Natural cosmetics, lime grass insecticides, gooseberry candy, herbal medicines and honey are among new weapons deployed by India in its fight against Maoist insurgents.
They are produced by villagers in state cooperatives in Maoist-hit Chhattisgarh, providing income that the government hopes will help keep the workers out of the ranks of the rebels and their supporters.
India’s war against Maoist insurgents cannot be won with guns alone, experts say — economic development and solutions to the grievances of rebel sympathizers are needed.
PHOTO: AFP
Last month’s massacre of 76 Indian policeman by the rebels touched off a national debate about the need for “hearts and minds” efforts in insurgency-hit areas to accompany a nationwide security offensive launched last year.
The Chhattisgarh cooperatives are part of an attempt by the state to regain influence in the 45,000km2 of forests at the heart of what is known as India’s “Red Corridor,” where the rebels hold sway.
“We will not join the Maoists because we have money in our pocket and food in our belly,” 18-year-old Sharda Mandavi said as she busily ground herbs.
Around her, men and women mostly aged 16 to 19, in aprons and face masks, worked eight-hour shifts in spartan tin-roofed enclosures set up by the state’s forest department.
“These kids are so busy that they cannot even think of joining the insurgency,” said forest warden U.S. Thakur in Jabarra, 165km from state capital Raipur.
In the villages in the area, home to the Gond, Muria, Maria or Halba tribes, Maoist recruiters are constantly on the look out for jobless or disaffected potential cadres. Nocturnal visits are common, say locals.
One supervisor at the reprocessing center in Dugli, who was abducted last month by the rebels but was freed when he refused to join the movement, said the project is helping to fill a void.
“We are doing what the police cannot do with guns and bullets,” he said, asking not to be named for security reasons.
“These men and women are now fighting back with candies, herbs and honey and in the process we are also protecting our forests from the Naxals [Maoists],” he said.
Chhattisgarh’s top forest conservator R.K. Sharma said in Raipur that 8,500 such facilities were operating in troubled areas to try and “wean away young men and women into skilled jobs.”
The projects under the Joint Forest Management (JFM) scheme have paid dividends of 584 million rupees (US$12.9 million) between 2000 and 2008 to local villages, according to records and supervisors.
Villages earn up to 30 percent of the profits from the sale of the forest products in government shops and other retail chains nationwide. Money is also shared with settlements that do not have resources.
Experts warn, however, that isolated projects such as Chhattisgarh’s JFM are not enough to fight the Maoists in states where they have entrenched support that feeds off resentment at state corruption and incompetence, as well as land disputes.
“Primary healthcare, education, agricultural reforms and tenancy laws need to be improved,” said Maoist expert Mallika Joseph from the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, a New Delhi-based private think tank.
“It is a challenge, but it is doable. The Maoists cannot achieve them,” she added.
In addition to the implementation constraints of development projects, the government also faces a dynamic enemy.
“Naxals still come to us and say ‘we will pay you more if you join our fight,’’ said a 21-year-old man at the Dugli facility. “But please do not mention our names as we are scared and besides the police are powerless to give us any protection.”
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
France experienced its hottest spring on record, the French weather service said on Tuesday, after an exceptional early heat wave that also broke highs for the season in England and Wales. Meteo-France said the average nationwide temperature over March to May was 13.8°C — about 1.7°C above the norm, and surpassing records set in 2011 and 2020. “The warmest spring since records began in 1900,” it said in a bulletin. All three months were warmer than average, but the onset of an “unprecedented heatwave” late last month pushed the mercury to highs typically seen at the height of the summer. “Our country had never
RSS