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Need to tackle Naxalites firmly
In his article, “Strategy to counter Naxalism”
(April 13), Maj-Gen Pushpendra Singh (retd) has rightly pointed out that some strategy has to be formulated to counter Naxalism. India has been a major victim of externally sponsored insurgencies and terrorism for the last four decades. We have suffered and bled patiently and have taken huge human casualties which could exceed 13,000 uniformed personnel and 53,000 civilians during the last 25 years. Naxalism is growing and has already spread to 12 states and 157 districts. It has serious implications for our security concerns and hence must be dealt with firmly and effectively. The ideology of Naxalites is anti-democratic and against our Constitution. Naxalism is based on rejection of parliamentary democracy. Naxalites are committed to armed struggle which cannot be endorsed. To successfully combat the menace, the five-point action plan, as suggested by the writer, should be tried. HARISH K.
MONGA,
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II The writer has explained the causes and possible strategies to combat the Naxalite menace. The Centre needs to take tough measures to tackle the problem. It should focus on streamlining the anti-poverty schemes and various developmental programmes, land reforms, minimum wage and other laws, education, water, power supply, surety of jobs to the landless and expansion of social security apparatus in these regional economies providing dignified existence without victimisation and oppression. This will help restore people’s confidence in the democratic processes. Otherwise, the Naxalites will continue to wreak havoc on the system. Dr VITULL K. GUPTA, Bathinda III Verrier Elwin, a Christian missionary, who lived in India for half a century or more, not only converted thousands of tribals (even marrying a tribal woman) but also convinced Jawaharlal Nehru that the state must not interfere with the lives of these ancient people but leave them alone to lead their lives as they had done for centuries. Consequently, they were cut off from the national mainstream till popular thinking goaded the Centre to involve tribals in nation building. The Centre realized that they need to be given the fruits of development and inducted into the democratic framework, read vote bank politics. This, in turn, brought in government functionaries and industrial and commercial interests, big and small, with concomitant corruption and exploitation and inevitable hostility towards the establishment. No enemy of the nation, internal or external, could have dreamt of a better scenario. It is not clear whether the government has a valid solution to the problem. The need of the hour is for the Centre and the states to sit together with eminent thinkers and distinguished citizens and formulate a constructive nd programmed to check the problem. N. KHOSLA, IAS (retd), Panchkula Training the CRPF As a sequel to the recent massacre of 76 CRPF personnel in Chhattisgarh by the Naxalites, the government will soon recruit about 2,000 suitable ex-servicemen to train that force for counter-insurgency. However, the recruiting staff may not be able to fully assess the candidates’ suitability. The recruitment should be entrusted to Army officers who had been instructors at the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Warangte in Mizoram. After recruitment, these future ‘Instructors’ must be given a capsule of orientation training jointly by the Army and CRPF authorities. Various states are setting up schools for training their constabulary to fight the Naxalites. It would be better if these schools initially are headed and staffed by the Army, have common syllabi and training procedures to get the maximum advantage. Brig HARWANT SINGH (retd), Mohali
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