Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, June 11, 2011 (IANS) Hardly a week after a 500-strong army deployment landed in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region for the first time, Maoists Thursday midnight launched their most deadly attack - using nearly a tonne of explosives, the highest ever, blowing up an anti-landmine vehicle and killing 10 policemen.
The June 9 attack in Dantewada district, said to be the biggest rebel raid in terms of the quantity of explosives used in a single attack, is seen by experts as the Maoists way of taunting the army men.
Earlier the same day, the rebels gunned down five policemen in Narayanpur district.
In another raid, the Maoists attacked a CRPF camp Saturday and killed three jawans in Dantewada district.
The presence of the army has apparently not made any impact on the rebels, much to the worry of the security top brass in the state.
Over 500 army personnel descended for the first time in the heart of a Maoist insurgency-hit area in Bastar region between May 30-June 2. The deployment, according to security experts, was to "psychologically hit the rebels".
The army, however, explained that they have stepped into the violence-hit territory only "for jungle warfare training, and not for anti-Maoist operation".
A top police official who served in Chhattisgarh's "war zone" for a long period, said he suspected that Maoists had used about a tonne explosives for the June 9 Dantewada blast.
"Look at their (Maoists) guts. They are hitting police using a tonne of explosives to toss up an anti-landmine vehicle in the presence of the army in Bastar. The double attack on June 9 was aimed at taunting the army," the police officer told IANS.
The forested pocket where the Maoists gunned down five policemen June 9 morning in Narayanpur district is adjacent to a sprawling base camp area allotted by Chhattisgarh government to the army's central command for developing a jungle warfare training camp, the official said.
"The midnight attack was the biggest carried out by Maoists in terms of the quantity of explosives they used," counter-terrorism expert Brigadier (Retd.) B.K. Ponwar told IANS.
"It was not less than 60 kg explosives they used to blast the anti-landmine vehicle. It went up in the air several metres and then landed in pieces," Ponwar added.
According to Ponwar, who is director of the Bastar-based Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College, the previous biggest attack in terms of quantity of explosives - 40 kg - was in September 2005 when an anti-landmine vehicle was blasted for the first time. The attack killed 24 CRPF men.
Ponwar, who is a former commandant of the Indian Army's Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte in Mizoram, said "the twin attacks in Bastar region June 9 and 10 clearly indicate that the Maoists are showing their defiance to the presence of the army".
He wondered why the police forces are flouting jungle warfare manuals over and over again.
A police official posted at Dornapal in Dantewada district that witnessed several deadly attacks in recent years, said: "We usually rush to the jungles on a single-source information that is mostly planted by rebels to trap us in landmine sites.
"Thursday midnight too the rebels planted information of Maoists gathering at a certain place and police moved without checking and rechecking the input. Finally we paid for it."
"It looks like the Maoists have night vision devices too that are helping them to trigger landmine blasts even late at night," he added.
Chhattisgarh has suffered nearly 2,200 casualties of police personnel and civilians related to Maoist violence since it formed as a separate state in November 2000.
Some 90 percent casualties were reported in landmine attacks in the Bastar region that has about 20 percent of the country's iron ore deposits.
Monday, June 13, 2011
BJP keeps Maoist issue alive in Chhattisgarh: Congress
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, June 9, 2011 (IANS) Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has kept the Maoist issue alive for political advantage, says state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel, claiming that the number of insurgency affected districts has doubled under the ruling party.
"The Chhattisgarh government has adopted the 'divide and rule policy' in the Maoist, tribal dominated areas to manage votes," Patel said in an interview to IANS.
"It has kept the Maoist issue alive to get political advantage out of the problem," he added.
According to him, the Raman Singh government has pitted tribals against tribals to "manage their votes".
But this, he said, "has led to 10 times more killings of people in the state during the BJP regime compared to Congress rule", Patel alleged. The BJP has ruled Chhattisgarh since December 2003.
"The number of Maoist-affected districts in the BJP regime has risen to 10. This was just five during Congress rule," he added.
Patel was the home minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh that was voted out in 2003.
He was also home minister in the Digvijay Singh-led Congress government in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
The Congress president questioned the BJP government's intent to solve the Maoist problem in the state. "Why this government is not holding talks with the tribals of Bastar?
"The tribal people will offer a quick solution to the insurgency problem if talks are held with them and their suggestions sought," Patel said.
"But this government is not doing it because it wants to get political advantage," he added.
The 58-year-old politician belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) that make up about 50 percent of the state's 2.55 crore population.
He has been in politics since 1979 and won the Kharasia assembly seat in Raigarh district in 2008 -- for the fifth time in a row.
Patel strongly denied that the Congress was facing factionalism and rivalry in Chhattisgarh.
He said: "All party leaders in Chhattisgarh are united against the BJP. We are working on a strategy to 'Root Out BJP in 2013'.
The state goes to the polls in late 2013.
Currently, in the 90-member assembly, the Congress has 39 members and the BJP 49. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two members.
Asked how he would keep the morale of party workers high amid losses by the Congress in assembly bypolls and parliamentary polls from Bastar last month, Patel said: "I will expose Raman Singh before the public by bringing stunning facts about his government's corruption and scandals."
"His image is not clean as it has been widely publicised and projected."
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Raipur, June 9, 2011 (IANS) Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has kept the Maoist issue alive for political advantage, says state Congress president Nand Kumar Patel, claiming that the number of insurgency affected districts has doubled under the ruling party.
"The Chhattisgarh government has adopted the 'divide and rule policy' in the Maoist, tribal dominated areas to manage votes," Patel said in an interview to IANS.
"It has kept the Maoist issue alive to get political advantage out of the problem," he added.
According to him, the Raman Singh government has pitted tribals against tribals to "manage their votes".
But this, he said, "has led to 10 times more killings of people in the state during the BJP regime compared to Congress rule", Patel alleged. The BJP has ruled Chhattisgarh since December 2003.
"The number of Maoist-affected districts in the BJP regime has risen to 10. This was just five during Congress rule," he added.
Patel was the home minister in the Ajit Jogi-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh that was voted out in 2003.
He was also home minister in the Digvijay Singh-led Congress government in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
The Congress president questioned the BJP government's intent to solve the Maoist problem in the state. "Why this government is not holding talks with the tribals of Bastar?
"The tribal people will offer a quick solution to the insurgency problem if talks are held with them and their suggestions sought," Patel said.
"But this government is not doing it because it wants to get political advantage," he added.
The 58-year-old politician belongs to the Other Backward Classes (OBC) that make up about 50 percent of the state's 2.55 crore population.
He has been in politics since 1979 and won the Kharasia assembly seat in Raigarh district in 2008 -- for the fifth time in a row.
Patel strongly denied that the Congress was facing factionalism and rivalry in Chhattisgarh.
He said: "All party leaders in Chhattisgarh are united against the BJP. We are working on a strategy to 'Root Out BJP in 2013'.
The state goes to the polls in late 2013.
Currently, in the 90-member assembly, the Congress has 39 members and the BJP 49. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has two members.
Asked how he would keep the morale of party workers high amid losses by the Congress in assembly bypolls and parliamentary polls from Bastar last month, Patel said: "I will expose Raman Singh before the public by bringing stunning facts about his government's corruption and scandals."
"His image is not clean as it has been widely publicised and projected."
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Army’s entry into Maoist zone?
Sujeet kumar
The Statesman
RAIPUR, 2 June, 2011: A top counter-terrorism expert and senior police officers have hailed the entry of Indian Army troopers into the country’s worst insurgency-hit area in Chhattisgarh saying “it will make a major psychological impact on Maoist militants.”
A contingent of more than 500 troopers of Indian Army’s central command have descended for the first time on the nerve centre of Maoist terrorism in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region this week amid growing call by people that Army be allowed to take on Leftist insurgents in the state.
But the Army has made it clear that it stepped into Maoist land only for “jungle warfare training not for anti-Maoist operation.”
“Maoists will feel the heat of Army’s entry in their terrain because the insurgents will have a feeling all the time that tigers (Army men) have positioned themselves just outside their den,’’ said Brigadier (retired) BK Ponwar, a former commandant of Indian Army’s Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School based at Vairengte in Mizoram.
Ponwar is now director of Bastar-region based Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College instituted by the Chhattisgarh government in 2005 to impart training to policemen to “fight guerrilla like a guerrilla”.
“Army’s entry into Red zone will have a huge psychological advantage over Maoists who were freely roaming in the sprawling area though Army’s role will be restricted in Bastar,’’ Ponwar said, adding “the presence of Army in Red zone is going to be highly significant”. The jawans will go through jungle warfare training in the Abujhmad forested area in Bastar region which is the nerve centre of Maoist militants since late 1980s.
“The Army jawans' training will be held right under the nose of Maoists, but men will not carry out any anti-Maoist operation but will fire at Maoists in self-defence, if attacked,’’ defence sources claim.
The Chhattisgarh government has agreed to hand over a huge forested terrain up to 750 sq km to the Army for developing it as a base for jungle warfare training in the heart of Maoists territory where top leaders of the banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) have been holed up for years. Brigadier Amrik Singh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa sub-area commander, made it clear in Raipur on Tuesday that Army jawans have come to Bastar for the sole purpose of receiving training in a difficult forested terrain.
But top officials at police headquarters here are amused now with the Army’s entry in the Red zone where rebels have carried out a series of deadly attacks on police, para-military forces and civilians since 2005, including the massacre of 76 policemen in a single attack in April last year.
"They (Maoists) are on a killing spree since 2005 in Bastar. They have significantly increased their command areas in the past five-six years by recruiting minors in thousands plus monthly-paid fighters who have access to rocket launchers and mortars but it’s sure that the Army’s entry into their zone will create a lot of serious tension for them,’’ remarked an additional director-general rank police official.
The Statesman
RAIPUR, 2 June, 2011: A top counter-terrorism expert and senior police officers have hailed the entry of Indian Army troopers into the country’s worst insurgency-hit area in Chhattisgarh saying “it will make a major psychological impact on Maoist militants.”
A contingent of more than 500 troopers of Indian Army’s central command have descended for the first time on the nerve centre of Maoist terrorism in Chhattisgarh’s restive Bastar region this week amid growing call by people that Army be allowed to take on Leftist insurgents in the state.
But the Army has made it clear that it stepped into Maoist land only for “jungle warfare training not for anti-Maoist operation.”
“Maoists will feel the heat of Army’s entry in their terrain because the insurgents will have a feeling all the time that tigers (Army men) have positioned themselves just outside their den,’’ said Brigadier (retired) BK Ponwar, a former commandant of Indian Army’s Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School based at Vairengte in Mizoram.
Ponwar is now director of Bastar-region based Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College instituted by the Chhattisgarh government in 2005 to impart training to policemen to “fight guerrilla like a guerrilla”.
“Army’s entry into Red zone will have a huge psychological advantage over Maoists who were freely roaming in the sprawling area though Army’s role will be restricted in Bastar,’’ Ponwar said, adding “the presence of Army in Red zone is going to be highly significant”. The jawans will go through jungle warfare training in the Abujhmad forested area in Bastar region which is the nerve centre of Maoist militants since late 1980s.
“The Army jawans' training will be held right under the nose of Maoists, but men will not carry out any anti-Maoist operation but will fire at Maoists in self-defence, if attacked,’’ defence sources claim.
The Chhattisgarh government has agreed to hand over a huge forested terrain up to 750 sq km to the Army for developing it as a base for jungle warfare training in the heart of Maoists territory where top leaders of the banned outfit Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) have been holed up for years. Brigadier Amrik Singh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa sub-area commander, made it clear in Raipur on Tuesday that Army jawans have come to Bastar for the sole purpose of receiving training in a difficult forested terrain.
But top officials at police headquarters here are amused now with the Army’s entry in the Red zone where rebels have carried out a series of deadly attacks on police, para-military forces and civilians since 2005, including the massacre of 76 policemen in a single attack in April last year.
"They (Maoists) are on a killing spree since 2005 in Bastar. They have significantly increased their command areas in the past five-six years by recruiting minors in thousands plus monthly-paid fighters who have access to rocket launchers and mortars but it’s sure that the Army’s entry into their zone will create a lot of serious tension for them,’’ remarked an additional director-general rank police official.
Corrupt officer or innocent? The jury is divided
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, June 1, 2011 (IANS) The man alleged to be one of India's richest and most corrupt bureaucrats is not only still in service with the Chhattisgarh government but insists he is innocent.
Babulal Agrawal, a 1988 IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, dismisses with contempt media reports that he has piled up a mind-boggling amount of illegally earned money.
A Masters in Political Science who is Secretary for Cooperatives in the state, Agrawal said the Income Tax department was wrongly clubbing his and his family's wealth.
"I belong to a business family. How can the IT department club the assets of my family members with mine?" an indignant Agrawal asked IANS, irritated by questions on his career and wealth.
"My brother, father and other (family) members, all have separate business activities since a long time. You can't show their income in my name. I will fight it out," he added.
There is no official word on how much assets Agrawal holds.
According to published reports which the government has not denied, these are estimated at a whopping Rs.253 crore.
Born in famine-prone Kalahandi in Orissa, the premises of the 45-year-old Agrawal and that of his chartered accountant were raided by the Income Tax department in February last year.
Agrawal was then secretary of the state's agriculture department.
Media reports attributed to unnamed official sources have alleged that he operated 473 bank accounts and had floated 30 companies over the past 11 years. The Bhopal-based IT office recently submitted a 5,000-page report to the Chhattisgarh government regarding the IAS officer.
Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government suspended him from the post after the raid but reinstated him after a few weeks. The government has not said why it called back an officer supposedly suspended for corruption.
True or not, the supposed IT report against the officer, who often makes foreign trips, is the talk of the town. This, Raipur residents say, is but natural considering the mounting mass anger against corruption nationwide.
It may have nothing to do with Agrawal but central Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said during a visit to the state in March: "Chhattisgarh is the most corrupt place in the country."
Official sources say the IT report has referred to the rise of Agrawal, whose first posting was in 1988 as assistant collector of Khargone district in undivided Madhya Pradesh.
Agrawal calls the IT report "baseless" but is not ready to reveal what it says.
"The IT raid in February 2010 had found some Rs.8 lakh from my residence. It was all tax paid money," Agrawal told IANS.
"Newsmen should avoid conducting media trial on the issue because it's a sub-judice matter. I have moved the Chhattisgarh High Court against the report."
Chhattisgarh's Chief Secretary P. Joy Oommen is equally cautious on the issue, not willing to say anything that could go against or in favour of Agrawal.
"The whole issue of the IT raid and report has been sent to the Economic Offences Wing (of the state government) for its own investigation," Oommen told IANS.
"Action can be taken only after a final report of the Economic Offences Wing is received."
In the past 11 years, Agrawal held offices ranging from that of Collector in Durg and Rajnandgaon districts to Secretary in the health and agriculture departments of the Chhattisgarh government.
Despite all the adverse publicity, Agrawal has his share of admirers.
Some senior officials here recall his contribution to effectively executing key government schemes in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh in 1995 when he was the Collector.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Raipur, June 1, 2011 (IANS) The man alleged to be one of India's richest and most corrupt bureaucrats is not only still in service with the Chhattisgarh government but insists he is innocent.
Babulal Agrawal, a 1988 IAS officer of the Chhattisgarh cadre, dismisses with contempt media reports that he has piled up a mind-boggling amount of illegally earned money.
A Masters in Political Science who is Secretary for Cooperatives in the state, Agrawal said the Income Tax department was wrongly clubbing his and his family's wealth.
"I belong to a business family. How can the IT department club the assets of my family members with mine?" an indignant Agrawal asked IANS, irritated by questions on his career and wealth.
"My brother, father and other (family) members, all have separate business activities since a long time. You can't show their income in my name. I will fight it out," he added.
There is no official word on how much assets Agrawal holds.
According to published reports which the government has not denied, these are estimated at a whopping Rs.253 crore.
Born in famine-prone Kalahandi in Orissa, the premises of the 45-year-old Agrawal and that of his chartered accountant were raided by the Income Tax department in February last year.
Agrawal was then secretary of the state's agriculture department.
Media reports attributed to unnamed official sources have alleged that he operated 473 bank accounts and had floated 30 companies over the past 11 years. The Bhopal-based IT office recently submitted a 5,000-page report to the Chhattisgarh government regarding the IAS officer.
Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government suspended him from the post after the raid but reinstated him after a few weeks. The government has not said why it called back an officer supposedly suspended for corruption.
True or not, the supposed IT report against the officer, who often makes foreign trips, is the talk of the town. This, Raipur residents say, is but natural considering the mounting mass anger against corruption nationwide.
It may have nothing to do with Agrawal but central Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily said during a visit to the state in March: "Chhattisgarh is the most corrupt place in the country."
Official sources say the IT report has referred to the rise of Agrawal, whose first posting was in 1988 as assistant collector of Khargone district in undivided Madhya Pradesh.
Agrawal calls the IT report "baseless" but is not ready to reveal what it says.
"The IT raid in February 2010 had found some Rs.8 lakh from my residence. It was all tax paid money," Agrawal told IANS.
"Newsmen should avoid conducting media trial on the issue because it's a sub-judice matter. I have moved the Chhattisgarh High Court against the report."
Chhattisgarh's Chief Secretary P. Joy Oommen is equally cautious on the issue, not willing to say anything that could go against or in favour of Agrawal.
"The whole issue of the IT raid and report has been sent to the Economic Offences Wing (of the state government) for its own investigation," Oommen told IANS.
"Action can be taken only after a final report of the Economic Offences Wing is received."
In the past 11 years, Agrawal held offices ranging from that of Collector in Durg and Rajnandgaon districts to Secretary in the health and agriculture departments of the Chhattisgarh government.
Despite all the adverse publicity, Agrawal has his share of admirers.
Some senior officials here recall his contribution to effectively executing key government schemes in Sehore district of Madhya Pradesh in 1995 when he was the Collector.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Gang blinds Indian woman, accused of witchcraft, with scissors
RAIPUR, India | Sat May 21, 2011 5:58am EDT
RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Eleven people stormed into a house in a central Indian village and assaulted a woman whom they accused of witchcraft, blinding her and her husband by stabbing them in the eyes with scissors, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh state. Police later arrested 10 suspects.
A family in Khaira village had been having money troubles and health problems, which they blamed on a 45-year-old woman, according to S.S. Baghel, a local police officer.
"The accused blamed the alleged witchcraft power of the lady for their problems and raided her house on Friday morning," Baghel told Reuters by phone. "First they beat her up and then a few of them held her hands and legs and then inserted scissors into both her eyes."
When her husband tried to intervene, the group turned on him and inserted scissors into his eyes as well, Baghel added. A doctor at a local hospital said the couple would likely never be able to see again.
The brutalities related to witchcraft, mainly against women, are not new for the interior illiterate pockets of Chhattisgarh, where woman accused of witchcraft are often killed or paraded them naked.
Chhattisgarh state passed the Witchcraft (Prevention) Act in 2005 to crack down on offenders. But the law has hardly made an impact in tribal areas, where atrocities against women accused of witchcraft still flourish and the majority of cases go unreported.
(Reporting by Sujeet Kumar Editing by Matthias Williams and Alex Richardson)
RAIPUR, India (Reuters) - Eleven people stormed into a house in a central Indian village and assaulted a woman whom they accused of witchcraft, blinding her and her husband by stabbing them in the eyes with scissors, police said on Saturday.
The incident took place on Friday in the Raipur district of Chhattisgarh state. Police later arrested 10 suspects.
A family in Khaira village had been having money troubles and health problems, which they blamed on a 45-year-old woman, according to S.S. Baghel, a local police officer.
"The accused blamed the alleged witchcraft power of the lady for their problems and raided her house on Friday morning," Baghel told Reuters by phone. "First they beat her up and then a few of them held her hands and legs and then inserted scissors into both her eyes."
When her husband tried to intervene, the group turned on him and inserted scissors into his eyes as well, Baghel added. A doctor at a local hospital said the couple would likely never be able to see again.
The brutalities related to witchcraft, mainly against women, are not new for the interior illiterate pockets of Chhattisgarh, where woman accused of witchcraft are often killed or paraded them naked.
Chhattisgarh state passed the Witchcraft (Prevention) Act in 2005 to crack down on offenders. But the law has hardly made an impact in tribal areas, where atrocities against women accused of witchcraft still flourish and the majority of cases go unreported.
(Reporting by Sujeet Kumar Editing by Matthias Williams and Alex Richardson)
India Maoists kill seven police, call for general strike
RAIPUR, India | Wed May 18, 2011 12:29pm IST
RAIPUR, India May 18 (Reuters) - Seven Indian policemen were killed in a Maoist rebel landmine blast in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday, as the insurgents called for a 48-hour strike in six states across the country.
The Maoists are active in the country's poor, rural areas, and widespread violence in mineral-rich eastern districts has worried investors and disrupted mining and rail transport.
The landmine attack, the latest salvo in a four-decades long insurgency that has killed thousands, came late on Tuesday hours after the rebels called for a two-day general strike from May 21 to demand the release of three of their leaders.
"It was a powerful blast that ripped the roof off a vehicle carrying paramilitary personnel. Five men of the CRPF (federal police) second battalion were killed on the spot and two died a few hours later," district police chief Ankit Garg told Reuters.
Last April, the government faced strong criticism that security forces were ill-prepared to deal with the insurgent threat after 75 police were killed in an ambush in Chhattisgarh that led to the home minister tendering his resignation.
A recent crackdown on rebel-controlled areas has seen a decrease in attacks, raising hopes the government was winning the battle against what the prime minister has described as India's biggest internal security threat.
The Maoists' violent campaign against the government began as a peasant revolt in the late 1960s. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and the disenfranchised. (Reporting by Sujeet Kumar; Writing by Henry Foy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
RAIPUR, India May 18 (Reuters) - Seven Indian policemen were killed in a Maoist rebel landmine blast in the eastern state of Chhattisgarh, police said on Wednesday, as the insurgents called for a 48-hour strike in six states across the country.
The Maoists are active in the country's poor, rural areas, and widespread violence in mineral-rich eastern districts has worried investors and disrupted mining and rail transport.
The landmine attack, the latest salvo in a four-decades long insurgency that has killed thousands, came late on Tuesday hours after the rebels called for a two-day general strike from May 21 to demand the release of three of their leaders.
"It was a powerful blast that ripped the roof off a vehicle carrying paramilitary personnel. Five men of the CRPF (federal police) second battalion were killed on the spot and two died a few hours later," district police chief Ankit Garg told Reuters.
Last April, the government faced strong criticism that security forces were ill-prepared to deal with the insurgent threat after 75 police were killed in an ambush in Chhattisgarh that led to the home minister tendering his resignation.
A recent crackdown on rebel-controlled areas has seen a decrease in attacks, raising hopes the government was winning the battle against what the prime minister has described as India's biggest internal security threat.
The Maoists' violent campaign against the government began as a peasant revolt in the late 1960s. The rebels say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and the disenfranchised. (Reporting by Sujeet Kumar; Writing by Henry Foy; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Battle for Bastar: tribal legislator threatens to dislodge BJP
By Sujeet Kumar
Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), May 7, 2011 (IANS) A tribal politician who has never attended school and can neither read nor write is making Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struggle to retain its "safe" Bastar Lok Sabha seat in the state's Maoist stronghold.
With just a day to go for the Bastar by-election Sunday, the Congress is hopeful that Kawasi Lakhma, the 55-year-old Gond tribal who has won the Konta assembly seat in the region thrice, will dislodge the BJP that has been representing Bastar in the Lok Sabha for four terms - and with huge margins.
The BJP has been dominating Bastar, tagged as one of the most violence-prone Lok Sabha constituency, for a while. It has not only been winning the Lok Sabha seat but also holds seven of the eight assembly seats from the sprawling constituency. The eighth has been held by Lakhma, who won it the first time in 1998, then in 2003 and then in 2008.
Now, the BJP admits, that easy ride to power has become a political obstacle course in a region few politicians dare to campaign in.
"No doubt, Lakhma has given us sleepless nights. We were expecting an easy ride till last week but now it's a toss-up between the BJP and the Congress," said a senior BJP leader.
"All credit goes to Lakhma, whose appeal 'give me a chance' is making a deep impression on voters across all the eight assembly segments, mainly in vast forested areas. Most leaders of all parties stayed away from campaigning because of fear of Maoists," the leader, who is coordinating the party campaign, admitted.
Based in Jagdalpur, headquarters of the Bastar region, about 300 km south of capital Raipur, the BJP leader said the Congress nominee, always in a dhoti and kurta, had seriously threatened the party's poll prospects.
"The discouraging inputs from interiors about the mood of the voters had forced the BJP to put all efforts and resources to save the tribal reserved Bastar seat, which the party has not lost since 1998."
While BJP leaders fret and fume, Lakhma is remarkably sanguine, even detached.
"I am not much bothered about victory or loss. The party instructed me to challenge the BJP at its stronghold and I am happy to mess up the battle despite the fact that I don't have the same back-up of funds and resources as the BJP," Lakhma told IANS.
"The good thing for me is all Congress factions got united in the battle for Bastar. If I manage to produce an upset here, it will be the perfect beginning for the end of the BJP regime under which poor tribals of Bastar have suffered a lot," Lakhma said, referring to the rise in civilian killings and people moving out of their ancestral villages after December 2003 when the BJP came to power.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of BJP MP Baliram Kashyap in March. He had been winning the seat for the BJP for the last four elections and the party has now fielded his son Dinesh Kashyap in a bid to cash in on his popularity.
There are eight candidates in the fray for the seat that has 1,716 polling booths in four districts - Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar and Narayanpur.
The Election Commission has relocated 200 polling booths from Maoist-commanded forest interiors to areas close to police stations and paramilitary camps as the roads in deep interiors are loaded with multiple-layer landmines for years.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh), May 7, 2011 (IANS) A tribal politician who has never attended school and can neither read nor write is making Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) struggle to retain its "safe" Bastar Lok Sabha seat in the state's Maoist stronghold.
With just a day to go for the Bastar by-election Sunday, the Congress is hopeful that Kawasi Lakhma, the 55-year-old Gond tribal who has won the Konta assembly seat in the region thrice, will dislodge the BJP that has been representing Bastar in the Lok Sabha for four terms - and with huge margins.
The BJP has been dominating Bastar, tagged as one of the most violence-prone Lok Sabha constituency, for a while. It has not only been winning the Lok Sabha seat but also holds seven of the eight assembly seats from the sprawling constituency. The eighth has been held by Lakhma, who won it the first time in 1998, then in 2003 and then in 2008.
Now, the BJP admits, that easy ride to power has become a political obstacle course in a region few politicians dare to campaign in.
"No doubt, Lakhma has given us sleepless nights. We were expecting an easy ride till last week but now it's a toss-up between the BJP and the Congress," said a senior BJP leader.
"All credit goes to Lakhma, whose appeal 'give me a chance' is making a deep impression on voters across all the eight assembly segments, mainly in vast forested areas. Most leaders of all parties stayed away from campaigning because of fear of Maoists," the leader, who is coordinating the party campaign, admitted.
Based in Jagdalpur, headquarters of the Bastar region, about 300 km south of capital Raipur, the BJP leader said the Congress nominee, always in a dhoti and kurta, had seriously threatened the party's poll prospects.
"The discouraging inputs from interiors about the mood of the voters had forced the BJP to put all efforts and resources to save the tribal reserved Bastar seat, which the party has not lost since 1998."
While BJP leaders fret and fume, Lakhma is remarkably sanguine, even detached.
"I am not much bothered about victory or loss. The party instructed me to challenge the BJP at its stronghold and I am happy to mess up the battle despite the fact that I don't have the same back-up of funds and resources as the BJP," Lakhma told IANS.
"The good thing for me is all Congress factions got united in the battle for Bastar. If I manage to produce an upset here, it will be the perfect beginning for the end of the BJP regime under which poor tribals of Bastar have suffered a lot," Lakhma said, referring to the rise in civilian killings and people moving out of their ancestral villages after December 2003 when the BJP came to power.
The by-election has been necessitated by the death of BJP MP Baliram Kashyap in March. He had been winning the seat for the BJP for the last four elections and the party has now fielded his son Dinesh Kashyap in a bid to cash in on his popularity.
There are eight candidates in the fray for the seat that has 1,716 polling booths in four districts - Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar and Narayanpur.
The Election Commission has relocated 200 polling booths from Maoist-commanded forest interiors to areas close to police stations and paramilitary camps as the roads in deep interiors are loaded with multiple-layer landmines for years.
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Father unaware son has been a legislator for 10 years
By Sujeet Kumar
Friday, February 20, 2009 9:32:41 PM by IANS
Raipur, Feb 21 (IANS) Kawasi Lakhma has been a Chhattisgarh legislator for the past 10 years, but his 90-year-old father remains unaware of his status and hopes that Lakhma would return to the village and plough the fields again.
“My village, Nagaras in Dantewada district, is probably one of the country’s most poverty-stricken villages, where the Maoist insurgency has left people out of the mainstream. I am a rare person in the village who wears a clean dress after becoming an MLA (legislator) in 1998, and my father thinks I must be involved in criminal acts to be able to buy good clothes,” said Lakhma, a Congress legislator.
Nagaras is located some 450 km south of capital Raipur in the state’s southern Bastar region.
Lakhma, 53, who was returned to the state assembly for the third time in the polls last November, says his father still holds meetings of his relatives to persuade his legislator son to return to the family’s traditional work - ploughing the field and plucking Tendu leaves used for rolling beedis (locally-manufactured cigarettes).
A Gond tribal who never attended school and remains illiterate, Lakhma said: “Whenever I come to capital Raipur to attend the assembly session, my father Kawasi Arma convenes a meeting at my village of relatives and asks them to persuade me to shun criminal activities and help the family in cultivation.”
“Neither my father, nor my three brothers nor my wife ever attended school,” he said. A few children in his village have started going to school now, the legislator said.
“Whenever any leader visits my village, my father asks him to persuade me to return to the family’s traditional work.”
Lakhma’s father does not even share his son’s political affiliations.
“When I was contesting assembly polls in 1998, I asked my father to go and vote. When he returned, I asked him which party he voted for. He said he found a Poongar (Gondi word for BJP’s poll symbol lotus) on the ballot that was looking nice, so I went for it.”
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Friday, February 20, 2009 9:32:41 PM by IANS
Raipur, Feb 21 (IANS) Kawasi Lakhma has been a Chhattisgarh legislator for the past 10 years, but his 90-year-old father remains unaware of his status and hopes that Lakhma would return to the village and plough the fields again.
“My village, Nagaras in Dantewada district, is probably one of the country’s most poverty-stricken villages, where the Maoist insurgency has left people out of the mainstream. I am a rare person in the village who wears a clean dress after becoming an MLA (legislator) in 1998, and my father thinks I must be involved in criminal acts to be able to buy good clothes,” said Lakhma, a Congress legislator.
Nagaras is located some 450 km south of capital Raipur in the state’s southern Bastar region.
Lakhma, 53, who was returned to the state assembly for the third time in the polls last November, says his father still holds meetings of his relatives to persuade his legislator son to return to the family’s traditional work - ploughing the field and plucking Tendu leaves used for rolling beedis (locally-manufactured cigarettes).
A Gond tribal who never attended school and remains illiterate, Lakhma said: “Whenever I come to capital Raipur to attend the assembly session, my father Kawasi Arma convenes a meeting at my village of relatives and asks them to persuade me to shun criminal activities and help the family in cultivation.”
“Neither my father, nor my three brothers nor my wife ever attended school,” he said. A few children in his village have started going to school now, the legislator said.
“Whenever any leader visits my village, my father asks him to persuade me to return to the family’s traditional work.”
Lakhma’s father does not even share his son’s political affiliations.
“When I was contesting assembly polls in 1998, I asked my father to go and vote. When he returned, I asked him which party he voted for. He said he found a Poongar (Gondi word for BJP’s poll symbol lotus) on the ballot that was looking nice, so I went for it.”
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
By-poll ahead, but no one's campaigning in Bastar interiors
Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, May 3, 2011 (IANS) They talk big, but no politician, not even the candidates, are campaigning in the interiors of Bastar for fear of Maoists ahead of the Lok Sabha by-poll in the Chhattisgarh constituency May 8."None of the eight candidates in the fray, besides star campaigners of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress, has so far hit the extreme forested roads that are full of landmines," a police official in Jagdalpur, headquarters of the insurgency-riddled Bastar, told IANS.
"Despite all our assurance to provide security for campaigning, no politician is risking his life and either focusing on campaigning in urban areas or holding rallies around the villages of national highways, state highways or tribal hamlets based in the vicinity of police stations or paramilitary forces camps."
Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate Rama Sodhi said: "Leaders have not dared to visit the extreme interiors though they claim to campaign in remote areas defying Maoist dominance.
"Chief Minister Raman Singh addressed a rally at Dornapal Monday, which was described as 'a rally in the Maoist bastion', but actually the rally was held at the national highway and also close to the camp of paramilitary forces."
Congress nominee Kawasi Lakhma, who has given sleepless nights to the BJP, which has won the seat the last four times, remarked: "I told my leaders and cadres, don't go into forested areas for campaigning from where you can't come out before sunset because I know the risk in Maoist-dominated areas after sunset."
Former chief minister Ajit Jogi who is leading the Congress campaign for his diehard supporter Lakhma has not addressed a single rally in the deep areas of Dantewada and Bijapur districts, though he too claims to have held several rallies in the Maoist heartland.
"Whatever the rallies he has addressed are all in safe areas. Fact is no politician from any party has shown the guts to campaign in the extreme interiors where Maoists are undisputedly the rulers," a tribal politician and former minister told IANS on condition of anonymity.
Officials at the police headquarters say Maoists have buried landmines in a 25,000 sq km area in Bastar region that comprises five districts - Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker.
The Bastar region is made up of two tribal reserved parliamentary constituencies - Bastar and Kanker - which have witnessed the killings of about 2,000 people in the past decade, including 1,000 civilians.
The by-poll for the Bastar seat was necessitated after the death of veteran BJP tribal leader and MP Baliram Kashyap in March. The BJP has fielded Kashyap's son while Congress nominee Lakhma is legislator from the Konta assembly seat, one of the eight assembly segments that form the Bastar parliamentary constituency.
=============
Raipur, May 3, 2011 (IANS) They talk big, but no politician, not even the candidates, are campaigning in the interiors of Bastar for fear of Maoists ahead of the Lok Sabha by-poll in the Chhattisgarh constituency May 8."None of the eight candidates in the fray, besides star campaigners of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and opposition Congress, has so far hit the extreme forested roads that are full of landmines," a police official in Jagdalpur, headquarters of the insurgency-riddled Bastar, told IANS.
"Despite all our assurance to provide security for campaigning, no politician is risking his life and either focusing on campaigning in urban areas or holding rallies around the villages of national highways, state highways or tribal hamlets based in the vicinity of police stations or paramilitary forces camps."
Communist Party of India (CPI) candidate Rama Sodhi said: "Leaders have not dared to visit the extreme interiors though they claim to campaign in remote areas defying Maoist dominance.
"Chief Minister Raman Singh addressed a rally at Dornapal Monday, which was described as 'a rally in the Maoist bastion', but actually the rally was held at the national highway and also close to the camp of paramilitary forces."
Congress nominee Kawasi Lakhma, who has given sleepless nights to the BJP, which has won the seat the last four times, remarked: "I told my leaders and cadres, don't go into forested areas for campaigning from where you can't come out before sunset because I know the risk in Maoist-dominated areas after sunset."
Former chief minister Ajit Jogi who is leading the Congress campaign for his diehard supporter Lakhma has not addressed a single rally in the deep areas of Dantewada and Bijapur districts, though he too claims to have held several rallies in the Maoist heartland.
"Whatever the rallies he has addressed are all in safe areas. Fact is no politician from any party has shown the guts to campaign in the extreme interiors where Maoists are undisputedly the rulers," a tribal politician and former minister told IANS on condition of anonymity.
Officials at the police headquarters say Maoists have buried landmines in a 25,000 sq km area in Bastar region that comprises five districts - Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker.
The Bastar region is made up of two tribal reserved parliamentary constituencies - Bastar and Kanker - which have witnessed the killings of about 2,000 people in the past decade, including 1,000 civilians.
The by-poll for the Bastar seat was necessitated after the death of veteran BJP tribal leader and MP Baliram Kashyap in March. The BJP has fielded Kashyap's son while Congress nominee Lakhma is legislator from the Konta assembly seat, one of the eight assembly segments that form the Bastar parliamentary constituency.
=============
Sunday, May 1, 2011
Lucky to get Rs.40 for 12 hours work on International Labour Day
Lucky to get Rs.40 for 12 hours work on International Labour Day
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, May 1, 2011 (IANS) For Purnima Bai, 50, International Labour Day on Sunday did not make any difference to her search for work at a labourers' mart here. While the world celebrated workers' rights and pride, Purnima was hired for a 12-hour job for just Rs.40.
For the past four years, Purnima has been travelling about 45 km daily by train to the labourers' mart at Gandhi Maidan in this Chhattisgarh capital to find some work to take care of her five-member family.
The mart here, near the Congress headquarters, is one of the several such places in Raipur where daily-wage workers are hired every morning.
Purnima considered herself lucky as she, along with her two sons, had to jostle with about 150 other men and women to find an employer.
"I am lucky. It's a ground levelling work in Shanti Nagar colony. I will get Rs.40 for this 12-hour work," Purnima told IANS.
"But my sons, Vijay (22) and Ajay (19) have not been picked up, I pray they too get hired. I don't want to return home with just Rs.40," she said.
Like Purnima, there are about one million workers in Chhattisgarh's unorganinsed sector despite trader union leaders regularly taking out rallies demanding better job conditions and pay for them.
"The condition of workers in the unorganised sector is worst in the state. There is hardly any scheme to protect their interests," said C.R. Bakshi, a senior leader of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in Chhattisgarh.
According to him, labour contractors are "given complete freedom to exploit the misery and poverty of workers who earns Rs.40-50 a day if they get hired".
The Chhattisgarh government has set the minimum daily wage of Rs.106 for a worker in the unorganised sector, but 75 percent of them hardly get work on all the seven days, said Bakshi.
He added that half of the remaining 25 percent does not get more than Rs.50 a day as the workers agree for any price to avoid starvation in the family.
Tapan Chatterjee, former chief of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) in Chhattisgarh, said: "Unorganised sector workers have been left at the mercy of contractors and individuals in all the 18 districts.
"The most concerning factor is that trade union leaders are not exerting enough pressure on the government to ensure that workers earn a respectable amount daily."
End========
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, May 1, 2011 (IANS) For Purnima Bai, 50, International Labour Day on Sunday did not make any difference to her search for work at a labourers' mart here. While the world celebrated workers' rights and pride, Purnima was hired for a 12-hour job for just Rs.40.
For the past four years, Purnima has been travelling about 45 km daily by train to the labourers' mart at Gandhi Maidan in this Chhattisgarh capital to find some work to take care of her five-member family.
The mart here, near the Congress headquarters, is one of the several such places in Raipur where daily-wage workers are hired every morning.
Purnima considered herself lucky as she, along with her two sons, had to jostle with about 150 other men and women to find an employer.
"I am lucky. It's a ground levelling work in Shanti Nagar colony. I will get Rs.40 for this 12-hour work," Purnima told IANS.
"But my sons, Vijay (22) and Ajay (19) have not been picked up, I pray they too get hired. I don't want to return home with just Rs.40," she said.
Like Purnima, there are about one million workers in Chhattisgarh's unorganinsed sector despite trader union leaders regularly taking out rallies demanding better job conditions and pay for them.
"The condition of workers in the unorganised sector is worst in the state. There is hardly any scheme to protect their interests," said C.R. Bakshi, a senior leader of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in Chhattisgarh.
According to him, labour contractors are "given complete freedom to exploit the misery and poverty of workers who earns Rs.40-50 a day if they get hired".
The Chhattisgarh government has set the minimum daily wage of Rs.106 for a worker in the unorganised sector, but 75 percent of them hardly get work on all the seven days, said Bakshi.
He added that half of the remaining 25 percent does not get more than Rs.50 a day as the workers agree for any price to avoid starvation in the family.
Tapan Chatterjee, former chief of Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) in Chhattisgarh, said: "Unorganised sector workers have been left at the mercy of contractors and individuals in all the 18 districts.
"The most concerning factor is that trade union leaders are not exerting enough pressure on the government to ensure that workers earn a respectable amount daily."
End========
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Dantewada area not fully in our control: Raman Singh
By Sujeet Kumar | IANS – Thu, Mar 31, 2011 4:47 PM IST
Raipur, March 31 (IANS) No one found guilty will be spared, Chief Minister Raman Singh says on the Dantewada arson incident in which policemen allegedly went on the rampage in three tribal hamlets of Chhattisgarh. But he is quick to add that the area is not fully under government control.
Reacting to the attack on Swami Agnivesh, Singh said he had warned the social activist against going to Dantewada as there was a possibly of a 'people's outburst'.
'The government will act hard, no one, no policeman will go scot free if the probe report indicts them,' Singh told IANS even as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government faces possibly its strongest ever criticism since it came into power for the Dantewada episode.
Villagers of Tarmetla and two other nearby tribal hamlets in Dantewada district have alleged that policemen had gone on the rampage between March 11 and 16, burning down over 200 houses, killing people and even raping women.
Singh, however, said Tarmetla was not fully under the government's control.
'Everyone knows that the Tarmetla area is not under the government's full control. In recent months police have made some penetration and challenged Maoists who are using local people as a human shield in the battle against police,' the 59-year-old politician said.
Tarmetla, about 500 km south of capital Raipur, is the area where Maoists had massacred 76 security April 6 last year, including 75 of them belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Singh said the 'forces still struggle to enter certain jungle areas in Bastar where Maoists dominate, they have buried landmines, there is always a possibility of civilians coming to harm in the case of crossfire, but the probe report will make everything clear because I too want to know the facts of the Tarmetla arson case'.
Singh, who has headed the BJP government since December 2003 in the country's worst Maoist insurgency-hit state, on March 24 set up a four-member probe panel besides ordering a magisterial inquiry. Newspaper photographs showed the devastation in the areas.
Singh said the 'probe will be completely 'fair and impartial'. I have transferred the Dantewada collector R. Prasanna and Senior Superintendent of Police S.R.P. Kalluri because there was lack of coordination among them and also to ensure that the probe is influenced by anyone'.
He, however, chose to remain silent in the state assembly as the stormy budget session ended Thursday, refusing to make a statement on the Dantewada incident despite the Congress paralysing the house since Monday and terming the incident a fallout of 'jungle raj'.
Even Swami Agnivesh and some mediamen accompanying him were attacked by a mob in Dantewada March 26 while they were on their way to Tarmetla. Agnivesh was pulled out of his car, manhandled and eggs were thrown at him allegedly by policemen in civilian clothes and cadres of the anti-Maoist militia Salwa Judum. The protesters stoned Agnivesh's convoy and forced him to return.
Singh remarked: 'I provided him full security, I had personally told him before he headed to Dantewada that the area is very sensitive, 'I will give you (Agnivesh) security cover till the location where we are in a position to provide it,' I had also told him that people of the area have suffered too many Maoist brutalities, so people's outburst is a possibility.
'Agnivesh should have avoided going to the media in Raipur and New Delhi about what happened to him in Dantewada, it spoils the atmosphere.'
The Congress had sent a 10-member team of party legislators to Dantewada villages March 29 to make an on the spot assessment but they were arrested in Dantewada and returned without reaching Ground Zero.
Asked why his government was stopping those who wanted to know the truth, Singh said: 'It's not an area you can easily go to, roads have multiple-layer landmines and Maoists are dominant, each time an outsider attempts to go there, police have to go first to open the roads and clear the landmines.'
Raipur, March 31 (IANS) No one found guilty will be spared, Chief Minister Raman Singh says on the Dantewada arson incident in which policemen allegedly went on the rampage in three tribal hamlets of Chhattisgarh. But he is quick to add that the area is not fully under government control.
Reacting to the attack on Swami Agnivesh, Singh said he had warned the social activist against going to Dantewada as there was a possibly of a 'people's outburst'.
'The government will act hard, no one, no policeman will go scot free if the probe report indicts them,' Singh told IANS even as his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government faces possibly its strongest ever criticism since it came into power for the Dantewada episode.
Villagers of Tarmetla and two other nearby tribal hamlets in Dantewada district have alleged that policemen had gone on the rampage between March 11 and 16, burning down over 200 houses, killing people and even raping women.
Singh, however, said Tarmetla was not fully under the government's control.
'Everyone knows that the Tarmetla area is not under the government's full control. In recent months police have made some penetration and challenged Maoists who are using local people as a human shield in the battle against police,' the 59-year-old politician said.
Tarmetla, about 500 km south of capital Raipur, is the area where Maoists had massacred 76 security April 6 last year, including 75 of them belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Singh said the 'forces still struggle to enter certain jungle areas in Bastar where Maoists dominate, they have buried landmines, there is always a possibility of civilians coming to harm in the case of crossfire, but the probe report will make everything clear because I too want to know the facts of the Tarmetla arson case'.
Singh, who has headed the BJP government since December 2003 in the country's worst Maoist insurgency-hit state, on March 24 set up a four-member probe panel besides ordering a magisterial inquiry. Newspaper photographs showed the devastation in the areas.
Singh said the 'probe will be completely 'fair and impartial'. I have transferred the Dantewada collector R. Prasanna and Senior Superintendent of Police S.R.P. Kalluri because there was lack of coordination among them and also to ensure that the probe is influenced by anyone'.
He, however, chose to remain silent in the state assembly as the stormy budget session ended Thursday, refusing to make a statement on the Dantewada incident despite the Congress paralysing the house since Monday and terming the incident a fallout of 'jungle raj'.
Even Swami Agnivesh and some mediamen accompanying him were attacked by a mob in Dantewada March 26 while they were on their way to Tarmetla. Agnivesh was pulled out of his car, manhandled and eggs were thrown at him allegedly by policemen in civilian clothes and cadres of the anti-Maoist militia Salwa Judum. The protesters stoned Agnivesh's convoy and forced him to return.
Singh remarked: 'I provided him full security, I had personally told him before he headed to Dantewada that the area is very sensitive, 'I will give you (Agnivesh) security cover till the location where we are in a position to provide it,' I had also told him that people of the area have suffered too many Maoist brutalities, so people's outburst is a possibility.
'Agnivesh should have avoided going to the media in Raipur and New Delhi about what happened to him in Dantewada, it spoils the atmosphere.'
The Congress had sent a 10-member team of party legislators to Dantewada villages March 29 to make an on the spot assessment but they were arrested in Dantewada and returned without reaching Ground Zero.
Asked why his government was stopping those who wanted to know the truth, Singh said: 'It's not an area you can easily go to, roads have multiple-layer landmines and Maoists are dominant, each time an outsider attempts to go there, police have to go first to open the roads and clear the landmines.'
A year on, Dantewada can’t forget Maoist attack
The Statesman
Sujeet Kumar
DANTEWADA (Chhattisgarh), 5 APRIL: The tribal-dominated jungle area where Maoists carried out the deadliest-ever attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district and butchered 76 jawans exactly a year ago is still burning.
Chief minister Mr Raman Singh arrived in the area on Saturday, along with Governor Mr Shekhar Dutt, state’s home minister Mr Nankiram Kanwar and director-general of police Mr Vishwaranjan to cool frayed tempers of the residents who have alleged that policemen had burnt down hundreds of huts, killed a few people and raped women in a rampage that went on for six days, from 11 April to 16 April.
After the killings of 75 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and one from the state police on 6 April, 2010 in a jungle near Tarmetla village, some 500 km south of capital Raipur, the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has emerged stronger than ever before in Chhattisgarh’s 40,000 sq km Bastar region that includes Dantewada.
Indian authorities, too, have deployed more forces in Bastar’s war zone after losing 76 men in a single attack. In the clash between forces and rebels the worst sufferer is the local tribal population who are mired in poverty for decades.
“If you want to know to what extent we are suffering, just visit any jungle area in Dantewada district, there is more than 90 per cent chance you will lose your leg walking on a forested road as all the roads in jungles have been littered with mines, even you risk your life while using the hand pump too,’’ said a 22-year-old youth Mr Moriam, of Injeram area in Dantewada district close to the Andhra Pradesh border. As for him, he had lost his right hand nearly two years back in a blast when he tried to operate a hand pump in his village.
The explosive that went off was put allegedly by Maoists at a hand pump to target a small squad of policemen’s search squad who was expected to use the hand pump for drinking water in the scorching summer month of May.
“We are living under extreme terror-like atmosphere, I can’t spell out the suffering we are going through for years, nobody has feelings and time for the pain and trauma we have been put under in the past one year. The war in jungles between Dadas (Maoists) and police has worsened and so have our sufferings,’’ Mr Sori Hunga, a 50-year-old tribal of village Kasoli, told The Statesman.
He stated police are killing people in the name of fighting Dadas and supporting them and Dadas too target us for spying for local police and being in touch with Judum (Salwa Judum) men and the worst thing is that the war is escalating everyday and so our agony, I don’t see our sufferings are going to end in a year or two, probably it will end when the innocent tribals of Bastar land will be wiped out, both by Dadas and police.’’
A recently published 324-page book ~ Neo-Naxal Challenge ~ Issues and Options ~ written by Chhattisgarh’s additional director-general of police Mr Giridhari Nayak ~ gave some details about civilian casualties and injuries in war zone by mines.
“Mines are a nuisance and hidden killers. They have killed and maimed many innocent civilians. They are indiscriminate weapons harming combatants and civilians alike,’’ reads the book of the 1983 batch IPS officer.
It adds, “anti-personnel mines pose the greatest long-term risk to humans and animals since they are typically designed to be triggered by any movement or pressure of only a few kilograms. Anti-personnel mines are littered by Naxals on the main road, footpaths and near water pumps.’’ Mr Manish Kunjam, who is based at Bastar and president of the All India Adivasi Mahasabha, remarked, “the sufferings of over a million tribal people residing in the extreme interiors of the Bastar region are beyond imagination due to the escalating war between Maoists and police, their (civilians) misery is enormous and is compounding day by day.’’
He added, “since 6 April, 2010 killings of forces near Tarmetla, the policemen have gone on an offensive against civilians with a preconceived thought that they are Maoist supporters, which is not correct, the forces ran over three villages including Tarmetla last month only because police thought they are Maoist supporters.’’
The Chhattisgarh government ordered on 31 March in the state Assembly a judicial probe into the brutalities on civilians allegedly by policemen.
Sujeet Kumar
DANTEWADA (Chhattisgarh), 5 APRIL: The tribal-dominated jungle area where Maoists carried out the deadliest-ever attack on security forces in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district and butchered 76 jawans exactly a year ago is still burning.
Chief minister Mr Raman Singh arrived in the area on Saturday, along with Governor Mr Shekhar Dutt, state’s home minister Mr Nankiram Kanwar and director-general of police Mr Vishwaranjan to cool frayed tempers of the residents who have alleged that policemen had burnt down hundreds of huts, killed a few people and raped women in a rampage that went on for six days, from 11 April to 16 April.
After the killings of 75 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and one from the state police on 6 April, 2010 in a jungle near Tarmetla village, some 500 km south of capital Raipur, the outlawed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has emerged stronger than ever before in Chhattisgarh’s 40,000 sq km Bastar region that includes Dantewada.
Indian authorities, too, have deployed more forces in Bastar’s war zone after losing 76 men in a single attack. In the clash between forces and rebels the worst sufferer is the local tribal population who are mired in poverty for decades.
“If you want to know to what extent we are suffering, just visit any jungle area in Dantewada district, there is more than 90 per cent chance you will lose your leg walking on a forested road as all the roads in jungles have been littered with mines, even you risk your life while using the hand pump too,’’ said a 22-year-old youth Mr Moriam, of Injeram area in Dantewada district close to the Andhra Pradesh border. As for him, he had lost his right hand nearly two years back in a blast when he tried to operate a hand pump in his village.
The explosive that went off was put allegedly by Maoists at a hand pump to target a small squad of policemen’s search squad who was expected to use the hand pump for drinking water in the scorching summer month of May.
“We are living under extreme terror-like atmosphere, I can’t spell out the suffering we are going through for years, nobody has feelings and time for the pain and trauma we have been put under in the past one year. The war in jungles between Dadas (Maoists) and police has worsened and so have our sufferings,’’ Mr Sori Hunga, a 50-year-old tribal of village Kasoli, told The Statesman.
He stated police are killing people in the name of fighting Dadas and supporting them and Dadas too target us for spying for local police and being in touch with Judum (Salwa Judum) men and the worst thing is that the war is escalating everyday and so our agony, I don’t see our sufferings are going to end in a year or two, probably it will end when the innocent tribals of Bastar land will be wiped out, both by Dadas and police.’’
A recently published 324-page book ~ Neo-Naxal Challenge ~ Issues and Options ~ written by Chhattisgarh’s additional director-general of police Mr Giridhari Nayak ~ gave some details about civilian casualties and injuries in war zone by mines.
“Mines are a nuisance and hidden killers. They have killed and maimed many innocent civilians. They are indiscriminate weapons harming combatants and civilians alike,’’ reads the book of the 1983 batch IPS officer.
It adds, “anti-personnel mines pose the greatest long-term risk to humans and animals since they are typically designed to be triggered by any movement or pressure of only a few kilograms. Anti-personnel mines are littered by Naxals on the main road, footpaths and near water pumps.’’ Mr Manish Kunjam, who is based at Bastar and president of the All India Adivasi Mahasabha, remarked, “the sufferings of over a million tribal people residing in the extreme interiors of the Bastar region are beyond imagination due to the escalating war between Maoists and police, their (civilians) misery is enormous and is compounding day by day.’’
He added, “since 6 April, 2010 killings of forces near Tarmetla, the policemen have gone on an offensive against civilians with a preconceived thought that they are Maoist supporters, which is not correct, the forces ran over three villages including Tarmetla last month only because police thought they are Maoist supporters.’’
The Chhattisgarh government ordered on 31 March in the state Assembly a judicial probe into the brutalities on civilians allegedly by policemen.
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
India orders probe into police atrocities in Chhattisgarh rebel areas
Source: Reuters Alertnet
24 Mar 2011 16:40
Sujeet Kumar
RAIPUR, India (AlertNet) - Indian authorities have launched a probe after allegations that security forces burnt down hundreds of homes of poor tribal villagers in insurgency-wracked heartlands of the country, according to a senior government official.
Tribes people in the central state of Chhattisgarh claim around 300 police and paramilitary officers -- deployed in the region to battle Maoist rebels -- went on a rampage from March 14 to 16, razing to the ground over 200 homes across three hamlets in the region's troubled Dantewada district.
"A four-member panel has been formed to report on the losses due to burning of houses allegedly by police," R.Prasanna, the senior-most civil servant in Dantewada, told AlertNet.
"The panel will comprise of a journalist, one from civil society and one lecturer from a government college and the committee to be headed by a sub-divisional magistrate," he said, adding that an outcome would be expected within a month.
The Maoist insurgency, waged mostly from the forests of central and eastern India, has intensified dramatically since early 2005 leaving tens of thousands of villagers uprooted and hundreds killed, tortured or persecuted by both sides.
Rights activists say the local population living in the mineral-rich state have been persecuted by both the security forces and the Maoists, who want to build a Communist state.
Villagers accuse the rebels of forced recruitment, including the recruitment of children, and widespread extortion.
But they say they also face widespread abuses by government-backed vigilantes and security forces, who in previous anti-Maoist drives, have conducted arbitrary arrests, torture and killings, accusing the civilians of supporting the rebels.
Local newspapers carried photographs of burnt houses and reports of the alleged violations, but police have denied the charges.
"It's all Maoist-propaganda, nothing happened there. I have not received any complaint of police brutalities," S.R.P. Kalluri, senior superintendent of police in Dantewada told AlertNet.
24 Mar 2011 16:40
Sujeet Kumar
RAIPUR, India (AlertNet) - Indian authorities have launched a probe after allegations that security forces burnt down hundreds of homes of poor tribal villagers in insurgency-wracked heartlands of the country, according to a senior government official.
Tribes people in the central state of Chhattisgarh claim around 300 police and paramilitary officers -- deployed in the region to battle Maoist rebels -- went on a rampage from March 14 to 16, razing to the ground over 200 homes across three hamlets in the region's troubled Dantewada district.
"A four-member panel has been formed to report on the losses due to burning of houses allegedly by police," R.Prasanna, the senior-most civil servant in Dantewada, told AlertNet.
"The panel will comprise of a journalist, one from civil society and one lecturer from a government college and the committee to be headed by a sub-divisional magistrate," he said, adding that an outcome would be expected within a month.
The Maoist insurgency, waged mostly from the forests of central and eastern India, has intensified dramatically since early 2005 leaving tens of thousands of villagers uprooted and hundreds killed, tortured or persecuted by both sides.
Rights activists say the local population living in the mineral-rich state have been persecuted by both the security forces and the Maoists, who want to build a Communist state.
Villagers accuse the rebels of forced recruitment, including the recruitment of children, and widespread extortion.
But they say they also face widespread abuses by government-backed vigilantes and security forces, who in previous anti-Maoist drives, have conducted arbitrary arrests, torture and killings, accusing the civilians of supporting the rebels.
Local newspapers carried photographs of burnt houses and reports of the alleged violations, but police have denied the charges.
"It's all Maoist-propaganda, nothing happened there. I have not received any complaint of police brutalities," S.R.P. Kalluri, senior superintendent of police in Dantewada told AlertNet.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Another Indian state seeks iron ore export ban
By Sujeet Kumar & Siddesh Mayenkar
RAIPUR/MUMBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - India's central Chhattisgarh state is looking at banning iron ore exports, a move that could further tighten supply of the steelmaking material and push prices even higher.
Chhattisgarh joins the Orissa state in seeking a ban on exports by state-run miners.
The southern Karnataka state, which accounts for a quarter of India's annual exports of around 100 million tonnes, has banned exports since July last year, restricting supply from the world's No. 3 iron ore exporter.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told Reuters on Friday he was "strongly in favour of putting an immediate ban" on iron ore exports from the state and had informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about it, saying the state wanted the supplies for domestic use to boost jobs.
A ban on exports was one of Raman Singh's election promises in 2003, but this is the first time he has formally sought a ban. State-run NMDC (NMDC.BO) is the only iron ore miner in Chhattisgarh and any ban must come from the federal government.
"A lot of the upside in prices is largely due to restriction on iron ore coming out of India and this news can only accentuate this," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity analyst at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.
"It's a bad time of the year to be talking about banning material out of India when you've got Australian iron ore also restricted by the cyclone season."
Iron ore prices have risen around 13 percent this year, adding to gains of more than 40 percent in 2010.
"There is no justification for the ban. In fact most of the iron ore from Chhattisgarh is used by local steel mills, and very less quantity gets exported from here," said David Pichamuthu, head of Federation of Indian Mineral Industries' southern region based in Bangalore.
He sees only a "slight impact on prices".
(C) Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world
RAIPUR/MUMBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - India's central Chhattisgarh state is looking at banning iron ore exports, a move that could further tighten supply of the steelmaking material and push prices even higher.
Chhattisgarh joins the Orissa state in seeking a ban on exports by state-run miners.
The southern Karnataka state, which accounts for a quarter of India's annual exports of around 100 million tonnes, has banned exports since July last year, restricting supply from the world's No. 3 iron ore exporter.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh told Reuters on Friday he was "strongly in favour of putting an immediate ban" on iron ore exports from the state and had informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about it, saying the state wanted the supplies for domestic use to boost jobs.
A ban on exports was one of Raman Singh's election promises in 2003, but this is the first time he has formally sought a ban. State-run NMDC (NMDC.BO) is the only iron ore miner in Chhattisgarh and any ban must come from the federal government.
"A lot of the upside in prices is largely due to restriction on iron ore coming out of India and this news can only accentuate this," said Mark Pervan, senior commodity analyst at ANZ Bank in Melbourne.
"It's a bad time of the year to be talking about banning material out of India when you've got Australian iron ore also restricted by the cyclone season."
Iron ore prices have risen around 13 percent this year, adding to gains of more than 40 percent in 2010.
"There is no justification for the ban. In fact most of the iron ore from Chhattisgarh is used by local steel mills, and very less quantity gets exported from here," said David Pichamuthu, head of Federation of Indian Mineral Industries' southern region based in Bangalore.
He sees only a "slight impact on prices".
(C) Reuters 2011. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution ofReuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expresslyprohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuterssphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world
Chhattisgarh's prime farm lands caught in 'power' grab
By Sujeet Kumar
Raipur, March 2 (IANS) India may soon lose about 40,000 acres of prime double-crop agriculture land to dozens of upcoming power projects in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district, farmers and activists allege while the government insists that efforts will be made to spare private farming land.
Janjgir-Champa district has nearly 80 percent of its land under irrigation and has a track record of producing 34-35 quintals of paddy from a hectare compared to the average 16-17 quintals per hectare in other districts of central India.
But in the next three to five years, the district will become India's power hub as the state government has signed 34 separate contracts with power companies to set up coal-fired plants there.
If the deals are fully implemented, this district alone will generate over 40,000 MW of power.
In the process, these projects will eat up not less than 40,000 acres of the country's best cultivated fertile land.
However, Chief Minister Raman Singh has said the state government will try to ensure that maximum government land is made available for these projects in a bid to spare prime private farm land.
Navneet Singh, a farmer from Nariyara village, knows what is happening from up close. His four-acre double-crop land has been taken over by one of the power companies that plans a 3,600 MW plant in the village.
"I can't understand the logic of allowing power companies to start projects on prime agriculture land. This decision (to give land to power plants) will destroy the happy life of thousands of farmers," Singh rued.
About 150 villagers were cane-charged and arrested in January while protesting against alleged forcible land acquisition by companies.
The protest has now spilled over to other areas of Janjgir-Champa.
Jawahar Dube, a former legislator who launched a protest campaign in the district against what he calls "loot of prime land by industries", said: "The power companies' agents are forcibly acquiring farmers land at throwaway prices. If this is not stopped urgently, thousands of farmers' families will be forced to prefer suicide deaths in a few years."
The feeling is shared by Raghuveer Singh, district panchayat member.
He said: "Wherever you go in the district, you will find company agents working out land deals with innocent farmers. Surprisingly the government is silent."
What is the need for allowing about three dozen power plants in a single district that has 80 percent agricultural land producing high yield, he asked.
According to Singh, the farmers feel that the government has targeted the lands of Janjgir-Champa only because "it's the only district in Chhattisgarh completely free from Maoist trouble and the companies will face no problems."
Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi told IANS: "It's a blind favour given to industries at the cost of farmers' interests. The state government is so blind to prefer power plants that it handed over the dam Rogda to a private company.
"I went to several villages in the district recently to join local people's protests against power plants and I found the farmers were upset with the state government for such a foolish move."
However, Raman Singh, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government since December 2003, remained positive that the land deals will not affect the farmers.
"For one thing, signing a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with a number of power companies and the actual implementation of all the MoUs are different subjects. I don't think every company that has signed the MoU will get coal linkage or coal block from the government of India because it is not available in such large numbers in the district.
"Only those companies that are showing progress on the projects will get land. Also, efforts are made to keep as much double-crop land as possible out of acquisition," Singh had said in an interview to IANS.
But Virendra Pandey, Chhattisgarh's former finance commission chairman, said that almost all the companies that have entered into MoUs are setting up plants.
"According to figures available to me, companies in Janjgir-Champa are acquiring majority of private lands which are all irrigation-covered double-crop."
He further alleged that "the way the state government has planned to offer high fertile farm land to industries, no one can stop Janjgir-Champa from becoming India's most polluted district in the next five years."
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
For clarifications/queries, please contact IANS NEWS DESK at
91-11-39400100, 30617900
Mobile: +91-9873188969
or mail us at support@ians.in
Raipur, March 2 (IANS) India may soon lose about 40,000 acres of prime double-crop agriculture land to dozens of upcoming power projects in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district, farmers and activists allege while the government insists that efforts will be made to spare private farming land.
Janjgir-Champa district has nearly 80 percent of its land under irrigation and has a track record of producing 34-35 quintals of paddy from a hectare compared to the average 16-17 quintals per hectare in other districts of central India.
But in the next three to five years, the district will become India's power hub as the state government has signed 34 separate contracts with power companies to set up coal-fired plants there.
If the deals are fully implemented, this district alone will generate over 40,000 MW of power.
In the process, these projects will eat up not less than 40,000 acres of the country's best cultivated fertile land.
However, Chief Minister Raman Singh has said the state government will try to ensure that maximum government land is made available for these projects in a bid to spare prime private farm land.
Navneet Singh, a farmer from Nariyara village, knows what is happening from up close. His four-acre double-crop land has been taken over by one of the power companies that plans a 3,600 MW plant in the village.
"I can't understand the logic of allowing power companies to start projects on prime agriculture land. This decision (to give land to power plants) will destroy the happy life of thousands of farmers," Singh rued.
About 150 villagers were cane-charged and arrested in January while protesting against alleged forcible land acquisition by companies.
The protest has now spilled over to other areas of Janjgir-Champa.
Jawahar Dube, a former legislator who launched a protest campaign in the district against what he calls "loot of prime land by industries", said: "The power companies' agents are forcibly acquiring farmers land at throwaway prices. If this is not stopped urgently, thousands of farmers' families will be forced to prefer suicide deaths in a few years."
The feeling is shared by Raghuveer Singh, district panchayat member.
He said: "Wherever you go in the district, you will find company agents working out land deals with innocent farmers. Surprisingly the government is silent."
What is the need for allowing about three dozen power plants in a single district that has 80 percent agricultural land producing high yield, he asked.
According to Singh, the farmers feel that the government has targeted the lands of Janjgir-Champa only because "it's the only district in Chhattisgarh completely free from Maoist trouble and the companies will face no problems."
Former chief minister and senior Congress leader Ajit Jogi told IANS: "It's a blind favour given to industries at the cost of farmers' interests. The state government is so blind to prefer power plants that it handed over the dam Rogda to a private company.
"I went to several villages in the district recently to join local people's protests against power plants and I found the farmers were upset with the state government for such a foolish move."
However, Raman Singh, who heads the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government since December 2003, remained positive that the land deals will not affect the farmers.
"For one thing, signing a Memorandum of Understandings (MoU) with a number of power companies and the actual implementation of all the MoUs are different subjects. I don't think every company that has signed the MoU will get coal linkage or coal block from the government of India because it is not available in such large numbers in the district.
"Only those companies that are showing progress on the projects will get land. Also, efforts are made to keep as much double-crop land as possible out of acquisition," Singh had said in an interview to IANS.
But Virendra Pandey, Chhattisgarh's former finance commission chairman, said that almost all the companies that have entered into MoUs are setting up plants.
"According to figures available to me, companies in Janjgir-Champa are acquiring majority of private lands which are all irrigation-covered double-crop."
He further alleged that "the way the state government has planned to offer high fertile farm land to industries, no one can stop Janjgir-Champa from becoming India's most polluted district in the next five years."
(Sujeet Kumar can be contacted at sujeet.k@ians.in)
For clarifications/queries, please contact IANS NEWS DESK at
91-11-39400100, 30617900
Mobile: +91-9873188969
or mail us at support@ians.in
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