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Time of India
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Security forces pivot to bet on FOBs & mini-ops to breach Bastar in monsoon
Raipur: The dense, rain-soaked forests of Bastar, once a safe haven for Naxal insurgents during the monsoon, are no longer unmarked by the boots of security forces, say officials. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This year, in a strategic pivot, anti-Naxal operations have gone into Monsoon Mode, with Forward Operating Bases (FOBs), drone surveillance, and night-vision technology powering an unrelenting campaign against Left-Wing Extremism (LWE). Traditionally, the monsoon offered natural cover to Maoist groups, who capitalized on treacherous terrain and flooded streams to avoid detection. But in the past couple of years, things have changed, say officials. CRPF's elite CoBRA units, DRG (District Reserve Guard), and the STF (Special Task Force) are now better equipped, both tactically and technologically and intel-wise, to navigate the jungle even during the harshest spells. "We're not letting up," said Bastar IG P Sundarraj, asserting that rainfall won't hinder operations. "Monsoon is no longer a lull season, it's now a high-opportunity window for us." Govt's broader LWE eradication timeline aims to dismantle the Naxal presence by March 2026. The monsoon, earlier considered an obstacle, is now a deliberate part of the strategy. Security forces have marked success in recent joint operations in Indravati National Park and the Bijapur-Narayanpur axis, where multiple senior Maoist leaders were neutralized in early June. Maoists traditionally rely on low-intensity guerrilla warfare, exploiting the terrain to strike and retreat. But with intelligence-based tracking, surveillance grids, and constant FOB patrols, their movements are increasingly being monitored and disrupted. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The expansion of Forward Operating Bases deep in the forest interiors have enabled overnight stationing of forces close to Naxal hotspots. Officials say night-vision-enabled reconnaissance and drone surveillance have offered real-time intelligence in zero-visibility conditions during an operation of more than a day. And lastly, mini-surgical operations, swift, localized strikes based on precision inputs rather than large battalion movements have allowed forces to make in-roads. Each base is equipped with logistics, medical support, and supply chains, ensuring sustained deployment even in areas cut off by swollen rivers or landslides. "The psychological pressure is now reversed," a senior CRPF officer revealed. "Earlier, we avoided deep jungles in the rains. Now it's the Naxals who must stay on the run." Recently, speaking to the press, CM Sai affirmed full state support for the intensified operations. "This is a fight we must win, and every season is a battlefront. Our forces are empowered, and the state is with them, come rain or storm," he said. What once was an off-season has become an opportunity. With year-round readiness and advanced technology, Operation Monsoon is redefining counterinsurgency in Bastar, an officer said. The message is loud and clear, "The war against Naxalism in Bastar no longer takes a weather break." Speaking to TOI, Bastar range inspector general of police P Sundarraj said, "In the last couple of operational seasons, we have witnessed some very encouraging outcomes in our ongoing operations against Left-Wing Extremist (LWE) elements across the Bastar Range. " "Thanks to the consistent efforts of our security forces, supported by accurate intelligence inputs and the strong cooperation of local communities, we've been able to neutralize several senior hardcore Maoist cadres including CPI Maoist General Secretary Basavaraju, recover weapons and ammunition, and dismantle key Maoist hideouts. These achievements are the result of improved coordination between the State Police, Central Armed Police Forces, and the civil administration," he said. As we enter into the 2025 monsoon season, which often poses operational challenges, we are fully geared up to continue the momentum. Our teams will carry out focused, intelligence-driven, area-specific operations with the same dedication, IG said. Community engagement, stepped-up vigilance, and outreach efforts in vulnerable areas will remain central to our strategy this season, the IG added. Bastar range IG P Sundarraj further said that in the last monsoon, 28 encounters took place between security forces and Maoists, in which 66 Naxal bodies were recovered along with 100 weapons, besides, arrest of 316. About 349 had surrendered and 76 IED recovered.
The Hindu
12-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Police outreach programme: Mini-rice mill units handed over to Adivasis of 20 interior villages in Telangana's Charla mandal
As part of a major outreach initiative, the Bhadradri Kothagudem district police on Wednesday (June 11, 2025) handed over mini-rice mills to Adivasis of around 20 interior villages of Telangana's Charla mandal, abutting the Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected areas of Chhattisgarh's south Bastar region. Superintendent of police B. Rohit Raju interacted with Adivasis of the far-flung areas at an outreach programme held at Rallapuram village in Charla mandal on the occasion. The 20 mini-rice mill units have been set up at an estimated cost of ₹2.50 lakh each, totalling ₹50 lakh, for the benefit of Adivasis inhabiting the remote villages on the fringes of forests, police said. The superintendent of police felicitated the local Adivasi youth, Adamaiah, who participated in a national-level sailing competition recently. Later, the police official handed over clothes to the family members of a Maoist woman cadre of the village. He called upon the underground Maoist cadres to shun the path of violence and return to the mainstream.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
After decades of bloodshed, is India winning its war against Maoists?
Could India's decades-long jungle insurgency finally be approaching its end? Last week, the country's most-wanted Maoist, Nambala Keshava Rao - popularly known as Basavaraju - was killed along with 26 others in a major security operation in the central state of Chhattisgarh. Home Minister Amit Shah called it "the most decisive strike" against the insurgency in three decades. One police officer also died in the encounter. Basavaraju's death marks more than a tactical victory - it signals a breach in the Maoists' last line of defence in Bastar, the forested heartland where the group carved out its fiercest stronghold since the 1980s. Maoists, also known as "Naxalites" after the 1967 uprising in Naxalbari village in West Bengal, have regrouped over the decades to carve out a "red corridor" across central and eastern India - stretching from Jharkhand in the east to Maharashtra in the west and spanning more than a third of the country's districts. Former prime minister Manmohan Singh had described the insurgency as India's "greatest internal security threat". The armed struggle for Communist rule has claimed nearly 12,000 lives since 2000, according to the South Asian Terrorism Portal. The rebels say they fight for the rights of indigenous tribes and the rural poor, citing decades of state neglect and land dispossession. The Maoist movement - officially known as Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) - took formal shape in 2004 with the merger of key Marxist-Leninist groups into the CPI (Maoist). This party traces its ideological roots to a 1946 peasant uprising in the southern state of Telangana. Now, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government pledging to end Maoism by March 2026, the battle-hardened rebellion stands at a crossroads: could this truly be the end - or just another pause in its long, bloody arc? "There will be a lull. But Marxist-Leninist movements have transcended such challenges when the top leadership of the Naxalites were killed in the 70s and yet we are talking about Naxalism," said N Venugopal, a journalist, social scientist and long-time observer of the movement, who is both a critic and sympathiser of the Maoists. One of the senior-most officials in India's home ministry who oversaw anti-Maoist operations, MA Ganapathy, holds a different view. "At its core, the Maoist movement was an ideological struggle - but that ideology has lost traction, especially among the younger generation. Educated youth aren't interested anymore," says Mr Ganapathy. "With Basavaraju neutralised, morale is low. They're on their last leg." The federal home ministry's latest report notes a 48% drop in violent incidents in Maoist-related violence - from 1,136 in 2013 to 594 in 2023 - and a 65% decline in related deaths, from 397 to 138. However, it acknowledges a slight rise in security force casualties in 2023 compared to 2022, attributed to intensified operations in core Maoist areas. The report says Chhattisgarh remained the worst-affected state in 2023, accounting for 63% of all Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) incidents and 66% of the related deaths. Jharkhand followed, with 27% of the violence and 23% of the deaths. The remaining incidents were reported from Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. The collapse of Maoism in Chhattisgarh, a stronghold of the insurgency, offers key clues to the movement's broader decline. A decade ago, the state's police were seen as weak, according to Mr Ganapathy. "Today, precise state-led strikes, backed by central paramilitary forces, have changed the game. While paramilitary held the ground, state forces gathered intelligence and launched targeted operations. It was clear role delineation and coordination," he said. Mr Ganapathy adds that access to mobile phones, social media, roads and connectivity have made people more aware and less inclined to support an armed underground movement. "People have become aspirational, mobile phones and social media have become widespread and people are exposed to the outside world. Maoists also cannot operate in hiding in remote jungles while being out of sync with new social realities. "Without mass support, no insurgency can survive," he says. A former Maoist sympathiser, who did not want to be named, pointed to a deeper flaw behind the movement's collapse: a political disconnect. "They delivered real change - social justice in Telangana, uniting tribespeople in Chhattisgarh - but failed to forge it into a cohesive political force," he said. At the heart of the failure, he argued, was a dated revolutionary vision: building isolated "liberated zones" beyond the state's reach and "a theory to strike the state through a protracted people's war". "These pockets work only until the state pushes back. Then the zones collapse, and thousands die. It's time to ask - can a revolution really be led from cut-off forestlands in today's India?" The CPI (Maoist)'s 2007 political document clings to a Mao-era strategy: of creating a "liberated zone" and "encircling the cities from the countryside." But the sympathiser was blunt: "That doesn't work anymore." The party still retains some popular support in a few isolated pockets, primarily in the tribal regions of eastern Maharashtra, southern Chhattisgarh and parts of Odisha and Jharkhand - but without a strong military base. Ongoing operations by state forces have significantly weakened the Maoist military infrastructure in their strongholds in southern Chhattisgarh. Cadres and leaders are now being killed regularly, reflecting the rebels' growing inability to defend themselves. Mr Venugopal believes the strategy needs rethinking - not abandonment. The underground struggle has its place, he said, but "the real challenge is blending it with electoral politics". In contrast, Mr Ganapathy sees little hope for the Maoists to mount a meaningful fightback in the near future and argues that the time has come for a different approach - dialogue. "It would be wise for them to go for talks now and perhaps unconditionally or even lay down the conditions and let the government consider them. This is the time to approach the government instead of unnecessarily sacrificing their own cadres, without a purpose," he said. Maoists enjoy support in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana from mainstream political parties. In Telangana, both the ruling Congress and the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) have backed calls for a ceasefire, along with 10 smaller Left parties - an effort widely seen as aimed at protecting the group's remaining leaders and cadres. The Maoist movement, rooted in past struggles against caste oppression, still carries social legitimacy in parts of these states. Civil society activists have also joined the push for a truce. "We, along with other civil rights groups, demanded a two-step process - an immediate ceasefire followed by peace talks," said Ranjit Sur, general secretary of the Kolkata-based group Association for Protection of Democratic Rights. Maoist-affected states remain resilient strongholds in part because they are rich in minerals - making them sites of intense resource battles. Mr Venugopal believes this is key to the CPI (Maoist's) enduring presence. Chhattisgarh, for instance, is India's sole producer of tin concentrates and moulding sand, and a leading source of coal, dolomite, bauxite and high-grade iron ore, according to the ministry of mines. It accounts for 36% of the country's tin, 20% iron ore, 18% coal, 11% dolomite and 4% of diamond and marble reserves. Yet, despite strong interest, mining companies - both global and national - have long struggled to access these resources. "Multinational companies couldn't enter because the Maoist movement, built on the slogan 'Jal, Jangal, Jameen (Water, Forest, Land),' asserted that forests belong to tribespeople - not corporations," Mr Venugopal said. But with the Maoists now weakened, at least four Chhattisgarh mines are set to go to "preferred bidders" after successful auctions in May, according to an official notification. Mr Venugopal believes that the resistance won't die with the death of Maoist leaders. "Leaders may fall, but the anger remains. Wherever injustice exists, there will be movements. We may not call them Maoism anymore - but they'll be there."
Time of India
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Exit Naxalism, Enter Progress
Exit Naxalism, Enter Progress Sanjay Kumar Jha May 26, 2025, 21:14 IST IST An ex-top cop's view on anti-Naxal ops & what Basavaraj's killing means Amit Shah's assertion that Naxalism would be eliminated before March 31, 2026, has seen consistent anti-Naxal operations that have breached red corridors. The all-out offensive over the last few months has smashed Maoist leadership , the latest killing of CPI (Maoist) general secretary Basavaraj a turning point after the fall of Koragutta hills. Centre's message is clear: the fight against Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) was no longer about containment but about reclaiming lost ground and restoring peace to regions once under siege.
Time of India
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Chhattisgarh targets maoist-hit areas with incentives for schools, mini-malls under new industrial push
Fresh from a string of successful encounters against Maoists in Bastar, the BJP-led Chhattisgarh government has rolled out an amended industrial development policy aimed at rebooting rural and semi-urban growth in areas long disrupted by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE). Under the revised policy, CBSE-affiliated private schools with capacity for over 500 students (classes 1 to 12), along with mini malls housing multiplexes, have been included in the State's thrust sector - opening them to targeted incentives. "Once the security vacuum is filled by the presence of state and central forces, the focus is on restoring normalcy through education and amenities," said a senior official. "Many private schools had shut down earlier because teachers wouldn't report to duty due to Maoist threats." ET Bureau The initiative, part of the broader industrial policy, does not carry a separate budget line but is backed by the State's ₹1.65 lakh crore allocation for 2025-26. Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai said the move would address long-standing infrastructure deficits. "This isn't just an economic plan. It's about empowering youth, improving life in small towns and ensuring inclusive development," Sai told ET. Officials said the first three private schools in underserved areas would be eligible for special incentives. Meanwhile, the mini-mall scheme will target towns and rural blocks within a 10 km radius of development centres, nudging private investors to bet on tier-3 and tier-4 towns instead of the bigger cities like Raipur or Bilaspur. The policy realignment comes as the Centre pushes to end LWE by March 2026. Chhattisgarh remains the most affected state - with 200 Naxals killed in encounters this year alone, 183 of them in the Bastar division. Last week, Maoist general secretary Nambala Keshavrao alias Basavaraju - carrying a ₹1.5 crore bounty - was eliminated in an encounter in the Narayanpur-Bijapur region.
