NEED A POLICY PARADIGM SHIFT TO TACKLE NAXALISM – III

THERE’S A NEW MODEL TO DEAL WITH THE EXTREMISM  

It will be far wiser to spend and establish infrastructure in these remote places than spend on raising more para – military battalions which actually will be a wasteful expenditure without yielding the desired results. It is of no use raising armed battalions without removing the causes which propel, breed and encourage the maoist/ naxal activities and leading to the vicious cycle of  training para military cadres-encounters- training more cadres and more encounters and cadre training. 

Now let us look at the scenario which is there . There are what are called remote areas – to simply put these remote areas are places which are far removed in time, distance and communications of all types from already developed areas . These remote areas are lacking in administrative, judicial and legal support infrastructure and other amenities which are otherwise is  being enjoyed by residents of the developed areas . 

Time has now come actually to leave the well established administrative set ups in the developed areas in the hands of junior officials. This can be done because in these developed areas they have well established executive, judicial and legislative systems .In these seats of power at district/tehsil level the government be it central or state has already put lot of development funds to provide all types of amenities. The people of these areas are generally educated, well versed and more aware of their rights and they have access to judicial remedies against repression like RTI. But such is not the case with the residents of the  remote areas. 

The time has now come for the top echelons of the district/tehsil officials to go and establish their new offices in midst of the remote places to provide just and fast administrative succor to the so far deprived masses. In doing so the state will be cutting the root of the naxalite propaganda tree which thrives on such lines like that there is no government representative to listen and solve your problems or the government in the centre/state is not sincere in solving your problems etc. In this there will be a need to allocate extra funds for development in the hands of the newly formed task force which should honestly spend these funds to kick start and speed up the development process avoiding typical red tape delays.We need to make a blue print and act on it fast before more and more districts of our country come under the category of disturbed areas. 

TIME HAS COME TO MAKE THE AREAS TERMED “REMOTE” BECOME AS “NEAREST” BY PROVIDING ALL THE BASIC AMENITIES, INFRASTRUCTURE AND COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEMS . All this is achievable because the systems to establish these facilities have become very fast, sure and very developed due to scientific innovations as compared to the methods and facilities available when we started our development journey six decades back. We need to dovetail these new methods and processes in our new development model for faster , surer and timely delivery of these in these hitherto fore deprived and remote areas. 

This requires prompt action as delay to deliver development models on part of administrative authorities normally leads to suspecting governments intentions. The basic focus should be to bring in programmes to act on the heart and minds of people which are fertile grounds for sowing the seeds of naxalism or otherwise. Speedy and transparent actions with good intentions will be the essence of this model. 

This has to be done on a war footing as actually we are fighting a war where we are trying to just limit or eradicate a well established thought process. This new model will provide tools for amelioration of the genuine grievances of the area populace and thus these actions will deprive this naxal propaganda machine the reasons of the very being or basis of the outlawed organisation. 

The need is to make the new district headquarters in remote and inaccessible areas permanent cannot be overemphasized. This has to be done so that people here do not view these as methods which are temporary and emergency/knee jerk reactions to naxal menace but they should actually believe in the redesigned model which has been customised to address their area’s specific needs rather than a template method which is otherwise the case in all our development models. 

What will be the most important element of this EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE of the earlier development model will be the reversal of present model TO MAKE THESE remote areas into the BEEHIVES  of development activity and centers of excellent governance. In addition of course will be the WILL ,COURAGE, PERSONAL COMMITMENT AND MORALE OF THE CHANGE MAKERS of these volunteers. 

As this model actually will be the model of future so that country ‘s growth process is equality driven, fair and just. We need this because in our country which has millions who are still illiterate, poor, living in remote/faraway places , living in tribes and people dependent on jungle for their livelihood . This model will cater to the needs of these deprived people who have lost the will to raise their voice against the atrocities perpetuated on them by the system as well as by the their so called protectors from the abusive system – the politicians and bureaucrats. 

Today there are naxals/ Maoists’ in some areas tomorrow there will be some others who are dissatisfied . What we need to do is to set our own house in order and do it fastest before it is too late. As pointed out by evidence that Pakistan supplied or procured weapons are with naxals and this goes on to prove our charge that there are elements in Pakistan who in a clandestine manner are supporting our home grown insurgencies. All the above entails that we start the new process on an emergency basis and quickly as if we have to do something before an expiry date!