Odisha is suffering due to three major forces, one is government another is police and third is Maoists. Villagers and security personnel engaged in anti-Maoist operations opened fire at innocent people in Kandhamal district of the state. Police randomly opens fire at villagers and leaves killing many in the name of Maoists. There is almost every day cross fire exchange between policemen and Maoists. The survivors however, claim that their fellow citizens were killed in a cold blood. Panicked villagers demanded that the anti-Maoist operations be stopped in the region. Naveen Patnaik government had ordered a judicial probe into the killing of innocent villagers.
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict between Maoist groups, known as Naxalites or Naxals, and the Indian government. The conflict in its present form began after the 2004 formation of the CPI (Maoist), a rebel group composed of the PWG (People’s War Group) and the MCC (Maoist Communist Centre). In January 2005 talks between the Andhra Pradesh state government and the CPI-Maoists broke down and the rebels accused authorities for not addressing their demands for a written truce, release of prisoners and redistribution of land. The ongoing conflict has taken place over a vast territory (around half of India’s 29 states) with hundreds of people being killed annually in clashes between the CPI-Maoists and the government every year since 2005.
The armed wing of the Naxalite–Maoists is called the PLGA (Peoples’ Liberation Guerrilla Army) and is estimated to have between 6,500 and 9,500 cadres, mostly armed with small guns. The Naxalites control territory throughout Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh states and claim to be supported by the poorest of the rural population, especially the Adivasis. Naxalites have frequently targeted tribal, police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor. They claim that they are following a strategy of rural rebellion similar to a protracted people’s war against the government.
In February 2009, the Indian central government announced a new nationwide initiative, to be called the “Integrated Action Plan” (IAP) for broad, co-ordinated operations aimed at dealing with the Naxalite problem in all affected states, namely (Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal). This plan included funding for grass-roots economic development projects in Naxalite-affected areas, as well as increased special police funding for better containment and reduction of Naxalite influence. In August 2010, after the first full year of implementation of the national IAP program, Karnataka was removed from the list of Naxal-affected states. In July 2011, the number of Naxal-affected areas was reduced to (figure includes proposed addition of 20 districts) 83 districts across nine states. In December 2011, the national government reported that the number of Naxalite related deaths and injuries nationwide had gone down by nearly 50 per cent from 2010 levels.
Naxalite–Maoist insurgency gained international media attention after the 2013 Naxal attack in Darbha valley resulted in the deaths of around 24 Congress leaders including the former state minister Mahendra Karma and the Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel. The districts that comprise the Red Corridor are among the poorest in the country. Areas such as Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana (formerly part of Andhra Pradesh), are either impoverished or have significant economic inequality, or both.
A key characteristic of this region is non-diversified economies that are solely primary sector based. Agriculture, sometimes supplemented with mining or forestry, is the mainstay of the economy, which is often unable to support rapid increase in population. The region has significant natural resources, including mineral, forestry and potential hydroelectric generation capacity. Orissa, for example, “has 60 per cent of India’s bauxite reserves, 25 per cent of coal, 28 per cent of iron ore, 92 per cent of nickel and 28 per cent of manganese reserves.
The area encompassed by the Red Corridor tends to have stratified societies, with caste and feudal divisions. Much of the area has high indigenous tribal populations (or adivasis), including Santhal and Gond. Bihar and Jharkhand have both caste and tribal divisions and violence associated with friction between these social groups. Telangana similarly has deep caste divides with a strict social hierarchical arrangement. Both Chhattisgarh and Orissa have significant impoverished tribal populations. The CPI (Maoist) believes that the Indian state is being “run by a collaboration of imperialists, the comprador bourgeoisie and feudal lords. According to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, the two factions of the Party adhered to differing strands of communism prior to their 2004 merger, although “both organisations shared their belief in the ‘annihilation of class enemies’ and in extreme violence as a means to secure organisational goals.” The People’s War Group (PWG) maintained a Marxist-Leninist stance, while the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) took a Maoist stance. After the merger, the PWG secretary of Andhra Pradesh announced that the newly formed CPI-Maoist would follow Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as its “ideological basis guiding its thinking in all spheres of its activities.
The ideology of the party is contained in a “Party Programme.” In the document, the Maoists denounce globalization as a war on the people by market fundamentalists and the caste system as a form of social oppression. The CPI (Maoist) claim that they are conducting a “people’s war”, a strategic approach developed by Mao Zedong during the guerrilla warfare phase of the Communist Party of China. Their eventual objective is to install a “people’s government” via a New Democratic Revolution. Prepared by the Jharkhand Police, Maoists were using illegal mining as a tool to fund their campaign. At that time, Maoists were involved in illegal mining in 18 districts.
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