Vishwa Mohan, TNN, Apr 14, 2010, 02.47am IST
NEW DELHI: Maoists may be opposed to various development projects in their pockets of influence but they are not opposed to the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA) scheme — the government’s flagship programme of providing jobs to rural poor — leading to its better implementation in Red zone.
This came to light on Tuesday when cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar reviewed the progress of the government’s ongoing development programmes in 33 most Naxal-affected districts across states at the 11th meeting of the task force comprising Union home secretary G K Pillai and secretaries of other ministries.
The finding that the Maoists are not opposing NREGA is a testimony to the pull of the scheme which played a key role in UPA’s win in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls. It offers a valuable insight to the government just when it is looking for a police-plus approach to deal with the menace of extremism. The meeting, coming close on the heels of the killing of 76 security personnel in the worst ever Naxal attack in Dantewada, took stock of the progress made in the implementation of Forest Rights Act which will benefit Scheduled Tribe and other traditional forest dwellers, NREGA, National Rural Heath Mission (NRHM), Mid-Day Meal Scheme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and Pradhan Matri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) among others.
It was found that the overall percentage of expenditure (disbursal of fund to beneficiaries) under NREGA was 72.76% in these 33 districts as compared to 41.04% under PMGSY, 57.44% under NRHM and 37.60% for programmes under the Forest Rights Act in the April 2009-January 2010 period.
Chief secretaries of seven states presented their reports to the task force and discussed issues through video conferencing during the meeting. They are learnt to have told the task force that the implementation of NREGA was found to be quite successful in the Naxal-affected districts as Maoists are not opposed to the scheme which provides jobs to local people mainly poor tribals in the affected districts.
Jharkhand has the maximum 10 districts in the category followed by seven in Chhattisgarh, six in Bihar, five in Orissa and two in Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh have one district each.....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMTQjQXIwMTkwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Will the state police take 'lead' in the ongoing anti-naxal operations?
Anti-Naxal ops: Centre pushes for 6,000 CRPF personnel
13 Apr 2010, 1049 hrs IST,Vishwa Mohan,TNN
NEW DELHI: Centre is pressing more paramilitary troops — 6,000 CRPF personnel — to ramp up anti-Naxal operations but will let the state police take
“lead” in the operations against the extremists.
In a significant re-configuration of its approach in the wake of the Dantewada massacre, the home ministry is going to tell the state governments that the role of paramilitary forces will be limited to “assist” the state forces. This may not be different from what was, in any case, supposed to be the case on paper.
In reality, however, it is the central forces who became the vanguard of the anti-Maoist operations, with poorly-trained state forces happily taking the back seat. The change has been necessitated because of the realisation that the political damage the Maoists inflicted when they ambushed the CRPF patrol could have been less if Centre had not taken the ownership of the offensive.
Tactically too, it is being felt that greater involvement of state police was an imperative because of their familiarity with the terrain as well as better ability to gather intelligence from local communities. The issue of involving states pro-actively was discussed in detail as part of post-mortem exercise of the Dantewada incident in a high-level meeting, chaired by home secretary G K Pillai here on Monday.
The Centre and paramilitary forces have often complained, and with considerable merit, that the state governments are not always ready to supplement their efforts. Officials in the home ministry said the Dantewada incident was indicative of the states’ approach where they left disproportionate share of the dangerous assignment for the central forces.
Although the decision in Dantewada episode was taken jointly with the Chhattisgarh police, the state — contrary to earlier home ministry’s advisory — did not send its own trained cops with them except one head constable when they set off in the direction of Tongpalli on April 6. “Such an approach will not be accepted any more. States will have to put in adequate number of personnel for both operations as well as area domination exercise,” said a senior official....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMTMjQXIwMTIwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
13 Apr 2010, 1049 hrs IST,Vishwa Mohan,TNN
NEW DELHI: Centre is pressing more paramilitary troops — 6,000 CRPF personnel — to ramp up anti-Naxal operations but will let the state police take
“lead” in the operations against the extremists.
In a significant re-configuration of its approach in the wake of the Dantewada massacre, the home ministry is going to tell the state governments that the role of paramilitary forces will be limited to “assist” the state forces. This may not be different from what was, in any case, supposed to be the case on paper.
In reality, however, it is the central forces who became the vanguard of the anti-Maoist operations, with poorly-trained state forces happily taking the back seat. The change has been necessitated because of the realisation that the political damage the Maoists inflicted when they ambushed the CRPF patrol could have been less if Centre had not taken the ownership of the offensive.
Tactically too, it is being felt that greater involvement of state police was an imperative because of their familiarity with the terrain as well as better ability to gather intelligence from local communities. The issue of involving states pro-actively was discussed in detail as part of post-mortem exercise of the Dantewada incident in a high-level meeting, chaired by home secretary G K Pillai here on Monday.
The Centre and paramilitary forces have often complained, and with considerable merit, that the state governments are not always ready to supplement their efforts. Officials in the home ministry said the Dantewada incident was indicative of the states’ approach where they left disproportionate share of the dangerous assignment for the central forces.
Although the decision in Dantewada episode was taken jointly with the Chhattisgarh police, the state — contrary to earlier home ministry’s advisory — did not send its own trained cops with them except one head constable when they set off in the direction of Tongpalli on April 6. “Such an approach will not be accepted any more. States will have to put in adequate number of personnel for both operations as well as area domination exercise,” said a senior official....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMTMjQXIwMTIwMg==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Monday, April 12, 2010
Search for combat clues in Red remarks
Vishwa Mohan, TNN, Apr 12, 2010, 01.38am IST
NEW DELHI: With Maoists threatening more Dantewada-type attacks, the Centre has asked states and CRPF to be on their toes and is also studying Maoist chief Ganapathi alias Mupalla Laxman Rao’s recent comments about new ‘war tactics’. Fresh alerts were sounded late on Saturday and repeated on Sunday in view of the Naxals’ warning.
Although the forces have been on full alert since the massacre of 76 security personnel on April 6, the Centre asked commanders in war zones to take adequate precautions sensing that the ultras’ warning may not just be plain rhetoric.
Taking cue from what Ganapathi recently said in an interview to Swedish author and columnist Jan Myrdal, CRPF’s operational strategists, meanwhile, are ‘revisiting’ the Maoist chief’s rare utterances on crucial issues including how the Naxals have been positioning themselves to gain ground.
A senior official said, “We are not in a position to take any threat lightly while waiting for its authenticity. After all, such threat is in tune with Ganapathi’s line as broadly revealed in his recent interview.”
The forces are now trying to figure out what Ganapathi meant when he told Myrdal that Maoist guerrillas would chase the security forces’ base camps like “honey bees”.
Referring to the 22-page interview given somewhere in the jungles of eastern ghats in January, the official said, “It is important to know them if we want to counter them.”
Clearly stating that Maoists have to “intensify and expand guerrilla war”, Ganapathi had said, “Enemy must be resisted by our forces but it must be according to our advantage based on situation. At present, we have to utilize cleverly the tactics of hit and run.”
He also told Myrdal and People’s Union for Democratic Rights activist Gautam Navlakha — who intelligence agencies think was the link between the Swedish author and the Maoist chief — how the ultras were on track to “develop guerrilla war into mobile war and guerrilla army into a regular army”.
The Naxal chief, who gave a detailed account of how local people actually worked for them despite the presence of security forces, expressed solidarity with northeastern insurgents and Kashmiri separatists in order to try and form a “united front” with them in due course.
Meanwhile, a one-man inquiry committee of former BSF chief E N Rammohan began its probe into the Dantewada incident and held discussions with CRPF chief Vikram Srivastava on Saturday....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEwLzA0LzEyI0FyMDE0MDE=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
NEW DELHI: With Maoists threatening more Dantewada-type attacks, the Centre has asked states and CRPF to be on their toes and is also studying Maoist chief Ganapathi alias Mupalla Laxman Rao’s recent comments about new ‘war tactics’. Fresh alerts were sounded late on Saturday and repeated on Sunday in view of the Naxals’ warning.
Although the forces have been on full alert since the massacre of 76 security personnel on April 6, the Centre asked commanders in war zones to take adequate precautions sensing that the ultras’ warning may not just be plain rhetoric.
Taking cue from what Ganapathi recently said in an interview to Swedish author and columnist Jan Myrdal, CRPF’s operational strategists, meanwhile, are ‘revisiting’ the Maoist chief’s rare utterances on crucial issues including how the Naxals have been positioning themselves to gain ground.
A senior official said, “We are not in a position to take any threat lightly while waiting for its authenticity. After all, such threat is in tune with Ganapathi’s line as broadly revealed in his recent interview.”
The forces are now trying to figure out what Ganapathi meant when he told Myrdal that Maoist guerrillas would chase the security forces’ base camps like “honey bees”.
Referring to the 22-page interview given somewhere in the jungles of eastern ghats in January, the official said, “It is important to know them if we want to counter them.”
Clearly stating that Maoists have to “intensify and expand guerrilla war”, Ganapathi had said, “Enemy must be resisted by our forces but it must be according to our advantage based on situation. At present, we have to utilize cleverly the tactics of hit and run.”
He also told Myrdal and People’s Union for Democratic Rights activist Gautam Navlakha — who intelligence agencies think was the link between the Swedish author and the Maoist chief — how the ultras were on track to “develop guerrilla war into mobile war and guerrilla army into a regular army”.
The Naxal chief, who gave a detailed account of how local people actually worked for them despite the presence of security forces, expressed solidarity with northeastern insurgents and Kashmiri separatists in order to try and form a “united front” with them in due course.
Meanwhile, a one-man inquiry committee of former BSF chief E N Rammohan began its probe into the Dantewada incident and held discussions with CRPF chief Vikram Srivastava on Saturday....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEwLzA0LzEyI0FyMDE0MDE=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
A band of eight that calls the shots
Vishwa Mohan, TNN, Apr 7, 2010, 03.45am IST
NEW DELHI: Maoists, who have killed over 1,200 security personnel across the country in the past six years, are currently managed by a band of eight top leaders whose whereabouts are not known to security agencies. Though the ultras have an armed contingent of nearly 11,000, they have many more unarmed cadre and get the support of over-ground workers living not only in tribal villages of Naxal-affected states but also in cities. The group of eight leaders, who make up the CPI (Maoist) politburo, is headed by the elusive Muppala Laxmana Rao alias Ganapathi, a 60-year-old science graduate from Karimnagar district in Andhra Pradesh. Although the politburo had 14 members, security forces have either arrested or killed six of them in the past three years. The senior-most among those arrested is Kobad Ghandy who is currently in jail in Delhi. The central committee of the Maoists, having 32 members, is the body which takes command from politburo and passes on strategic information to the cadre through different channels. The hierarchy comprises zonal committees (looking after two-three states), state-level committees, district wing, area commander and dalam (the basic unit of armed cadre). Although the ultras have, of late, been successful in manufacturing their own arms including cloned AK-series rifles, their arsenal mainly comprises looted police weapons. The entire operations are financed by extortion money which the politburo and central committees raise by charging levy on contractors in all Naxal-affected states.
ELUSIVE EIGHT
Muppala Laxmana Rao (with 15 aliases including Ganapathi, Ramana & Srinivas) is the chief. The 60-yr-old science graduate is from Karimnagar district, Andhra Pradesh
Prashanth Bose alias Nirbhay No. 2 in the politburo, belongs to West Bengal. Represents outfit at meetings with rebel groups in India and abroad
Cherukuri Raja Kumar alias Uday Aged 57, comes from Krishna district, Andhra
Mallajula Koteshwara Rao alias Kishanji 57-yr-old leader from Karimnagar, Andhra, brought about merger of PWG and MCC. Currently looks after operations in West Bengal
Nambala Keshavarao alias Ganganna Aged 55, belongs to Srikakulam district, Andhra Pradesh
Mallajula Venugopal alias Bhupathi Also from Karimnagar, Andhra Katakam
Sudershan alias Anand 52-yr-old leader from Adilabad district, Andhra Pradesh
Balraj alias BR Aged 52, looks after publication. In charge of north Bihar
THOSE IN NET
Politburo members -- Kobad Ghandy, Pramod Mishra, Sumanand Singh, Malla Raji Reddy, Misir Besra alias Sunirmal. and top commanders Sridhar Krishnan Srinivasan, Shankar Mahali, Birbalji and Visa David Kumar
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=VE9JTS8yMDEwLzA0LzA3I0FyMDE5MDY=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Friday, April 2, 2010
Differences in top Maoist leadership????...
Seized Documents Show Rift Between Ganapathi & Kishanji Over Lalgarh Operations
Vishwa Mohan \ TNN
New Delhi: Maoists seem to be facing a leadership crisis due to differences at the top.
Though the arrest of six out of 14 politburo members of CPI (Maoist) in the past three years had already made a heavy dent, recent reports indicating differences between chief Ganapathi and senior leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishanji has made ripples down to the lower cadre. Security agencies recently seized a number of documents, including correspondence between Ganapathi and Kishanji, showing that the differences had turned into ‘suspicion’ between them over their individual security.
“The documents show that there are clear differences at the top over method of operations. It, in fact, corroborated what Kishanji’s righthand man Telugu Deepak told his interrogators in West Bengal,” said a senior security official.
Deepak alias Venkateswara Reddy, a West Bengal state committee member, was arrested by the state police on March 2.
Besides stating how the top leaders were not sure about each other’s actions amid facing heat from security forces across Naxal-infested states, Deepak had told cops how even the movement of politburo members had, of late, been compromised.
Referring to the seized documents, the official said the differences had occurred over the way Kishanji and his comrades in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar were associating themselves with the Lalgarh resistance as against Ganapathi’s idea of taking on security forces simultaneously in different states.
CPI (Maoist) — which came into existence after the merger of People’s War Group (PWG), active in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, with the West Bengal-Bihar-Jharkhand centred Maoist and Communist Centre (MCC) in 2004 — is now facing pulls from different sides.
While one group led by Kishanji wants to dominate Lalgarh considering it the centre of their resistance, the other led by Ganapathi feel the West Bengal unit is excessively obsessed with local politics. Though both Kishanji and Ganapathi were with PWG in Andhra Pradesh, security agencies found that the former now seems to be more interested in the affairs of the northern parts having its nerve centre in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The MCC and PWG groups within CPI (Maoist) also differ on the methods of operation. Differences had cropped up in the wake of beheading of Jharkhand police inspector Francis Indwar last year.
While erstwhile MCC leaders had justified such action, ex-PWG cadres had objected to the killing. Besides, erstwhile PWG members are finding it tough to deal with MCC leaders who are divided on caste lines.
“The security forces are now trying to use these difference as an opportunity to break the cadre. The way Lalgarh is their icon of resistance, the area has also become a laboratory of anti-naxal operations for us,” a security official said.....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMDIjQXIwMTIwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan \ TNN
New Delhi: Maoists seem to be facing a leadership crisis due to differences at the top.
Though the arrest of six out of 14 politburo members of CPI (Maoist) in the past three years had already made a heavy dent, recent reports indicating differences between chief Ganapathi and senior leader Koteswar Rao alias Kishanji has made ripples down to the lower cadre. Security agencies recently seized a number of documents, including correspondence between Ganapathi and Kishanji, showing that the differences had turned into ‘suspicion’ between them over their individual security.
“The documents show that there are clear differences at the top over method of operations. It, in fact, corroborated what Kishanji’s righthand man Telugu Deepak told his interrogators in West Bengal,” said a senior security official.
Deepak alias Venkateswara Reddy, a West Bengal state committee member, was arrested by the state police on March 2.
Besides stating how the top leaders were not sure about each other’s actions amid facing heat from security forces across Naxal-infested states, Deepak had told cops how even the movement of politburo members had, of late, been compromised.
Referring to the seized documents, the official said the differences had occurred over the way Kishanji and his comrades in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar were associating themselves with the Lalgarh resistance as against Ganapathi’s idea of taking on security forces simultaneously in different states.
CPI (Maoist) — which came into existence after the merger of People’s War Group (PWG), active in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Chhattisgarh, with the West Bengal-Bihar-Jharkhand centred Maoist and Communist Centre (MCC) in 2004 — is now facing pulls from different sides.
While one group led by Kishanji wants to dominate Lalgarh considering it the centre of their resistance, the other led by Ganapathi feel the West Bengal unit is excessively obsessed with local politics. Though both Kishanji and Ganapathi were with PWG in Andhra Pradesh, security agencies found that the former now seems to be more interested in the affairs of the northern parts having its nerve centre in West Bengal and Jharkhand.
The MCC and PWG groups within CPI (Maoist) also differ on the methods of operation. Differences had cropped up in the wake of beheading of Jharkhand police inspector Francis Indwar last year.
While erstwhile MCC leaders had justified such action, ex-PWG cadres had objected to the killing. Besides, erstwhile PWG members are finding it tough to deal with MCC leaders who are divided on caste lines.
“The security forces are now trying to use these difference as an opportunity to break the cadre. The way Lalgarh is their icon of resistance, the area has also become a laboratory of anti-naxal operations for us,” a security official said.....http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMDIjQXIwMTIwMA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Does this hold some clue to the Pune blast?
IM man’s Pune accounts frozen
Vishwa Mohan \ TNN
New Delhi: With Pune blast probe throwing up definite footprints of the LeT-IM combine, the Centre has frozen 14 bank accounts of an absconding IM operative Moshin Ismail Chowdhary after the trail led investigators to his accounts at Nana Peth branch of Ratnakar Bank in Pune.
Ismail, involved in a number of terrorist attacks carried out by IM at the behest of LeT during 2007-08, is learnt to be hiding in Karachi from where he has been controlling sleeper cells in Pune and other cities in Maharashtra.
“The ongoing blast probe led the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra to Ratnakar Bank having Ismail’s 14 accounts carrying Rs 3.80 lakh in Pune,” said an official.
Sources, however, clarified that there was no specific evidence so far linking him with the Pune blast.
His bank accounts, which remained out of security agencies’ radar for long, were frozen in March under Section 51A of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Security agencies suspect that Ismail is part of the ISIsponsored ‘Karachi Project’, aimed at carrying out attacks in different cities in India with the help of local jihadis under the banner of IM with LeT at the forefront. A number of retired and serving officers of Pakistan army are also part of the project. Freezing of Ismail’s bank accounts was disclosed by home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday. He, however, did not share any details of his involvement in specific terrorist acts.
On the progress of investigation into the blast, Chidambaram merely said, “I have indication that progress has been made.”....... http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMDEjQXIwMTQwNA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
Vishwa Mohan \ TNN
New Delhi: With Pune blast probe throwing up definite footprints of the LeT-IM combine, the Centre has frozen 14 bank accounts of an absconding IM operative Moshin Ismail Chowdhary after the trail led investigators to his accounts at Nana Peth branch of Ratnakar Bank in Pune.
Ismail, involved in a number of terrorist attacks carried out by IM at the behest of LeT during 2007-08, is learnt to be hiding in Karachi from where he has been controlling sleeper cells in Pune and other cities in Maharashtra.
“The ongoing blast probe led the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Maharashtra to Ratnakar Bank having Ismail’s 14 accounts carrying Rs 3.80 lakh in Pune,” said an official.
Sources, however, clarified that there was no specific evidence so far linking him with the Pune blast.
His bank accounts, which remained out of security agencies’ radar for long, were frozen in March under Section 51A of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Security agencies suspect that Ismail is part of the ISIsponsored ‘Karachi Project’, aimed at carrying out attacks in different cities in India with the help of local jihadis under the banner of IM with LeT at the forefront. A number of retired and serving officers of Pakistan army are also part of the project. Freezing of Ismail’s bank accounts was disclosed by home minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday. He, however, did not share any details of his involvement in specific terrorist acts.
On the progress of investigation into the blast, Chidambaram merely said, “I have indication that progress has been made.”....... http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=Q0FQLzIwMTAvMDQvMDEjQXIwMTQwNA==&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom
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