belonging to . which being a state subject results in constitute such a force in India . almost all the religions of the world : to different states having different The impunity with whic!t some associate terrorism with any particular approaches to the problem' and terrorists, after committing heinous religion is upjustifiedand unfair. The complicating the requirement of a crimes, escape to countries' across the 'coalition' in the fight against terrorist countrywide coordinate approach border or overseas leads to a feeling of and religion together even though, in against terrorism. Delays in the judicial helplessness. It leaves the law this instance, it militant 'Islamist' process add to the problem. enfor~ement agencies the thankless job organisation is the perpetrator. We are' a party to the 'global war of dealing with bureaucracies and the . Fundamentalists very much want this to against terror', Wars are fought under laws of different countries. The world be labelled as the 'clash of civilisation', the articles of war, not under civil laws. community needs to formulate a set of - which serves their purpose of putting all Given that this war is not like special international laws to overcome Muslim countries and Muslim conventional wars, the military is this hurdle. India is na't a soft state; it populations worldwide under pressure. perhaps not the ideal force to deal with just has a higher tolerailc~ level than the The terrorist groups are not ordinary it. Neither are the conventional police West. The danger is that, at some stage, civilians or some misguided youth but and paramilitary forces the best option. a frustrated and anguished population the paramilitary organs of militant When the enemy has already crossed may react and decide.that enough is extremism such as LeT, Naxalites, and the. borders, he cannot seek the enough and' take the law into its OWn the like who believe in the culture of protection of civil law and has to ,be hands. We need to develop a capability extreme violence and whose objective fought wherever and however with all that enables us to send the message that T 42 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation e shall get you wherever,andhowever' and that the Indian state will not be a mute spectator to the murder and massacre of its citizens and children, At the same time, NGOs and like-minded . organisations need to. focus their' resourcesand energiesonaddressing the problem of terrorismfrom a societaland sociological.imgle, which is the only long-termremedy,This is the preventive aspect In the campaign to reach out to the people, the police forces are not the , right vehicle,given the publicperception of their conduct, which is unlikely to inspire confidence or win friends, series in Sri Lanka, where after the is of great urgency.A developed society Colombo bomb incident some of the is highly dependent upon public media unwittingly went into a frenzy utilities, technology, energy, instant over the security concerns of Indian and communication, rapid travel, and South African cricketers. The fact that prompt medical aid to sustain its way of the prime targets, if at all, would have life. Highly ind'ustrialised states are been the Sri Lankan cricketers and that therefore far more vulnerable to top Indian diplomats would be a much terrorist attacks than countries with 'rice more important target than the and fish' economies. The spectre of cricketers escaped the minds of many. terrorism haunts us as an omnipotent In the event, South Africa withdrew its and omnipresent phenomenon. Living team and the terrorists achieved their in fear of terrorist attacks is almost objective. This is not to suggest that the becoming the. way of life. Today the media should underplay the threat 'of . question is not 'whether' but 'wheJ:land terrorism. In fact, they have a vital role where' they will strike again. This will to play in sensitising the public to this result in people fearing to venture out The objective of terrorism is exactly threat. However, they need to exercise of their homes, not a good omen for a what the name implies - to terrorise the care that this sensitisationdoes not whip democratic society: The time for popuilation, If it does not receive analysis is over. It is time for action up public hysteria. publicity, it cannot succeed. The media, before we reach the stage of 'paralysis the public, and politicians can play an India is rapidly reaching a high level through analysis' . 0 important role in denying this. A case of development and meeting this threat (Courtesy: 'The Hindu') in point is the recent cricket 001 tri- is central to our economic progress and i"KJ'~.'".,'".erM:it,T~INadu;.I-tillulchat\ sU"" .,'.'\ siory,~as als(}s~en ari~pcieas~ze(. survey;~ t ,,' .,...."',... ••.•. '.".'"e;a.?esh,.q?jarat,Pqnjab and •.• inthe?umbe~?fmalnq~shed ~~dern. . .""'..> .'" "H~ana.J~rJong tJieposte~ ~ring th~Jast eignt ye~r~,.West undertl0urished!;ifhilarell~as gone\\!p ,bo);s ofdev~lopm~nt, have}over th m 28to18p€fccent. nutr1tlOn~OC~lld~~n~lnee 1998.' . . '., .....,y 1999, wlf~n theiast survey was .(:a;~ried. They~ave imp~oved 6'n 0l;1!' 9therhutRan(ievel()pmentindices, ' tnpugh,' ~S i .• ,,-« - .",' ---,." .. '.'. startledMa~byaPr~8esh '~ject~d ~ .•inctings.of.th~survey; f 'In K~ra1~;thin~ber ()~extremely -undemoupshed .cIil,ldI'ell~~~alm?st dtlUbled;.'Fi1e l,lm6er.ofun?~rweig~t n cliildrenhas ms ne,up:l \.;Tamil:;;;Nadu, sidered.another A Gujamt. . .... Undem6urished%kids Sever~lyundetn~shed HimaChid Pradesh Undemourishedkids Sevelfly .undemqurished Baryima " Undemourishedkids Severely.'.undetn6urisbed YOJANA Febrmiry 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET 43 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation t Violence o o Central Bihar Devendra Mishra _Subhash Sharma Out of box thinking is neededJogo into the cultural roots of violence in central Billar VERYBODY TALKS about the weather, Mark Twain once observed but nobody E., does' anything about it. The " same i.s true about violence in central Bihar. The roots of violence - is the subject of endless commentary, most of it without prescription. ",' , , Recent violence iIi Manipur Village in Sekhpur Distt., and Gciachak Village has only highlighted the gravity and urgency of the situation. In Central Bihar, the various incidents of violence have occurred either in the name of caste or due to land related issues which are often intermingled. But the crux of the problem.is poverty, long term unemployment, material deprivation, social deprivation and finally social exclusion. Basically, it is the questioning of bur social, and economic order along with democratic credential? Is this the absence of peace; or enormous growth of poverty and unemployment, inequity and growing disparity? Whatever it may be the problem is far more serious. More than anything, it is about social exclusion. Social exclusion is about income but it iSilbout more. It is about prospects and networks and life chances. It is more harmful- to the individuals, more. damaging to others self-esteem, more corrosive for society as a whole, no more likely to be passed down from generation to generation than material poverty. Poverty includes not only economic but also social and cultural dimensions. Relationship between distributional and relational questions lies at the heart of social exclusion. Unemployment further adds fuel to fIre: Channels of upward social mobility are gradually being closed off, a phenomenon with crucial' consequences for both the stability and the dynamic evolution of society. Several years ago, Dudley Seers in his article "The Meaning of Development" ,(International Development Review, Vol.lI No.4), stated "The questions to ask about a country's development are: What has been happening to poverty? What has been happening to inequality? What has been happening to unemployment? If all three of these have become less severe, then beyond doubt this has been a period of development of a country concerned. If one or two of these central problems have been growing worse, especially if all three have, it would be strange to call it 'development', even if per capita income doubled. An in-depth analysis of various types of violence in Central Bihar reveals that while in 'the beginning the killing of the landlords and looting of crops/grains were primary strategies, now the imposition of economic blockade or sanctions (preventing labourers to do agricultural tasks in the landlords' fields) and holding of 'Jan-adalat' (people's court) to punish the oppressor are primary strategies (though killing is still considered relevant). At present, economic sanctions are usually imposed by CPI (ML-Liberation) whereas Jan Adalats are usually convened by the Communist Party (Maoists). As the supremo of Ranvir Sena, Brahmeshwar Singh Mukhia remarks about the _ blockade: "The Naxalites have destroyed the farmers of the state. They harass us, extort money, instigate workers not to work on our fIelds, and declare economic blockade which has left more than 40 thousand acres of The authors are members of Indian Revenue Service and Indian Administrative are strictly personal. Service respectively. The views expressed in the article' 44 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA .February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation -2005(31.10.2005) 2002 2003 2004 2005 ~ --- -.... 2006(31.10.2006) 8 ..Incidenls -of Head No. 011 incidents PolIce peraonnel kllIed •..••.• Ivilians kDled "*" N8ll8Dtes killed C I I ..•...Incldents Head __ Police personnel killed •..••.• lvlllsn••kIlJed"*"Naxsllle. C kll!8d I Polletl Personnel killed Civililms killed Naxalltes killed 2002 239 06 111 22 2003 250 26 102 09 2004 323 05 166 01 2005 183 24 70 10 No. of incidents Police Personnel killed Civilians killed Naxalltes killed 2005 (31.10.2005) 161 20 59 07 2006 (31.10.2006) 89 05 34 04 -MHA cultivable land barren in the Bhojpur district alone." Now one more pertinent question arises: why there is more number of incidents of violence and more gruesome violence in Central Bihar than in other parts of Bihar. Following points are relevant First, in Central Bihar the proportio~ of scheduled castes (dalits) population is relatively higher than that in north Bihar; e.g., the population of da1its in Gaya is 26 per cent, in Nawada 25 per cent, in Aurangabad 23 per cent, Nalanda 19 per cent, Rohtas 19 per cent and Bhojpur 15 per cent, against the state average of dalits population being 15 per cent. And numerical strengths counts in democracy not only in elections but also in daily life to protest with more confidence and morale. Second, in Central Bihar most of the landlords belong to two traditionally dominant and aggressive castes, namely, Bhumihar and Rajput and two emerging dominant castes- Yadav and Kurmi, while it is not so in north Bihar where in some regions Brahmins are in majority and in other regions most backward castes (included in AnnexureI by the Govt. of Bihar) are in majority but they are not much dominant in terms of landholding. In Central Bihar, in some parts Kurmis and Yadavas are new dominant landlords. Third, social exploitation and distancing (especially sexual exploitation of women as well as feudal YOJANA February 2007 attitudes) is more pronounced in Central Bihar than in north Bihar. Fourth, the mode of agricultural production and productivity is more advanced (in terms of better irrigation, double cropped area, use of HYV s of seeds, use of chemical fertilizers and insecticides) in Central Bihar, which, in tum, sharpens the relationship between the landowners and the labourers regarding the share of surplus created. On an average, two thirds of gross cropped area and threefourths of net sown area in Central Bihar is irrigated while the same in North Bihar is far less. Fifth, the literacy rate in Central Bihar is more than that in north Bihar, hence the 'culture of silence' is being replaced by the 'culture of questioning' due to better and more awakening of the rural masses .. Finally, there is a very rich tradition of dissent and protest in central Bihar. For instance, formation of Triveni Sangh (Organisation of Yadav, Kurmi, and Koeri) on 30 May 1933 in Kargahar Thana or present Rohtas district) led the movement of three backward castes for higher status and their protest against the upper castes centered in central Bihar. Their positive actions in social sphere were wearing of sacred thread, focus on children's education and intra and inter-caste unity willIe negative actions in social sphere. included restr~ning early marriage and avoiding non-vegetarian foods. On the other hand, their positive actions in economic sphere included demand for occupancy rights in lands in their use as well as reducing high rent on caste ground while negative economic actions included refusal to perform 'beggar', refusal to do menial tasks and to pay extra-legal cases and refusal to sell products to landlords and moneylenders at lower than market rates. Again Kisan Sabha was active in this region since 1930's. Similafly, this region was a fertile ground for the emergence of the socialists in 1960s. Even earlier in Central Bihar, there had been' an alternative religious-social order in the forms of Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, as a challenge to the .hegemony of Brahmanic Hindu social order. The famous agitation led by Chhatra- Yuva Sangharsa Vahini against Bodhgaya 'math' is also very significant in the context of central Bihar. As a land reform measure, lands were distributed among the poor landless labourers for agricultural purposes, out of ceiling surplus land, or bhoodan land or gairmajarua khas land but the new settlees are often dispossessed by the landlords, or the latter are in practical possession and distribution of land exists only on paper. It is important to note that out of 6.48 lakh acres of the total bhoodan lands available, only 2.87 lakh acres (44%) were confirmed by the officials. Secondly, only 39% (2.54 lakh acres) has been distributed so far. Thirdly, a' 45 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation major chunk of 2.79'lakh acres (43%) is shown as not distributable due to being hilly area, river portion; forest area, duplication in the plot numbers, untracing,.etc. Finally, about 1.15 lakh acres of land (17%) is pending for confirmation and distribution. This shows the lack of political will, apathy of the, administration and misdeeds of the donors. As far as central Bihar's position is concerned in ~s regard, still a large chunk of bhoodan lands is not distributed: Feudal attitude (Samanti Vichar, as ties is one of the main problem of th~ is called in Bhojpur) of the upper twentyfirst century and for successfully castes, untouchables has often been transforming Bihar" economy is must. instrumental in igniting the caste tension But in the end, problem can be solved and conflicts. The upper castes often by changing the basic structure of dislike the lower castes sitting on their power and domination. Channels of cots at home at former's visits, or upward social mobility should also be wearing good clothes, shoes or sacred gradually strengthened for stability and threads. As Jagdish Mahto, the founder dynamic evolution of society. Land of naxal movement in Bhojpur told his reforms are one of the important steps. wife before going underground: "when For example, nearly 13 lakh acres of I have no izzat (dignity) left what is the agricultural land was acquired and point of living."20. The untouchability redistributed to the landless poor in and other forms of social distancing rural area of Bengal. Such a massive reOut of 1.67 lakh acres of bhoodan often lead to caste.-conflicts, both at distribution of wealth has helped to lands available in central Bihar's eleven religious and secular public places mitigate agrarain tension. According to districts, only 35% has been distributed (schools, markets, bus station, fields, Prof. Pranab Bardhan "The sharp. that is less than the state average of chaupals etc.). sexual exploitation (in decline in extreme poverty in China 39%. Not only this, even the ceiling terms of having kept, eve-teasing, rape, , may have more to do with the 1978 land surplus land cases in large number are obscene gesture, and remarks) of lower, reforms then foreign trade investment". still pending in different revenue and castes' women by the upper castes' higher courts. In November 2005, in the males has been a very signifIcant cause A strong desire to correct historical entire Bihar 1433 such cases involving of violence. Over the years, caste is injustice, out of box thinking is needed 1,12,696 acres of land were pending of changing its traditional role from to go into the cultural root of violence which 512 cases involving 35090 acres integrating, h-armonic and nonin central Bihar without eschewing the were pending in Patna High court and antagonistic to disintegrating, need for urgency, it i~ equally important Supreme Court of India. In 11 districts disharmonic and antagonistic. In the that steps and decisions taken are on the of Central Bihar, 244 cases of ceiling first phase, there was focus on caste as basis of reasoned argument rather than are pending in which the total area a group of endogamy CIati ki beti jati immediate knee-jerk reaction of any involved is 9015.8 acres. In this region, ko') and commensality; in the second incidents of killing or emotional Gaya, Kaimur 'and Nawada stand fIrst, phase, it expanded to caste for political outbrust. In the end, a holistic approach second and third in terms Of the support 'jati ka vote jati ko;' in the [mal is needed in tackling the escalating maximum area involved in such phase, caste further expanded as an violence in Central Bihar. There is pending cases. As per Bihar govt. data organized force to grab from others, absolute decline in agricultural (October 2005), 4663 cases of protect from others, and hurt and damage production per capita and an even dispossession were reported from the others 'Apni jati bachao, doosri jati steeper absolute decline in foodgrain ' entire Bihar involving 2868.98 acres bhagao alITmitao' thus 'we versus them'. consumption/production per capita. against which 3845 persons were given Since at the core of it is to overcoming possession involving 2323.40 acres; Thus, the consequences of violence of the agrarian crisis, therefore steady thus still 318 persons are dispossessed are very severe-some visible but others increase in per capita cereal of 545 acres of land. In central Bihar invisible, some short-term but others consumption in the violence affected region, the situation is alarming, for long term, some localized but others area will go a long way to mitigate the instance, in Kaimur where 476 persons trans-village/region. Hence, the need of problem. People particularly the are still dispossessed of 210 acres of the hour is enlarging the spread of marginalized and deprived people of land, followed by Gaya with 52 such primary and secondary education and Central Bihar are just like Camus persons dispossessed of 50 acres of by providing free access to information "outsider" who do not play the game land. In other districts of the region, to take various pro-active social, and who are like outsiders to the society situation is reported to be almost economic, cultural and political in which they live, wandering on the satisfactory. However, it is not ruled out measures to prevent the occurrence of fringe, on the outskirts of life, solitary that some genuine cases of the violence because due to merely and ready to die for truth and dignity dispossession are ignored by the local curative devices and reactive measures and rights. Finally, it is no longer revolt .revenue officials or the matter is not the society at large has paid a very of poor against rich but it is a reported to them by the victims because heavy price and continues to do so at' 'metaphysical revolt. The revolt of man the former are not active and sincere in present. In the context of social against the condition of life, an inborn this regard. fragmentation, strengthening of social impulse! 0 46 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation TASK FORCE set up by PM Manmohan Singh to look into . Jammu and Kashmir's i infrastructure problems has ~~ . ....--J recommended the transfer of a 390-MW power project from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation to the state, a Rs 1,750 cron: road development scheme and a satellite business hub for Srinagar. i. A .. • Reconstruction and maintenance of existing physical assets • Comprehensive fiscal adjustment • Investment in physical infrastructure like power and roads • Investment in social infrastructure like heath and education • Creating climate conducive to private investment • Balanced regional development "Demonstrable successes" in the form of heavy investment by the private sector. That's part of the prescription the Prime Minister's task force has for development in Jammu and Kashmir. Many benefits of the India growth story are bypassing Jammu and Kashmir due to the negative investor perception about the security situation in the state. "The state needs to attract some large and medium industrial houses to invest in tbe state," the panel, headed by the chairman of the PM's Economic Advisory Council and former RBI governor Dr Rangarajan, has said. The panel's recommendation for mainstrearning the state into the national and global economy include a slew of quick-yield projects and a foundation for long-term economic growth. Pointing to the fierce competition between states in attracting domestic and foreign investment, the panel felt Jammu and Kashmir was "severely handicapped" due to its poor infrastructure and distance form the major markets. A Special Investment Zone is one of the measures the panel has suggested for the state, where several factors have resulted in a classic "backwardness trap" of low economic activity, low employment and lowincome generation. In its report, the C Rangarajan Committee has also asked for improvement of health, telecom, roads and tourism sectors, improved fiscal policies, and an urgent image makeover for the state. YOJANA February 2007 With power being a problem area for the state, the panel has suggested that the Dulhasti hydroelectric project and 1,020MW Bursar storage scheme be transferred to the state from NHPC. There is an urgent need for a policy framework to develop hydro-power, the panel added. The taskforce al~o pointed out that though tourism has been picking up, it has hardly reached the pre-militancy levels. To reach that level, the panel added, the government needs to modernise airport and fast-track road and rail projects. Pointing out that farming techniques are outdated, the panel said there was a need for better sorting, grading, packaging and cold-chain storage facilities. Road density in J&K is amongst the lowest in the country and the panel has called for expansion of highway corridors. The panel has also pushed for revival of infrastructure in rural J&K. The panel feels that such an improvement will have huge' peace dividends. A short-term measure that has been recommended is to hav'e hotels currently occupied by seeurity forces. vacated and returned to owners who can be given soft loans to renovate them quickly. Projections show that the state needs 6,000 additional beds by 2010 and another 3,000 by 2015. Tented accommodation-a concept the state pioneered in Pahalgam-should meet the need till existing accommodation is upgrade,d and new rooms added. Stressing that inspmng the confidence of potential tourists as a safe and secure destination is the most important challenge for the sector, the task force has called for a "tourism vision document" for the road ahead. Other recommendations include upgrading skills and service standards with the help of leading hotel chains, upgrading the Sher-e-Kashmir Complex with state-of-the-art facilities, harnessing heritage tourism and increase expenditure on tourism promotions. Road. density in the state is among the lowest in the country and existing roads are in poor shape. While it is necessary to improve and expand highway corridors, it is equally important to connect towns and villages to be main corridors through an internal and network, the report has said. The systems -and processes of fiscal federalism that work for the rest of the country "are not necessarily optimal" for J&K. "The content and process of development of J&K has to be designed keeping in view the state's unique historical, institutional and political factors," the task force has said in its report submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The task force, constituted by the . Prime Minister, focused on infrastructure like roads power and telecom, employment-generation initiatives in tourism and horticulture and social infrastructure like health. l:!l 47 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation -. 1 _ PM Pitches for Peace Treaty with Pakistan rimeMinister Manmohan Singh has welcomed President Pervez Musharraf's four-point formula for peace and renewed his offer for a bilateral treaty of peace, security and friendship, which he said would be an instrument of enduring peace and prosperity. Reaching out to Pakistan with his 'vision' of Indo-Pak ties and welcoming 'new ideas' from Pakistan, he said the two countries needed to work together with' an 'open mind' and build trust. Addressing a rally in Amritsar, he said India was working towards better ties with Pakistan, but the process did not have a time frame. "The destinies of our two nations are interlinked and there is a need to P put the past behirid to think about our collecti,:e destiny," he said. He expressed confidence that this could be achieved. ''If our minds are determined and focussed on this goal, I am confident that this destiny c~anbe realised," he said. Singh said a treaty of peace, security and friendship was essential as it would become the instrument for realising "our collective destiny and the basis for enduring peace an~ prosperity in the region." "Last week I read about some new ideas and thoughts expressed from Pakistan," he s'~d,referring to President Pervez Musharraf's four point formula to resolve'the Kashmir issue, which included demilitarisation and joint management of the undivided state. "We welcome all ideas as they contribute to the ongoing thought process," Singh said, adding that if both sides approached the issues with an "open and friendly mind and work together on resolving each of these, it will be possible for us to resolve all pending issues." Expressing confidence that the two neighbours could continue on the path of peace, he said, "This is possible and we will make it happen. This is not a dream, it can be a reality." "I am confident that if we continue on this path of peace, Amritsar can once again regain its glory as a major centre of trade and commerce. I believe this is possible and we will make it happen," he said. .• . " '"'" Santa Comes Calling at Gulmarg, after 17 years Visitors enjoyed a "',\11ite Christmas," as a thick blanket of snow coyered the -~"... ~"""'~ . .,., .. _" landscape A hirge number of foreign and which featured snow scooter race, domestic tourists, besides locals, skiing and a cultural programme and joined the Mass. "This is symbol Of a cultural programme. our rich culture, which stands for Authorities are bracing up for Christmas was celebrated amid tolerance and brotherhood," said a major winter tourism events this fanfare, with the State Gove1J1ment . resident pointing to the decorations at season. However, the Gulmarg launching the Kashmir Snow Festival the church. Gandola, the world's highest, cable car, to attract tourists from all over the Gulmarg wore a'merry look with is not making much business. It world. .tourists taking active.part in the festival, -remains closed most of the time. a Visitors got to enjoy a' "white Christmas," as a thick blanket of snow covered the landscape. Besides a Christmas Mass at the century-old Church, which was thrown open to the public after a gap of 13 years in 2003. Santa Claus came calling after 17 years. I was altogether a different scene t at Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir on 25th December'06. ! BRINGING PEACE People had fun playing snowball with the Santa. "I am here with the message of peace as we yearn for peace, prosperity and tranquility in Kashmir. I am here to pray for peace," said Sarfaraz Khan, a local. resident' dressed as Santa Claus. 48 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Good Morning Kashmir 24/7 Music in Valley ashmir firs.t radio jockey, trying to get audiencefor his 24-hour FM station (Big FM) launched in the state recently. K In the Valley that goes to sleep at six, the channel, from the Adlabs Films and the Anil Dhirubhai Group, may t:ven,mean a lifestyle change. The station head, Parvez Malik, says: "For the city which sleeps at six, now people can rock throughout the night. There. is hardly any electricity and radio can be a good option." Though there are no phone-in pro~rammes initially, the show received a 600 SMSes in the first three houn, of its launch. Another 300 followed in the next few hours. Stationedin a makeshift studio in the campus of Radio Kashmir, the station is functioning from two-room space inside what looks like a tin container. Three jockeys and a few engineers will man the station in the first few months. Twenty-five-year-old Izhar Rishi, picked up after auditioining about 300 young men from across the country, is hosting Big Nun Chai (Kashmiri salt tea on the lines of Big Chai, the morning show aired in Big FM's 45 other stations). Rechristened 'Smile Bhai' after rigourous training in Ahmedabad by radio trainer Dano Day from US Rishi says his mission is to bring. smiles to Kashmidfaces. The Nun Chai is followed by a women's programme, with walk-in guests interacting with an anchor. Another three hours every evening will be dedicated to music, also hosted by female radio jockey. The rest of the day and throughout the night, the listeners will either have pre-recorded programmes of just f1lm songs, "As we grow the channel is also growing", says Malik. While the male jockey is comfortablewith revealinghis identity, the female jockeys are not. Sara Khan (not the real name), a practisinglawyer, loves talking to people but prefers not getting her photograph taken. "Just securityreasons,but you will get to hear my voice everyday." she says. 0 Srinagar Home to W~r1d's largest Tulip Garden mid exploding bombs and the stench of cordite and trinitroglycerine, the flowers continued to bloom in Kashmir and in large numbers. Citizens and lovers of nature would, perhaps, rejoice alike to know that Siraj Bagh in Srinagar is fast emergingas one of the largesttulip gardens in the world, a site where 2.50 lakh tulips will bloom next spring. A During the last one year, various steps have been taken to control encroachment around the gardens and parks and a full-fledged drive was famous gardens of Kashmir by the department." Saying that the secret behind the beauty of the "paradise" lies in its gardens, the Chief Minister Mr Ghulam Nabi Azad advised officers concerned to categorise the gardens and parks in A, B and C to regularise their maintenance and beautification jobs. Mr Azad also asked the department to ensure a good supply of Chinar saplings to all government high schools and ensure their plantations next year. He said that he has already advised school authorities to plant saplings of Chinar and other trees in their premises. He also advised officials to encourage private sector entrepreneurs dealing with production of flowers to invest in the state. 0 49 Tulips are cultivated in Kashmir which is the only place in India where they bloom from March to May in natural climatic conditions .. .Cultivationof tulips has recently been ':considered an attractive prosposition :;pyniany farmers in the region who are :>'shifting diversifying to the crop. or launched to maintain the parks and The tulip garden in Srinagar has gardens efficiently. As a result of a 'beep thrown open to tourists for over record arrival of tourists during the : the past two years and is still a new months of April, May and June; a .attraction for visitors and nature lovers revenue of Rs 75 lakh was realised this year in the shape of tickets to;the in the Valley. YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation MEDIUM: +~ ~ + ENGLISH f:z:ii£]. 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Commercial Block, Mohan Garden New Delhi-11 0 059 Ph. : 25351460, -._ •• _ •• ..;.. •• _ •• 25351794 _ •• _II'. _ Fax: +91-11-25357103 •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ Cable: CONPUBCO •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ Email: publishing@conceptpub.corri •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ •• _ •• ill >- 50 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Sachar Committee Report Imtiaz Ahmad OR A healthy nation it is necessary that all sections comprising it should develop together. If any section of the society lags behind or is not able to benefit from development, policies, the nation .ought to be concerned. . It has been a continuing complaint of Muslims that the process of development witnessed by the country has by passed them and they were being left high and dry. The Sachar Committee was appointed by the Prime Minister so that an assessment of the social, educational and economic conditions of Muslims in India could become available. Muslims are a large and diverse community and are dispersed in all parts of the country. Any assessment of the community's socio-economic and educational conditions of 'the community has to take cognisance of this diversity and recognise that its standing cannot be a function merely of its religious identity. It is likely to vary according, to regional and social divisions prevailing within the community. For example, if a region has not experienced economic development, the entire population of that region is likely to be depressed and backward. Likewise, the community's social standing is likely to be greatly influenced by its social ana economic profile. If the community has .a preponderance of lower social strata, its position will naturally be considerably lower: than another community with a preponderance of better off social classes. The Sachar Committee had to look at all these complexities and come up with a rounded picture of the socioeconomic condition of Muslims in contemporary India. Its report has broadly concluded that large sections of Muslims continue to remain deprived and margnialised and there exists a strong case for carefully planned interventions should seek to ensure that the dismal picture in respect of those sections of the community who continue to be depressed' and disadvantaged, whether in educational or socio-economic terms, changes. . There is considerable scope in the report for it to be read differently by different people. This is natural because with respect to Muslims a wide variety of perceptions and interpretations have been prevalent over a long time. For example; the observation of the Sachar Committee Report that Muslim situation is a little better than that of the SCs and STs, especially with respect to educational attainments, is likely to disturb a whole lot of people who are prone to thinking that and believing that Muslims have stood higher than the SCs and STs and this is sufficient to indicate' that Muslims have been the target of an insidious process of discrimination which the state is obliged to eliminate. It cannot be denied that as a minority community Muslims are susceptible to varying degrees of discrimination. What the Muslim performance visa-vis the SCs and STs suggests that the latter's better performance in certain sectors of life, particularly education, is not because discrimination against them has lessened. They are still treated as untouchables and continue to be far more deeply stigmatised and discrimimited against Muslims. What it suggests is that the SCs and STs have ' been able to take advantage of the opportunities which have become available to them. Clearly, a key determinant of the increased access available to the SCs and STs in education and employment is affirmative action, but the bottlenecks . that the SCs and STs have faced historically are also far more severe. Under the circumstances, a natural conclusion that sections of Muslims would draw is that the benefits of reservation should be extended to them The author is former Professor, Political Sociology, JNU, New Delhi and has worked on issues relating to Muslims. YOJANA February 2007 51 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation to equalise their chances of benefiting from development processes. Perhaps the most relevant part of the report is the discussion of the internal divisions that have been historically prevalent within the Muslim community in India. While the myth of the Muslim minority-the idea that all Muslims are one and there are no social distinctions within them-has been a dominant feature of the discourse about Muslims, they have always been divided within along the axes of caste or caste-like groupings (often described as zats or biradaris) and social assets. Following earlier sociological writings, the report has discussed Muslims in terms of Ashraf (upper or noble born), Ajlaf (converts from artisan and menial castes) and A{zal (lowly) and shows, though not in substantial detail, that differential performance as well as access to developmental'benefits is closely associated with location in terms of these axes. In other words, the Ashraf are more generally advantaged, the Ajlaf are substantially deprived and the Arzal are extremely marginalised. This On the whole, while the findings of. finding of the report has a direct bearing the Sachar Committee are significant on the assessment of the social, and ought to be acted upon, the educational and economic standing of the methodology followed by the community and the interventions required Committee has brought to the fore addrel"sing Muslim marginalisation. several substantive questions which deserve careful consideration. If those Affirmative action is one effective questions are not clarified and settled, instrument of in"creasing access to there is serious risk that the debate on developmental benefits and promoting the report in the days ahead would be equity. One question raised by the caught up in the quagmire of Sachar Committee report is whether unwarranted communalism. affirmative action should be extended to the community as a whole, which elite One question relates to the principle Muslim classes will definitely welcome, of comparison across communities. or whether it should be limited to those What principle was available to the sections that have remained Committee to decide that there was a disadvantaged and marginalised as a need to look at differentials across -result of their overall weak economic communities? Should one not have and social position. On this question the moved beyond to the specificities of . Committee's perspective is ambiguous. those sections and families among Fortunately in the case of l\1uslims Muslims that display similar levels and affirmative action is already provided to those that are disparate? Success or those sl?ctions that are classified as failure, and more particularly levels of backward classes. One anomaly is that socio-economic development achieved, Arzal Muslims, whose social situation is a function not merely of, to use the is similar to the SCs and who suffer language of the Committee, the SRC from the same stigma as characterises the SCs are clubbed along with the Muslim OBCs. Both justice and fair play would require that the bar currently placed on Arzal Muslims, and Dalit Christians, from enjoying the benefit of reservation for SCs and STs should be removed so that they too are entitled to those benefits. Further, if many more Muslim OBC groups have become marginalis~d or continue to be deprived of developmental benefits, they can be put on the Schedule of OBCs. This will ensure that they have increased access to development benefits., For other groups of Muslims, many of whom may be deprived or bereft of the benefits of development to the same extent as others, the necessary condition would be to exert better. At the same time, as the report indeed makes a forceful plea, the' state should ensure through. appropriate public policies that prejudice, discrimination and sense of grievance which act as dampers to groups entitled to equal opportunity ate removed. (Socio-Religious Community) to which one belongs. It is also a function of the assets and resources that a group or family is able to mobilise as it seeks socio-economic advancement. Those endowed with similar or comparable assets are more likely to achieve a similar level of socio-economic advancement. If the data showed that despite access to assets and resources sections within Muslims performed differently, then there would be cause for worry. This question is pertinent because a serious perceptual issue is involved here. It is whether the differentials that characterise Muslims and other SRCs are a function of religion and ethno-religious identity or of other tangible and not so tangible factors. In other words, if it is held that the differentialS are a function of ethnoreligious identity then nothing short of isolating Muslims and treating them aside from others would be the way of ameliorating their condition. On the other hand, if it is held that socioeconomic advancement is less a function of ethno-religious identity and more an issue of assets and resources, then obviously the emphasis would have to be shifted to the creation of assets through ge.neral economic development rather than isolating one SRC for amelioration. The second question relates to the principle of proportionate representation in the different sectors of life such as economy, politics and education .. One line of reasoning that has dominated the discourse of wellbeing of Muslims is that they should be represented to the extent of their proportion in the population. The Sachar Committee report has invoked this principle time and again in making its assessment of the relative postionof Muslims in the different sectors of - social and economic life. Where does this pnnciple come from? There was a time in Indian politics when the principle of parity was widely espoused and propagated and distributive advantages were demanded in terms of population proportions .. It was on this YOJANA February 2007 52 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation State is secular but the society has been constitutional directions sought to both communal and communitarian. restrict, if not reduce or eliminate, those advantages by restricting property rights . Under such conditions the possibilities of the dominant sections holding back and exclusive privileges. At the same time, the legislations sought to create a others or blocking their life chances The Constitution of India attempted framework to equalise life chances' for cannot be denied. to override this principle by making So far as such blockages exist, the everyone irrespective of considerations equity and equality of opportunity State is, and can be made, liable to of social affiliation. At least in some rather tl~anparity to be the guiding basis remove them. The State can be made to cases, the principle of reverse of national life. According to this fulfil that liability both by political. discrimination was also adopted where constitutional principle, the State's role pressures and legal action. On.e has it seemed that without such reverse. is not to ensure that all communities discrimination life chances would not reason to believe that the Prime should be represented in the different Minister was led to constitute the be equalised. sectors of public life in proportion to Sachar Committee to explore whether their share in the population but rather such blockages existed in the case of It is possible that during the past that all communities should have equal Muslims in view of the persistent sixty years the practices of the State opportunity to develop and advance have not been true to the letter and spirit Muslim complaint that they were not even though currently they might have getting a fair deal. Such of the of the Constitution due to which the differential assets and advantages. conclusions and recommendations of equality of life chances has not the Committee that suggest that such materialised for some communities. The Constitution recognised even as blockages exist should be addressed. At Musliins may be one such community. it procJlaimed equality that communities the same time, the publication of the It is also possible that certain (SRCs in the language of the Sachar report cannot be converted into an communities which have had a greater Committee's report) have historically occasion to relapse back into amindset hold over the structure of the State have had. differential advantages leading up where parity rather than equity and deliberately blocked life chances for to the persistence of gross inequalities certain others. One of the dilemmas of equality of opportunity is made the core in real life. Up to a point the legislations of public demands. 0 the Indian society has been that the passed under the direction of the , . principle that polit~cs became a zerosum game in which every gain for one . community was seen as a loss by another community. Awards for Outstanding Wome.oi3anchayatLeacJers the Institute of Social Sciences invitesn<;>rninationsf?r9u~st~llding wp!1"!nPanchayat Leaders to JecognjseWO!T'7n.~anchayat representatiyes' .~?~trit)Utionto public life and developmentofth~Jrl?~n~hayats; The~vvardswiU . b7~res~ntedonthe occasion of women~~~~~!.t~caIEmpo\Ne[.!1"entpay (~.Ie,~r~liol1sin Delhi on 24Apri'2007.T~e\1~~''!}~?!.20?7celepration~isHll1 '8Ind;iJ.IDS,Worilen and. Role of Pancha'yat~.;~e' .. 8~'lebrationsiwil.L al~o.take pl~CElinHangalore,Chennai, BhubaneswCiri,~~~~hi Nagar,"Luckn?W,:Kol~ata ........... a~(tHyderabad. The last date for submission 'ofqQminationsls 30 March 2007. eontact Dr. Bidyut Mohantyatthelnstitut~.9f\Social SCiencesfbrdetails. Institute of Social. SCi~be~s 8 Nelson MandelaRoadl. Vasanf KunJ . .. NewDelhi J10 070,; .A. Tel: (91)11-26121902, 2612J999,;g6895370 Fax: (91) 11-26137()27'( E-mail: issnd@vsnLcom;: .•.... w >YOJANA February 2007 53 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation I 1 r- - - - - - .' - --.....--Traditional-Health Practices -in Kumaoni---wiI - ~ 0 . mooRs on CfRA rtt Commumty (j)evefopment Women: Continuity and Change/ Anjali Capila 81-8069-146-2 Rs. 700 0 linages of Women. in.the F?lksongs of Garhwal Himalayas/ AnJa1t Capda 81-7022-896-4 Rs. 550 Empowering Women Panchayat Members: Handbook for Master Trainers Using Participatory Approach/Amitava Mukherjee and D. Bandyopadhya 81~8069-303-1Rs; 600 0 Learning to Share/ NeelaMukherjee, Vinita Kumar Vol. 1:Experiences and Reflections on PRA & Community Participation/ 81-7022-664-0 Rs. 200 Vol. 2 : Experiences and Reflections on PRA and other Participatory Approaches 81-7022-864-6 Rs. 200 Vol. 3 : Experiences and Reflections on Participatory Approaches) 81-8069-176-4 Rs. 300 CONCEPT At15&16, PUBLISHING COMPANY I I I I I 1 I I 1 1 . 0 Participatory. Ru.ral Appraisal: Methodology and Apphc.atIon (SIRUP-I)/ Neela Mukherjee 81-7022-473-X Rs. 200 0 Participatory Rural A~prai.sal ~ Ques.tionnaireO Survey- Co~paratIve FI~ld ExperIence and MethodologIcal InnovatIons/ Neela Mukherjee 81-7022-560-4 Rs. 200 O. 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I I_ I I 1 I J I I _ to --------- ~,----~~-~ -I Commercial Block, Oh.an M GardenN.ew Delhi-110 059 Ph.: 25351460,25351794 ax: +91-11-25357103 F UJ Cable: CONPUBCO Email: publishing@conceptpub.com >- 1~ ~ ~ Finally a SCHOOL 'With anew school ofTHOUQHT [Z] OPTIONAL: ECONOMICS For IAS/PCS/UGC/lndian Economic Service Class to be start from 14th Dec. 06 [Z] GS : Economy _ 50 hrs. package every month (2nd Jan, 1stFeb., 1stMar) [Z] GS : Current Affairs _ . 40 hrs package from 15th MarchI 2nd April. [Z] GS TEST SERIES from 10th April. Contact Personally or Write to : A S 2 O. 1<~~i."9~:'.A.5. (An Unit of Kalinga School of Economics) 7"1, Old Rajinder Nagar, New ~elhi-60 Ph: 011-24510818,9313684458 54 o 7~ YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Community Radio Run by -Dalit Women 1 . V Balakrishna EADY... Taking ... Cue ... ' One village woman is giving instructions from the control room. Some other viUage women in the studio started singing. The programme is recorded, and it is broadcast. This is not a scene in All India Radio, Hyderabad. This is a scene in a 'community radio station iIi a remote village called Machnoor of Jharasangham MandaI in' Medak District, a backward area in Andhra Pradesh. Here two Dalit women, one Narsamma is from Pastapoor village and the other N arsamma is from Alugolu village, are running a Community Radio Station. Since both their names are similar, their village names have become their identity. They have studied only up to 10th standard and they did not know what is broadcasting and how it is. But now they are experts in recording, editing, dubbing, mixing, all the latest techniques of broadcasting including announcements. All this happened with the help of local NGO called Deccan Development Society (DDS) which is involved in Rural Development Programmes, like women empowerment, s~lf help groups, agriculture. etc. They helped these women with financial 'assistance from the UNESCO in setting up a studio, equipment like recorders, mixers, editing suits etc. An FM transmitter is also set up which will cover a radius of 30 km around Machnoor and cater signal' to more than 100 villages. If one woman remains in the station, the other goes with her UPTR (Ultra Portab1e'Tape Recorder) to the villages and records interviews and talks of experts in the villages. The subjects vary from women issue~, child development, health, social problems, agriculture, pest management, watershed development, drinking water, Iiutrition, child labour, and all other issues related to the villages. They are empowering villages by conducting plays, stories, songs etc. They have credited 500 hours of recordings so far in seven years. Since their station do not have a license to air the programmes they take the recordings to the villages and play them in the public address system and also in ' their group meetings. Since the Government of India ,has taken a decision to gi ve licenses to the community radio stations through out the country, their station will be the first one to get the license and they can broadcast the programmes., 'Initially, people were not willing to hear our programmes, when they came to know how useful they are, they started showing interest' says General Narsamma, who got the title 'General' as leader of a children group earlier. 'We have already provided at least one FM receiver in each village and now we are concentrating on providing an FM receiver to each of our community member in all the 75 villages, as we are going to get license to air the programmes' says Mr Suresh Kumar, Deputy Director, DDS. To know about what these Dalit women are presenting on the Community Radio, one has to log on to www.ddsindia.com. 0 The author is Editor, Yojana (Telugu), Hyderabad. YOJANA February 2007 55 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Mid- Year Economic Review 2006-07 Reforms Must to Keep Growth Buoyant o FULLSTOPS in India's role in accelerating economic growth growth story. Manufacturing with foreign direct investment (FDI) is resurgent services going buoyancy pushing up net capital inflows strong, revenue collection . to $ 12.5 billion du~ing April-June as buoyant, Inflation under compared to $ 7.7 billion during the , control, exports jumping 37.3 per cent, first quarter of the previous fiscal. foreign investment flows strong and no E~ports were also strong at $ 69.5 over heating of the economy' billion during April-October. Simply put, you can get ready to uncork the bubbly to celebrate unprecedented economic growth during 2006-07 though agriculture is not keeping pace with,the overall buoyancy. To step up the gas further, the government now plants to prune tax exemptions, reforms the regulatory system for pension, insurance sectors; and revamp delivery of subsidies by introducing food stamps and smart cards. The finance ministry's and mid-year review of the economy calls for reforms in labour laws, deregulation of mining and steps to boos! agriculture. Irritants like lack of adequate power generation linger, but the big sectors projects the economy racing in the right direction. The external sector has played a key The report has called for caution to ensure that macroeconomic stability as this was key to promoting investment and growth. "Indeed there is need for continuous caution in maintaining macroeconomic stability to support the pick up in investment and growth on an enduring basis. This is particularly so In the current conjuncture with large global macroeconornic imbalances and uncertainty in currency markets," the review said. The pointers frbm the reviewtabled in Parliament-for the 2007 Budget include reforms in labour laws, deregulating of mining and regulatory reforms for 'the pension as well as insurance sectors. Adequate emphasis has been placed to stress on the ~needto open up mining further and encourage market forces to usher in more FM's Review calls for reforms in Labour JAws, deregulation of Mining & steps to boost Agriculture 56 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation momentum into the financial sector. In the case of mining, lh~ 'report emphasises on the unfinished agenda of further reforms. reduction and monetary tightening to .brin'g inflation under control. Furthermore" the lI}oderation of ,internatio'nal • ptices" of ,crude' 0 the buoyant stock market and stable immediate worty, the report has also tJroughtsome, , '' , Part of the optim,ism i~ based on petroleum . ". ,. ~indicat~d. the fact that roblist economic' growth, " n~liei On the expectations front:' th~' " The review pointed out that a large' report,' said. with GDP growth touching'9.1 per part 'of the current problems of cent was based -on resurgence in The review highlighted that though inflation is induced by commoditymanufacturing which grew by 10.9 it seems unlikely that the current specific' supply problems related to per cent and the vibrant services deficit ,is a cause for alarlI}; there is 'products 's~fh as wheat and pulses. sector that expanded by '10:7 per need for continuous caution' in "A durable solution to the price rise cent. maintaining macroeconomic stability problems has to be found in to support the pick up in investment On overheating, the finance increasing yields and domestic output and growth on an enduring basis. ministry reels that the concerns of such products. Simultaneously, "This is particularly so in the current expressed by some sections waS due ma~roeconomic policy response has conjuncture with large global to a combination of high economic to be prospective rather than growth and slow creeping up of macroeconomic imbalances and retrospective", the review said. inflation in manufactured products. The review has, however, clearly, rul~d out any need for alatm,~t this. state. The on'ly area of c~n~~rn highlighted disappointing by the report performance is the ofihe . conditions in.the exchange rate market of the rupee, indicate that there need not. be a cause for ',; "If investment continues to be buoyant and efficiency improves, the lilbour ,reforms to push growth • Tax exemptions, to be • primed agricultural sector which grew by just 2.6 per cent in the first sixmontbs of current financial year. The minimum support price (MSP) mechanism has not delivered the desired results and faired to discover the market price" the finance ministry feels. "There is a need for a clear separation of price support to farmers and procurement by the states, on the one hand and subsidy to 'the poor citizens on the other." On infrastructure, the finance ministry's view is that users should pay for services. Projecting investment need for the 11th five year plan period at $ 320 billion, the review, has cited shortage of electridty,and water supply as key areas of concern. Faced with some upward pressure on inflation, the ,government and the RBI have already initiated measures such as supply management, duty YOJANA February 2007 Efu-lyse~~gup~find~pendent regulatory; system$ ..for.insl:!rance, p~nsionslX:tors, problem of, overheating may tum out to be less real and more imaginary," said the report. Attributing rising 'inflation to supply side constraints besides rapid rise inctedit growth and money supply, finance minister P Chidambaram said the government will take pre-emptive action to contain rising prices. • ,Fine-:tunirig ofsuQsidies • R~form?fthe r~~~lat9ry systems f9r mining sector" uncertainty said. in currency markets," It The ,Committee on Fuller Capital Account Convertibility (2006) indic'ated that a current account deficit to GDP ratio of 3 per cent could be comfortably financed and need for' policy action would arise if the ratio rises substantiaIfy above 3 per cent. . The Plamiing Commission., in the "We have to be ahe,ad of developments and take pre-emptive action, rather than fall back and take corrective action." Chidambaram said it was too early to say whether inflationary expectations have come down. The wholesale prices-based annual' inflation rate declined to 5.16 per cent for the week ended Decemoer 2 from 530 per cent and 5.45 per cent in the two previous weeks, .following a reducation in prices, ()f petrol and disesl. Inflation' accelerted from 4.1 per cent at end-March 2006 to 5.5 per cent on June 17 and again on 18 November. (Compiled Approach Paper ,to Eleventh Five Year Plan, appears to confirm this diagnosis, the report said. Also the changing 'composition of 'demand, which indicates addition to production capacity to support a higher growth rate of the economy, 0 oy Editorial Team, Yojana.) 57 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation " : ":. . ~ ~ "~ ~ ~~mv=rfq-~~ (Declared by the GOI under Section 3 of the UGC Act, 1956) , 17-B, Sri Aurobindo Marg, Neyv Delhi 110016, INDIA NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF EDUCATIONAL PLANNING AND ADMINISTRATION w~bsite:www.nuepa.org Admission"to M. Phil. & Ph. D. 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Government officials working in the field of educational planning and administration, with a minimum of REGISTRAR • . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . • . . . . . • . . . . . • . . • . . • . . • . . • . • . . . . • . • . • . . . . • • • . . • • • • • .• >w 58 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Harnessing Collective Thinking. Power .Interview with' M S Swaminathan suicides - why is it happening, why is it persisting, why is it not going down, why has itgone.down in some areas and not in other places, wbat are the reasons, how to deal with it ADS: Yojana hqs been a very important source of both information and also policy analysis and policy direction and I hope, as the word Yojana reminds us, it is very important for us now to give our own thinking to our own problems, and not be carried away by what others say, what others think. We should apply our minds to our own problems; our own' people will find solutions, local solutions and Yojana must emphasise the need for harn.essing the .collective thinking power of our country through the effective use of Panchayat Raj Institutions. responsible bib-technology which will help to understand both ri~k and benefits in a Very objective manner. Three years back a committee which I chaired recommended a national bio-technology and regulatory and so on. authority which could .be an autonomous body which will inspire public confidence; media confidence, political confidence,. professional confidence. The sooner we have a mechanism' the better, otherwise we ADS: There was a lot of euphoria cif the have to think about fourdiffere~t green revolution, people thought, our issues. One, is the safety of the' production problems are solved, so environment, and then the safety of investment on irrigation, investment on consumer. What we eat should not extension, investments on research cause us harm. Then safety of any everything went down and we are 'new problem that arises, like new reaping the cost of those wrong diseases what we called bio security decisions. and finally trade security. The recent concern particularly in Haryana was more from traders than environmentalist. Traders felt that if European countries know that we have genetically modified rice, they will not import from us. At the moment we are exporting both basmatiand non-bas mati rice about 4 to 5 million tonnes a very large ADS: There are concerns and amount we export. Today, Europe misapprehensions some of them does not permit to export. So in my valid, and some of them inadequate' knowledge what is important for us is report I have mentioned we should look at trade security, we shall look to develop a mechanism, liberated at bio safety and bio security we mechanism which will promote ADS: Very important. In a country where 70 per cent of the people are in agriculture, it is high time, we gave importance to agriculture and therefore, Yojana as an authentic body, can bring ab,out information, for example, even suicides. Farmers' Prof M S Swaminathan is Chairman, National Commission on Farmers. The interviewer is I. Vijayan, Editor, Yojana (Tamil), Chennai, YO.J~A February 2007 59 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation should environment safety about the In our country we cannot force a farmer. There are 150 million farming families all making their own decisions because the land is individually owned, it is not . owned by the Government. Therefore, we can mislead the farmer may be for Ans: Talking about the dry farming areas, one year, but second year you cannot . say in Tamil Nadu, there is a rain for a . year the next year there is no rain, or mislead. So farmer grows a crop with there might be heavy.rain resulting in the hope of net income per hectare, not flood. As result the farmer might not by net yield, if he has got higher income have a good yield. In addition he has to he will go for that and that's why more take loan to buy seed. In view of the income per drop of water movement is above he is given 4 to 5 years time to being started on June 1, 2007. It repay his crop loan. When the World emphasises on how to increase the Bank gives 40 years time to repay the income for farmers, because today loan taken by our country, how can one farming has become uneconomic. And expect a farmer to repay his dues within a year or one season with poor yield or extreme steps are suicide of the farmers. harvest. Therefore we must look at the economics of farming. We should look at the income of the farmer in fact the national commission on farmers recommended agricultural growth should be given by the growth rate in Ans: Yes. The Commission has . farmers income and not just production recommended to reduce the ,crop loan alone. from 7 to 4 per cent. 0 consumers the man who eats the same. So.all these matters. need to be analyzed carefully by a professional body. Even the Hon'b1e Supreme Court of India have recently expressed our concern about the regulatory . mechanism. As I said , objl?ctive mechanism is one, which will weigh the risk carefully which will also weigh the benefit carefully and then come to a conclusion. " a 'Qnes:/:What is genltral, 'llPprehell$ion l;)ftheo~famte,rs'l' Ans: Ordinary farmer wants income security and crops security, he doesn't care whether the variety he grows is hybrid or something which came from genetic modifications. He looks at the product and grows it. If he grows it for one year and doesn't getmore yield or if the crop is not more resis~t or if the quality is not good he will not next year. the '~'E"." verYfiv~.~ute&:~Iqdi8.n •.•........ . frQ.ln., '. CQ ...•jID.......Pl~ ... .ti\).... l ..-....~.l....li ca.' ... .*...•. ; 'ns...•.. X .' pregnancy an,8 chij~birthr . '.' '\lP tQ approxi~atel~ 1.~',OOOW(l' ;deaths perfyear',:l!hese.ateilhe~dings the latestrepot1\by 1JNIC~ onmatern health in llidia./ ~ .•. +. ' ,. ""0- • India'sMat~maf '>.'_ Mo~alityJ£itio ' - .,~", ~'i"<,,:';::. -:." - ,.,,; ~) ha}been,seen;tobetashf~as\~. maternal death~per'J, live [lbout'fouritime;.bighe.r th~. POPUlation:;PoJic~(NlfJ?),+ g~alp~:~" .. per 1,()O,~ Iive'~~irthl; &f • . ~, • !i A~rding'- to.the' ,',~:,- ~msl:a "':,:' __ .' " --:, ,-::~'w:' yMadhya P1;ade~~;and,. .!Prid MMRisa~bigh' as~OO{}I:.~ Assam. .,~ihar~ G~jar;i; ..J;lary~a kamatalm;OriS~a, ~jastlan~!1d l'!e~ Bengal it~~ceeijs 4°ope~fl,~.~~iy l>irths:lt ~as.'fo;md .iliatover th~las('Siit'.~ tear!lthe~ehas been "np Signifi~:tnt:~;: r,eduetion"in theMMR. ... ~../s::.. "0 ._,0" "The MMR in India of\378materhal'~ (leaths per,.i,oO,!)OOliveB.ft.ths.ili: ~;"t l / ". 'k •.). -~ t:- :,~:>- -::":, '-:,~::,:. _ 'j::' '_::~:.' '.~t~: YOJANA February ~007 k:;~ 60 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation ~ '" /4' ~~: '~ ~ '<. ~' bal>icallythe difference between expenditure and receiptl>. In public finance, it means the government il>I>pendingmore than what it is earning. Government expenditure and revenue can be split into capital and revenue. Capital expenditure generally includes those' expenses which result in creation of assets. Revenue expenditure is primarily that which does not result in asset creation..--:.Hkeinterest payments, salari~s, subsidies, etc. Eg., I~xpenditureon construction of a fly over will be capital expenditure, while the salary being paid to government officials supervising the construction will be revenue expenditure. . Similarly, on the receipts side, whatever the government receives as taxes is revenue receipt. Receipts not of a recurriging nature are generally YOJANA February 2007 The Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 has laid down the roadmap for a gradual reduction and finally, elimination of revenue deficit by 2008-09. This will entail raising of revenue and, simultaneously, having some checks on expenses relating to subsidies, The concept, it may be recalled, was salary and pensi0t;! bills, interest popularised by noted British economist payments, etc. After all, the JM Keynes with the aim of pumping a government ought to live within its depressed economy.The basic intention means. behind deficit fimincing is to provide Significance of fiscal deficit ? the necessary impetus to eco,nomic The government's first task is to growth by artificial means. bridge revenue deficit, Second, it . Unfortunately,the extent to which India has been practising deficit financing has must generate the resources for gone way beyond what co~ld possibly investing in projects and schemes of have been contemplated by Lord .capital nature. This may include .equity contribution to public sector Keynes. undertakings, loans for public According to the revise'd estimates enterprises and investment in for 2004-05, while the Plan infrastructure sector projects ..These expenditure was Rs 1.37 lakh ,crore investments yield direct as well as (budget estimates for 2005-06 put it indIrect dividends. at 1.43 lakh crore), the interest The government b()rrowsmoney to payment on loans borrowed to further the ends of deficit financing was Rs. bridge the revenue deficit and fund 1.26 lakh crore (budget estimates for .developmental projects and schemes. 2005-06 put it at 1.34 lakhcrore). It The government, as sovereign, means India is spending nearly the borrows. at competitive rates from same amount on interest payments. as various sources which include the on development. Tl,1isalso explains Reserve Bank of India, commercial the alarming limi~s to .which the banks, general public, external . concept of-deficit financing has been borrowings etc. The total borrowings used to bridge the receipt-expenditure stretched. gap is called fisel deficit. This is be . measured as a percentage of GDP as deficit Should revenue eliminated ? it may not be appropriate to compare Tax is the most important source of borrowings of different years in 0 revenue for a government. The absolute terms. 65 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Cycle Rickshaws In Delhi Geetam Tiwari survive. Often the rickshaws are owned by contractors who demand fixed rent •.• motorized' vehicles from the pullers. They do not care about : ,compared to' any other the technology or the environment in , Indian city. However, the which the rickshaw puller has to number of cycle rickshaws and other . operate: However, this is only one side. motorised-modes has been increasing of the exploitation faced. The over the years. Despite increasing authorities is the cause for much more income levels of the resident population serious concern. and growth in number of cars and Rickshaws are often viewed as cause scooters there seems to be enough for congestion and vehicles which demand for bicycles and cycle violate traffic regulations and cause' rickshaws and thelas. Given the sociochaos on the toad. However, rickshaws economic mix of the city population and spatial pattern, this demand is and other non motorised vehicles in expected to continue in future also. In Delhi as well as in other cities have peen completely ignored in traffic fact, there is a strong case to develop planning and road designs. The road policies and infrastructure which network is .used by at least seven enables smooth movement of cycle categories of motorized and nonrickshaws because this is a zero emissiqn vehicle, and can serve' as a motorised vehicles. feeder mode to bus transport and metro Since primarily bicycles and other rail. non-motorized vehicles use the left side of the road, buses are unable to use the Employment generation is the other designated bus lanes and are forced to . strong argument in favour of cycle rickshaws. It provides opportunity to stop in the middle lane at bus stops. the unskilled migrant population for an This disrupts the smooth flow of traffic in all lanes and makes bicycling, use of honest living. Several case studies have ricks1)aws and other non motorised documented the exploitive conditions under which a rickshaw puller has to modes mOre hazardous. Motorized • 'D." ..~....t.•Ull IS known to h.av. th.e . . E e maximum number of Rickshaws have a positive role in modern. transport system when. mobility and clean environment are the basic concerns of all The author is with Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. 66 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation traffic does not use the curbside lane even when. bicycle and rickshaw densities are low. Providing a separate bicycle and rickshaw track would make more space available for motorized modes and bicycling less hazardous. Clearl~{, it is the lack of facilities for rickshaws and bicycles and other non motorized modes which results in congestion and chaos and not the presence of these vehicles III themselves. The current policies regarding cycle rickshaws and other non motorized vehicles are restrictive and are based on the false notion that efficient transport system does not have any place for these vehicles. Traffic management experts and traffic police have proposed area and time restrictions on the movement of rickshaws in Delhi. The number of rickshaws tpat can be registered in the city is fixed by the government (99,000) in order to restrict the number 'of rickshaws. The registration procedure requires the owner to have a valid ration card. Rickshaws are allowed to be registered only during the stipulated time period twice a year. These restrictive policies must be viewed in the context of the present environment of globalized economy where the highest level of policy makers talk about reducing goveniment controls to enable free market economy to operate! Should these policies not apply to the operations of cycle rickshaws and other non motorized vehicles as well? brought to 20-30 km/h with the help of traffic calming measures. Traffic movement in the old and historical parts of Delhi which includes Chandni Chowk area should be planned exclusively for rickshaw movement to ensure clean and safe mobility. Other arterial roads should be redesigned to include parking for rickshaws and 2.5m wide separate lane. Capacity of MV lanes can be increased by 50 per cent if separate lanes for rickshaws and bicycles are created. This would also result in safe feeder infrastructure for metro and Bus Rapid. Transit System planned for the city. Detailed designs for road cross section and intersections have been prepared f0t: Delhi. Which shows inclusion of separate service lane' and footpath. Service lane includes "services" such as parking for cycle rickshaws and other non motorised vehicles also, and designed spaces fgr bicycle repair, shoe repair and other hawkers. Rickshaws have a positive role in modem transport system when mobility and clean environment are the basic concerns of all. However poor understanding of their requirements and lack of physical facilities for these modes creates congestion and inconvenience for all other vehicles. Often the government promotes restrictive policies for the movement of . these vehicles. It is possible- to design roads and parking facilities for them in cities which will facilitate movement of other'vehicles also. Rickshaws and modern transport Rickshaw moves at an average speed of 12 km/h. For trips which are less then 3 km in length, rickshaw provides .an attractive option compared to bus or metro system. It has an important role as a .feeder system to the metro or other mass transit options like Bus Rapid Transit System. For feeder trips which are less than 1 km, rickshaw can serve as a feeder mode. The other competing modes like bus or three wheelers are not as attractive because they have higher emissions. Nearly' 50% of the trips in any city are less than 5km long, including megacities like Delhi or Mumbai. Rickshaw continues to I offer a viable mode of transport. Number of bicycles and cycle rickshaws in the city are estimated to be 1.5 million and 110,000-300,000 respectively. In addition to bicycles, non-motorised rickshaws are used for delivery of goods like furniture, refrigerators, washing machines etc. Semi-skilled workers, carpenters, masons, plumbers, posunen, and courier services use bicycles. Therefore, the demand for bicycles and rickshaw exists in large numbers at present and is likely to exist in the future also. This situation is not explicitly reCOgnised in policy documents and very little attention is given to improving the facilities for non-motorised modes. YOJANA February 2007 Basic Infrastructure A well functioning infrastructure must fulfill requirements of all road users. road the Pedestrians, bicyclists and nonmotorised. rickshaws are the most critical elements in mixed traffic. A longer lasting safe road-traffic systeni primarily requires two design principles: • Arterial roads which are more than' Rickshaw friendly infrastructure will 30 m right of way (ROW) must have facilitate the use of public transport physically segregated bicycle/nonsystems like metro and Bus Rapid motorised vehicles (NMV) path, Transit systems by improving the which cannot be used by motorised _accessibility to these systems. Such vehicles (especially motorised two policies will also help in enhancing the wheelers). positive role that rickshaws and non • Average speeds onroads which have motorized vehicles can play in city 0 less than 30 m ROW must be transport system. 67 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation ~, Religious Shrines and Rural Employment DC Bakshi UR RELIGIOUS heritage is unique. It is centuries old. Village folks live in harmony despite the diversity in religion and caste, practicing individual faiths and deriving spiritual strength from locall nearby shrines, The basic fact is that the landscape is incomplete without a nearby place of worship - big or small. Let us face the stark reality viz. in terms of a holistic safety cover for the shrines, the sanctum sanctorum and the visiting devotees. Majority of the complexes are unsafe. In an internal security review meeting held in Delhi attended by State Chief Secretaries, it was mandated "We have to be on total alert, identify vital installations, prepare plans to strengthen the intelligence network, religious processions and yatras, also have been identified for' special security measure." Security cover for the shrines can provide jobs to millions in the rural areas Annual fairs at these shrines are the extension of this ethos. Economic activity generated through this medium is sizeable. They are reservoirs of According to a media report, the entrepreneurship. Being virtual renowned Somnath temple in Gujarat is fountainheads of rural economy, a lot to be provided additional security cover. many people get employment in this un- . Admi~tedly, this is a step in the right organised sector during the season. direction since Gujilrat has already witnessed a gruesome telTorist attack at Security cover for the shrines on Akshardham (Gandhi Nagar). Anyone 'self-sustained' basis, which has of late who has visited Somnath would agree assumed great importance can provide that it continues to be a soft target. It is jobs to millions in the rural areas. sUlTounded by sea. The mighty waves Ample help from the state hit the peripatetic walls from three administration and rural development sides. A stray bullet from an ordinary agencies can be made available in this sea-dhow by a band of rogue-telTorists regard. can cause commotion. It can bring The author retired from IAF and is presently Managing Editor, 'Air Power' JournaL 68 YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation down nation's prestige beyond limits. In addition, like any other religious hub, Somnath has its share of vagrants thronging at the entrance, seeking alms and selling petty goods. Such conglomerates are an 'ideal repository for the undesirable characters. They pose a serious security hazard. Why only Somnath? Are the neighbouring shrines less important? The fact is that Somnath is just, one 'amongst the many-equally venerated places of worship in this region. Within the shrines, the devotee.s throng in large numbers for darshan; entry/ exit points are literally choked. They are manned by inexperienced, low-paid staff. Frequent stampedes and petty thefts are a common feature. The rural poverty quotient in India is appalling dismal. According to a lady District Collector in the tribal belt; a village-household's total assets on an average (utensils, beds, clothes and petty cash) are less than Rs 250. Tpanks to the' efforts of Rural Development network at the Centre and state/district, various schemes launched by the government are gradually bringing in the desired changes, not only the mindset of people, but also in terms of facilitating them for better living. Rural Tourism is the talk of the town. Says the Union Minister of Tourism & Culture, Smt. Ambika Soni: "Over the years, industrialization and development have become increasingly urban-centric. The rural areas are suffering from the problems of falling incomes and lesser job-opportunities". According to her, Bharat Nirman Yojana is likely to playa key role to ameliorate the cause of rural folks-. Militancy of late, has become hydraheaded. We need to educate our people to become vigilant. The local shrines need protection. Since, the militancy is no more an urban phenomenon; it is time we extend the long arm of security consciousness to the interiors. shrines management board. • Raise "battalions" of village/town defence councils (on the lines of J&K) to administer security cover to the shrines: This can be a great source for employment. NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) ,recently launched is the ultimate in the chain of events. VIrtual employment has ' Religious shrines cal? be protected reached at the doorsteps of villagers. by: . They do not have to migrate to cities; the administrative far away from their hearths in search of • Streamlining machinery of the shrines with active job. The psychological impact of assistance from state administration. NREGS is highly constructive. The Security aspects need to be word "employment" has found meaning emphasised. Standard procedures in their lives. Not only in the cities, and practices be framed and strictly employment is available in the rural belt followed. Let its onus be fixed on as well. YOJANA February 2007 • Improve intelligence network at grassroots levels. In Arunachal, every village has a "Gaon-Boodha" (he is a paid employ~e) who represents the district's/state's authority. He provides relevant inputs to district administration and also keeps a watch on undesirable activity. Yet another source of employment. • In metro cities, we see school children manning the traffic crossings. How about. bringing young and the needy in rural areas in the folds of security network for shrines. In conclusion, rural employmeJ;1t and religious tourism have immense potential for integration. The coordinates of the matrix are favourable, they .onl~ need a push. 0 69 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Rural Finance In India Gursharan Singh Kainth NDIA IS basically Rural India and Rural .India virtually includes the cultivators, the' village craftsmen' and agricultural laborers. One of the serious and unrelenting problems faced by the Indian farmers' .house~olds has been indebtedness. Despite substantial improvement in agricultural output and distribution of credit, still majority of the farmers are suffering from this needs of the rural people and framed policies conduciVe for the flow of institutional credit for the farm sector. There 'has been substantial improvement in the flow of institutional credit In India for the past three decades. But agricultural credit started growing only after bank nationalization and has increased manifold since then. The overall performance of Indian banking • Rural credit ,system must be compatible with the goals ,oj higher growth with better equity major economic malaise "aIled system is 15per.cent as against the indebtedness along with lack of timely - norms of 18 per'cent of Net Banking and adqequate farm credit. Agricultural Credit. Indian record of .extension of distress witnessed in the country rurar" credit- is a quite story of occasionally takes the form of suicides institutional innovations. A by farmers. It is a symptom of a deepremarkable feature Of agricultural rooted malady arising from inadequate credit extension in India was the public investment and insufficient widespread network of Rural public action in recent years. 9iven the Financial'Institutions. The main story seriousness of the emerging situation, in the extension of rural credit has St Soldier Management Technical been the ascending of commercial IristituteJalandharorganized a two days banks along with RRBs with a National Seminar jointly sponsored by NABARD and Planning Commission, Government of India. Since the inception ,of Central Economic Planning in 1950, the government identified the credit corresponding. fall in the share of cooperatives. This is reflected in the increasing concern in recent years over the effectiveness; governanCe anci financial . health of rural cooperative. There is a strong need to revitalize rural cooperatives and put ,The author is Principal, St Soldier Management and Technical Institute, Jalandhar. 70 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET YOJANA February 2007 Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Lending by the formal financial and land grabbing. Such an Act must Structural transformation taking place institutions to the poor has been stipulate that all lands grabbed by , in the Indian e~onomy has worked unsatisfactory. But their demand for moneylenders in the last 10 to 15 against the agricultural sector. credit has been rising due to growing years should be reverted back to the , Looking to the credit flow toward family size, increased consumption owners .and there should be agriculture and allied sector, there is requirements social obligation and so securitising of moneylender's assets: a positive hope of reverse migration on. But the institutional.agencies not Courts must be instructed to fast track taking place in the country; The only lack the required mechanism to such cases instituted under the Act. village~s in the country will become assess their needs but also often RBI should securitise loan of legal prosperous and urbanities will like to overlook their demand for credit on moneylenders to farmers and take the go back to thevil1age~ for peaceful the ground that their needs are for assets pledged with moneylenders as living. non-productive purposes. Besides, their own security. For landless . perceived high risks, transaction costs workers, banks should take over the The ,declining growth rate iri. and absence of collateral security . loans on their books against the cash agriculture is somethings serious. To kept the poor away from the hold of flow due to these people under boost agricultural growth rate, India formal financial institutions. To reach- NREGP. needs massive investm«nt in both the rural poor, institutional innovations public as well as private investment. Micro finance and Self-help are needed. Banking infrastructure But public investment over the years Groups must be fine-tuned. Suitable needs to re-'orient its finance service -has stagnated or declined. On the mechanism need to be evolved to see for rural poor, An independent broad other hand, subsidies to agriculture that SHGs do not charge high .rates of' research study may be undertaken to sector have been blooming. There is a interests from their clients and. lessen the adminIstrative load and need to reverse the ratio (4: 1) of improve access to those who cannot costs such as reduction in the Investment to subsidies as marginal sign by making their use through documents required for the purpose. , return in terms of agricultural growth thumb impression. The positive Information technology can play a and poverty alleviation are much features. of Kisan Credit ard (KCC) is significant role in rural credit higher through investment than its revolving credit facility, credit delivery system. Therefore, the nature subsidies. limit based on operational holdings of technology suitable at various etc. However, under KCC although levels may be identified. There is a need for legal and the credit limit sanctioned to the institutional changes' relating, to small and marginal farmers appear to . Rural credit system must be governance, regulation and functioning be better 'but the security oriented compatible with the goals of higher of rural cooperative structure and RRBs appears to be a growth with better equity. There is lending policies who have to be critical institutions for merit in considering a comprehensive major hurdle. The scope of KCC rural credit in future. Both the structure Public policy on risk management in should be enlarged to take care of the of cooperative; namely, short run and agriculture, as not only a means of associated needs of the farming long run lending insti.tutions rnustbe relief to distressed farmers but. as an households. Issues of diversion of merged into one entity to provide good ingredient for, more efficient KCC funds for non-agricultural governance and healthy competition in commercialization agriculture. India activities and failure in the timely the banking sector. Furthermore, all the w:ould need new market institution for repayment of credit availed through three tiers of cooperative, that is, state, risk mitigation. A future market is a KCC in some parts of the country and district aJ1dprimaries must function in step in the right.direction,. which in case of large proportion of the 'collaboration with each other, rather heeds to be stre~gthened. The key f<\TIIle,:s eed to be addressed ungently. n than competing. There is a need to issue is minimizing the market risks This can go a long way to bring Joster credit structure to make enhanced for farmers for creating a scale of prosperity to Indian farmers. 0 rural credit a lasting phenomenon. marketing for the produce of the Corrigendum The majority of rural households small farmers, Government should' are with limited land resources coupled with small economic activity accompanied with poor technology.' YOJANA February 2007 promulgate a Prevention of Atrocities on Farmers and Farm laborers Act for addressing usurious money lending On the last page of Jan 07 Special Issue of Yojana, the date of joining of Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia may be read as 04 July, 2004. on a sound, business footing. 71 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation In the News • The legislation to pr~vide for 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in educational institutions including the IITs and IIMs from' the next academic year has become a law with the President Dr APJ Kalam giving his assent to it. The provisions of the Act would not apply to Central educational institution established in tribal areas, institutions of excellence, research institutions of national and strategic importance and minority educational institutions. • Marking the opening up of the Indian stock exchanges to foreign investment, the world's largest stock exchange - New York Stock . Exchange - has entered India by inking a deal to pickup a 20 per cent stake in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) along with Goldman Sachs and two other private equity funds for $ 490 million. • Led by oil refinery production and cement, the six core infrastructure industries posted an impressive growth of 9.5 per cent in November this fiscal compared to 5.7 per cent in the same month of 2005. • The Centre has approved the amendment of Maternity Benefit Act, 1961. This will empower the Central government to revise the medical bonus payable. At present, this bonus is Rs. 250 and the government considers there is urgent need to revise it to Rs 1,000.The Amendment Bill will be introduced in Parliament. • The Union Cabinet has approved a selfemployment scheme for rehabilitation of manual scavengers as a' Central sector scheme. It will benefit about 3.5 lakh three [mancial years from 2006-07 to 2008-09. • The Centre has approved the constitution of two wage board (under a common chairman)- one .for working journalists and the other for non-working journalist newspaper employees. The two wage boards will submit their reports wifu three years. .72 • Other Cabinet decisiono Insurance Amendment Act for revision of FDI cap referred to a Group of Ministers. a Deadline for telecom companies to comply with FDI guidelines extended till the end of January, 2007. a The Union Cabinet discussed a proposal Oltl investment patterns to govern pension funds and decided to convene a Chief Minister's conference on how to invest money they have generated. a The government has decided to completely exit auto major Maruti by selling its residual 10.27 per cent stake which is over Rs 2,700 crore. ~ Passport norms eased The usually cumbersome and stressful process of getting passports made will be easier now following the Ministry of External Affairs move t.o revise the guidelines of issuance of passports to make it user-friendly. The cpanges are: a Eligibility criterion for Emigration Check Not Required (ECNR) stamping will hereafter be matriculation rather then graduation as at present. a No police verification required for re-is~ue of passports. . a Tatkal passport in 14 days and in seven days for an extra Rs 500/• The Union Cabinet has approved amendments to the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2005 to check theft of electricity move effectively. • The UN Security Council has agreed to impose sanctions against Iran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment. The resolution asks all counties to ban the supply of sp~cified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran"s nuclear and missile programmes. [J YOJANA February 2007 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation ,.RAU'SIAS A name that Nation trusts Amazing Success Our 2005 Exam Results : Nine positions secured by our students in first 20 and 49 in first 100 with overall 203 total selections. As regards the past achievements, Study Circle has contributed nearly one-third of the total selections done for Civil Services by UPSC since 1953. It is a well known factthat Rau's is the most trusted and recommended name all over the country for lAS & PCS coaching. Programme Highlights Civil Services/PCS Exam - 2007 & Judicial Services Exam - 2007 • Personal Guidance (English Medium) is available forGeneral Studies! Essay, History, Sociology, Public Administration, Geography, Psychology, Law & Commerce. Unbeatable Strategy Answers that matter : The most crucial fact about coaching is that it should improve the quality of your answers in the minimum possible time. It is precisely this training on which we focus on at Rau's to give an extra edge to the answers you give! ""rite in the Civil Services Examination. . . • • ~~(~~)~ \3l~ / m~, ~, ~I ~, BllfiJflllTf.if~ fficp ~~mwrf i Postal Guidance in English Medium available for General Studies, History, Sociology, Public Administration and Geography. ~~(~~)~~~,~~~~if ~I Hostel facility arranged. Be Sure We have no branches or associates any where in India except Jaipur. Our name which has become a IE!gendamong students for the highest standards in teaching, and hence has been copied by a lot of people across India, but no one can match our quality. .' ~'c4t~~~'1 ~ cmt .~ :su ~ by II if you are taught Contact personally or write for prospectus with a the stars, sky is the limit. DD/MO of Rs. 50/- favouring (~ Head Office Jaipur Centre I RAU'S lAS srUDY CIRCLE : 309,Kanchanjunga Bldg.,18,Barakhamba Road,ConnaughtPlace,NewDelhi-110001 Phone: 23738906-07, 23318135-36, 32448880-81, 65391202, Fax:23317153 : 701,Apex Mall,Lal Kothi,TonkRoad,Jaipur- 302015, h.:0141-6450676, P 3226167, 9351528027 For full details on fast-track log-on our website: www.rauias.com The Original Rau's / Rao's - Since 1953 Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET Printed & Published by Veena Jain, Director, on behalf of Publications Division. Printed at Tara Art Press, B-4, Hans Bhawan, B.s. Zafar Marg, New Delhi-UO 002, and published from Publications .Division, Soochana Bhawan, c.GO. Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-UO 003. Generated by PDFKit.NET Evaluation Regd. No. RN 949/57 Licenced U (DN)-52/2003-05 Ito post without pre-payment at,RMS, Delhi (Delhi Post) Postal Regd. No. DL(S)-05/3230/2006-08 -..~ Published on 23 Jan. 2007 Posted on 25-26 Jan. 2007 ~ UBR IIIABSHllNI lAalS09001<1lXlOe-) 2/11 A, Swadeshi Sima Nagar, AGRA-282 002 Ph. :2530966, 2531101, 3208693/94; Fax: (0562) 2531940 -E-mail: info@upkarprakashan.com-WebsUe:www;upkarprakashan.com Branch Office: 4840/24, Govind Lane, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi-110 002 Ph. : 23251844/66 t: N. ..o Click here to unlock PDFKit.NET W >-