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ASSIGNMENT ON

NAXALISTS MOVEMENT-CAUSES AND CURE

SUBJECT: - LAW AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION

SUBMITED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

DR. DIPTI REKHA MOHAPATRA CHANDRA SEKHAR MISHRA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR 2nd SEMESTER

POST GRADUATION

(DEPARTMENT OF LAW)

SAMBALPUR UNIVERSITY JYOTI VIHAR, BURLA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAUSE OF NAXALISM

3. LAWS MADE TO TACKLE NAXALISM

4. ARE THESE LAWS EFFECTIVE?

5. WHAT REFORMS ARE NEEDED?

6. SUGGESTIONS

7. CONCLUSION

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

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INTRODUCTION

The term “Naxal” derives from the village named “Naxalbari” which is situated in the state of
West-Bengal, from where this movement originally came into existence. These groups of people
are considered to be far-left radical communists that support the Maoist political sentiment and
ideology. The origin of the Naxalites can be traced back to the split in the Communist Party of
India (Marxist), which led to the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
In the beginning, the movement had its origins in West Bengal followed which it spread to the
lesser developed areas of the rural southern and eastern Indian territory such as Chhattisgarh,
Odisha, and Andra Pradesh. For the last ten years, it has grown and displaced the tribal areas and
the natives’ lands who are fighting against corruption and exploitation from the major Indian
Corporations. The generic terms that are used to identify them are “Naxalites”, “Naxals” and
“Naksalvadi”. These groups have been declared as terrorist organizations by the government of
India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India, 1967. The leaders of these Naxal
movements have their hideouts in China. The Indian Government has made measures to curb
Naxalism and rehabilitate the affected populace. The problem was not in the laws made against
them. The problem has always lied in the fact “how can we communicate these laws and provisions
to the local and the isolated masses, who have no means of communication, in a substantiated way.
The attempt lies in finding the solution to this problem.

In India, the Naxal movement has been the most rebellious act, which has been long ongoing since
1967. It all started when a group of tribes, labourers, and peasants held a rebellious movement and
raided a landlord’s granaries in a North Bengal village called Naxalbari. Although this rebellion
was suppressed by the police temporarily, the Naxalites kept their movement alive under the
leadership of Charu Majumdar, working with Jangal Santhal and Kanu Sanyal. As a result, the
people of nearby villages supported this movement, and even the Chinese started to support the
movement. 1
It was named the “Spring Thunder” by the Chinese media. The Naxalite movement was vast and
started spreading out to other parts of India, including the North East and Jammu and Kashmir.

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With time, the rebels have enhanced themselves with modern weapons, firepower, and, most
importantly, support from a certain group of India. In time, they also became capable of building
high-end bombs. They also started weapon manufacturing and production camps in leaps and
bounds. The most recent attack by these groups was the attack on the Indian security forces on the
3rd of April, 2021, which took place on the Sukma-Bijapur border.

FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CAUSE OF NAXALISM

Naxalism was not just a movement that sparked in one day. Behind this movement, many factors
were responsible, some of which have been the problems for India which were overlooked then.
Let us look at some of these factors below:2

Mismanagement of Forests:
Mismanagement of forests has been an issue that came into play since the British ruled India. The
British government introduced laws to monopolise forest resources, which came into play for this.
The situation worsened post-1990 when the Indian government started the natural resources of the
forests. This led to a spark that formed fire in the hearts of the people living in the forests to
contribute to the movement against the Indian government.

Disorganised Tribal policies:

The detachment of the local tribes of the forests from the government was expected to be resolved
and eradicated post-independence from British rule. However, this was not the case. The
government failed to implement proper tribal policies. Instead, it concentrated on projects which
led to forests being burned or cut down hence abandoning the tribes from their homes and making
them resourceless. This led them to join the Naxalites movement from even other states of India.

Intraregional and Interregional discrepancies:

The poor in India have always been the less privileged. In previous years the government did not
make any schemes or policies for the poor. So Naxalites became the voice of the poor, and the

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people from the lower economic class thought the Naxalites would solve their problems. Hence
they started joining the Naxalism movement.

Absence of Land reforms and industrialisation:

At that time, there was a tremendous impact on the backward society people when they saw half-
hearted attempts by the government to bring in land reforms and policies. The government had
failed to set up agriculture organised in rural India. This led to a poor economy in the rural parts
of India. As a result, the employment rate for these people almost neared zero at that time. People,
as a result, formed a protest and joined the Naxal movement to raise their voices against the
government.

Forest cover in India:

Most parts of rural India are covered by forests, giving the Naxalites considerable advantage to
continue their movement. They form groups and make camps in the forests, making them less
vulnerable to the police and the government.

Indian Youth:
Failing to generate sufficient jobs for Indian youth just graduating from colleges and universities
has been one of the major causes of the rise in Naxalism. The idealism for the Naxal movement
has been inflicted on the youth who are fresh graduates. Hence the increase in such numbers has
been in leaps and bounds in the past few years.

LAWS MADE TO TACKLE NAXALISM

There have been a few laws made by the government that are intended to curb Naxalism. These
are:3

• National Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy, 2007– the main function of this
Act was to reduce the displacement of the people of these affected areas as well as to
provide good alternatives for the dispersal of the people. The government had made this

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policy for the people whose land is acquired by the government for industrial growth.
Under the said policy, in exchange for land, an employment opportunity shall be given
to at least one member of the family along with the vocational training and the housing
facilities.

• Forest Rights Acts, 2006– This Act has acknowledged the rights of the forest dwellers
and the scheduled tribes who have been living in the forest areas but their rights have
not been recognized.

• Chhattisgarh Special Public Securities Act, 2006– this act has provided for the
definition of the unlawful activities that have been prevalent in these areas and have
also declared certain organizations as unlawful. This act gives the government the
power to form an advisory board, wherever the state government feels that it needs to
be established. It also states its procedures, formation of such a board and penalties with
punishments. Even for not committing a crime, the power to notify the place that is
being used for an unlawful purpose, whilst taking note of the place and bar/revision
against the intervention of the courts lies with the government.

• The Chhattisgarh Special Public Securities Bill of 2005– It provides for the fact that
the District Magistrate of any district has an unconditional power to notify those places
he thinks are being used as places for unlawful activities without any notification that
has to be stated priorly. There is no requirement such as the production of the evidence
in such a case to prove that the place which the District Magistrate has marked unlawful,
actually conducts these unlawful activities. This bill has provided that any revision
petition against the order of the government and the District Magistrate can only be
filed at the High Court. Also, this petition has to be filed within 30 days and no court
has jurisdiction against the order of the decision made by the High Court. Any sort of
revision petition or the application or any form of injunction by a court or the officer
except for the High Court or the Supreme Court related to any action that has to be
taken, has been completely barred in this Bill. 4

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The sad part of this bill is that it is a blatant violation of the principle of natural justice and the fact
that the aggrieved parties have no right to be heard is another violation. Therefore, it can be stated
that the Bill has been completely uncalled for and has only been brought to have control over the
poor people.

ARE THESE LAWS EFFECTIVE?

Now that we know about the laws, the question that now arises, and perhaps the most important
question is, are these laws that have been made, really effective? The primary answer that on behalf
of the government would be, yes. But the ground reality states otherwise. These laws have caused
a lot of problems for the people who belong to the scheduled tribes and the scheduled castes. The
Acts that provide a “land for a land” has turned out to be nothing but a nightmare for the people
as well as the government and has also blocked the industrialization in the Naxal areas.5

WHAT REFORMS ARE NEEDED?

The complex causes of the problem related to the Naxals as well as their implications for both the
external as well as internal security reasons reflect a multidimensional solution. This calls for a
collaboration between the center as well as the states. In order to completely eradicate the threat
of the Naxals, the government has to ensure that they dig deep into their root causes and address
the issues. This problem now calls for a three-parted solution. These are:

• Socio-Economic Development- the Naxalites are fueled by the discontent by the

governmental bodies, therefore it is important to address these issues. When the national
budget is being made, the first priority is to be given to these poor regions through
initiatives regarding the health and safety provisions whilst providing them social
reforms as well as educational developments. The service delivery of the government
must be improved in these areas. The regulations of providing minimum wages and

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other basic needs must be implemented. If these issues are addressed, then there will be
no discontent on behalf of the Naxalites.

• Multilateral Dialogue- The government should initiate proper dialogues with these
groups that have been marginalised, the Naxalites and the local leaders of the areas.
Communication is the key to the feeling of being heard. The only reason why these
groups supported the Naxalites was because the government has been unaware and
indifferent to their claims. By communication, their views will be taken into
consideration and they would not need to resort to violence.

• Military- the main instrument that the government uses currently is the military force.
This has increased the deployment of the military in Naxal areas. It has also reduced its
territory to those areas where there could be potential threats instead of the Naxal areas.
While some amount of military force is still needed to keep them under check, it should
not be the only form that is required to combat the Naxalites. Coercion by the state will
only provoke the groups to rebel even more.

• Governance- The growth of such a group also discloses the flaws in the structure of
the government and the rules and regulations made by them. The government has the
overall responsibility to address the threat and hence the states need to come together
with the Union to combat the issues in a multidimensional way. Both the organizations
must support and complement each other’s strategies and ideas.6

SUGGESTIONS

1. Requirement of Good Governance

The government of India keeps on formulating various programs and schemes for socio-
economic development of the poor, downtrodden and the people who are subjected to exploitation
in the society; and gets these programs and schemes implemented through its various concerned
ministries. But several research studies reveal that these programs and schemes are in most cases

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not being implemented in its right spirit. According to Shri Gadar, the revolutionary poet who
supported Naxalism, “Naxalism has been born due to the failure of democracy and people have
resorted to violence against the governance”. And, according to senior police official, Shri Prakash
Singh, “Slowly and gradually, the power has been shifted to the hands of corrupt people, and
criminals have taken an upper hand in the society, as a result of which people’s expectations with
the democratic governance has been shattered.” Therefore, it is necessary that the government of
India should ensure a transparent administration in which honest and sincere officials and staff are
encouraged to serve the country and poor, downtrodden and exploited people of India live their
life peacefully with self-respect by fulfilling their basic needs.

2. Need for a Change in the Working process of Police Administration

The main duty of the police is to provide security to the citizens of the country. But in the naxal-
dominated areas, many security personnel are engaged in torturing the tribals accusing them they
are supporters of the naxals. Not only this, complaints have also been received that in some areas
women are being physically abused by the security staff. Thus, due to the ill treatment of the
innocent tribals by the police and other security forces, Naxalite movement is getting strengthened
and gradually spreading to more and more tribal populated areas. Therefore, security forces should
behave with the people living in the naxal-influenced areas politely and sympathetically, so that
they may be taken into confidence and thus the spread of the movement may be curbed slowly and
gradually.

3. Need for Infrastructure for getting Employment

Tribals are mainly settled at remote rural areas, hills and forests where the infrastructural
facilities such as electricity, roads and transport facilities, healthcare, irrigation facilities,
educational institutes are not available, due to which the tribals cannot manage to get employment
in these areas. Also, it has been observed that the poor tribal people cannot afford to go to urban
areas for seeking employment and they do not find employment at remote rural areas. The
government of India has implemented NREGA for providing 100 days of work to one adult
member of each household, but that is insufficient. This provision may further be extended to 365

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days of work to one member of each household and industries may be set up in the tribal populated
areas so that the tribals get more employment without migrating to cities and towns.

4. Invoking the Sense of Social Responsibility among People

No society and no country can achieve socio-economic development if the sense of social
responsibility is absent among its people. In India some industrialists, who have their industries in
tribal areas do exhibit a sense of social responsibility by way of setting up schools, hospitals and
initiating welfare schemes for the people in and around their respective industries. The persons
from the poor, downtrodden and tribal community who have been benefitted from the various
developmental schemes and programs of the government and have risen to be high officials,
industrialists or political leaders should contribute their mite towards the socio-economic
development of the poor and exploited section of the population so that these tribal poor may be
drawn to the mainstream of the development process. If each person of this country bears his/her
responsibility towards the society, then automatically peace and prosperity will prevail in this
country.

5. Need for Encouragement of the Persons employed in the Naxal-dominated Areas

Generally, it has been found that the naxal-dominated and trbal populated areas lack
infrastructural facilities. Further there always remains a threat towards life and property of the
persons employed there. Often, it has been noticed that the officers posted in these areas face much
difficulties in implementing the various development schemes because a few Naxalite groups
demand money from these officials and even kill them if their demands are not fulfilled. Therefore,
the persons employed there should be provided financial incentives and security cover, so that they
can perform their duty fearlessly and with utmost sincerity. This is imperative for the poor,
downtrodden and the tribals to reap the benefit of the different schemes and programs run by the
government.7

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Thus it is concluded that the Naxalite uprising is a battle against the corrupt officials, political
leaders and middlemen while the battle is fought in an unconstitutional manner. The advent and
spread of Naxalite movement can be contained if there is good governance, improved employment
opportunities and a sense of social responsibility among the beneficiaries from the various
governmental development schemes and programs.8

CONCLUSION

The state must start to tackle issues legally and try to minimise the collateral damage that has been
caused. They should strengthen the leader and the security as well as the peace-keeping forces.
The security forces could be used to protect the local populace instead of merely targeting the
Maoists. Until the governments implement the laws in these states, Although the Naxalism
movement has risen throughout the years and has turned the lives of thousands of youth having a
tremendous potential upside down, the Government of India is still trying to mend terms with this
militant group by introducing reforms, and new agricultural policies, generating jobs for the youth,
etc. In addition, development activities are carried out by the government for the poor in these
affected areas to halt this movement. it will be very difficult to tackle such issues. The state has to
do much more than plan counter-insurgency operations or support violent vigilant groups to
suppress the Naxalite movement. After close examination of the historical and ideological origins
of the movement, it is clear that the movement thrives on the dissatisfaction of the marginalized
and alienates the population. The socio-economic perspective of Naxalism talks about how the
rebel movement is shaped due to the failure of the institutional mechanisms and frameworks to
deliver socio-economic justice. This article outlines the steps taken by the government, but
concedes that it is not enough to over-emphasize the ‘law and order’ approach.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

https://rjhssonline.com/HTMLPaper.aspx?Journal=Research%20Journal%20of%20Humanities%
20and%20Social%20Sciences;PID=2014-5-2-8

https://blog.ipleaders.in/laws-for-naxalism-in-india-and-its-reforms/

https://www.iasexpress.net/naxalism-in-india/

https://unacademy.com/content/bank-exam/study-material/general-awareness/a-brief-overview-
of-naxalism-and-its-causes/

https://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-10419-a-critical-study-on-naxalite-movement-in-
india.html

https://www.drishtiias.com/printpdf/naxalism-left-wing-extremism-internal-security-threat-
vulnerabilities

https://www.etribaltribune.com/index.php/volume-4/mv4i2/naxalite-movement-in-tribal-areas-
of-india-causes-and-suggestions

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