In this article, Arpana Gupta pursuing M.A, in Business Law from NUJS, Kolkata discusses Guidelines for Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation of Naxalites in the Naxal affected States.

Capitulation-cum-Rehabilitation strategy is part of the overall policy to build agreement and evolve an acceptable and peaceful solution to violence perpetrated by radical groups, to usher in peace and development, especially in the concerned regions. Though, policies for rehabilitation of radicals have been successful in J&K and North Eastern States, enactment of similar policies in Naxal affected States has not been impressive for numerous reasons. This policy has been evolved, keeping in mind the specific physical and social landscape to help those Naxalites who want to abjure violence, surrender and join the mainstream. Surrender and reintegration policy is part of a multi-pronged conflict management and determination strategy and is required to be realized along with firm action by police against those who follow the path of strength. As the naxal problem has arisen on interpretation of real and perceived neglect, withdrawal and disaffection, mainly towards the subjugated, the solution should aim at providing gainful hire and entrepreneurial opportunities to the surrendered Naxalites so that they are encouraged to join the conventional and do not return to the fold of naxal movement.

Objectives

The purposes of these Guidelines for surrender-cum-rehabilitation of Naxalites in the naxal affected States are:

• To wean away the mistaken youth and hardcore Naxalites who have drifted into the fold of naxal movement and now find themselves stuck into that net.
• To guarantee that the Naxalites who surrender do not find it striking to join the naxal movement again.

Strategic surrenders by those elements who try to make use of the welfares extended by the Government to supplement their vested benefits should not be encouraged under the Scheme.

Eligibility Criteria

• These guidelines are appropriate to those Naxalites who surrender with or without arms.
• The eligibility of such Naxalites for assistance under the scheme would be inspected by the Screening cum Rehabilitation Committee established by the concerned State Government.
• The benefits of the scheme shall not be available to a surrendered that has already surrendered and advanced under existing surrender/rehabilitation outlines in any of the naxal pretentious States.

Benefits under the Scheme

Individuals eligible under the scheme may be informed training in a trade/vocation of their liking or befitting their ability. They shall be paid a monthly remuneration of rupee 2000/- each for a maximum period of 36 months. Though, if the surrendered secures any employment in Government or any lucrative self-employment, the monthly stipend will be discontinued.

An immediate grant of rupee 1.5 lakh shall be kept in a bank in the name of surrender as a fixed deposit which may be quiet by the surrendered after completion of 3 years, subject to good conduct to be specialized by the authorities designated for this purpose by the concerned States. This money can also be utilized as guarantee security/brim money against loans to be availed of by the surrendered from any bank for self-employment. In the occurrence of a surrendered being able to save any Government job, this quantity shall not be given to the surrendered.

Method for Screening/Documentation and Rehabilitation of Naxalites

1. The following interventions will be involved in the course of identification and rehabilitation of surrendered Naxalites:-

• ADG/IG(Special Branch/(CID) will item as the Surrender and Rehabilitation Major (S&R Officer) under the Arrangement.
• Central Para Military Power.
• Government Police/State Administration.

2. Each of the Security Forces organized will identify one officer of the rank of DIG or equal officer as the nodal officer for organizing matters relating to surrender and reintegration of Naxalites, with respect to their organization.
3. A Naxalite shall be free to capitulation before any unit of the CPMFs, District Magistrate, District SP, Range DIG, IG (Ops), IG (Special Branch), DIG (Special Subdivision), SP (Special Branch), SDM, Sub-Divisional Police Major and other notified officers. The generals for this purpose shall be advised by the State Governments. A Naxalite may also surrender before any unit of the Army or the CPMFs outside the State. The officer getting the surrendered shall send the details as informed by the surrendered occupied up in prescribed proforma to the S&R officer and to the nodal generals of all the deployed forces. The nodal officer of each association will verify the antecedents and activities of the Naxalites from its own bases and send specific references to the S&R Officer, stating as to whether the discrete could be taken in as surrendered or not.
4. The officer getting the surrendered will provide immediate security to the surrendered and after getting necessary details for filling up the requisite preforms, send him to the transfer camp to be preserved by the S&R Officer. The decision about the acceptance or otherwise, of the surrendered should be occupied within 15 days.

Screening Procedure may also comprise the Following

The Naxalite who surrenders may be an uncompromising, underground Naxalite cadre and a member of a Dalam and surrenders in accord with the inclusive surrender and rehabilitation policy being implemented by the concerned State Government. Rehabilitation of surrendered Naxalite should be narrowed to dalam members and above, other ranks and over ground supporters/sympathizers’ being considered only in exclusion belongings.

The expert designated by the concerned State Government for the determination should ensure that the surrendered is a genuine Naxalite and the Naxalite should make a clear concession of all the criminal acts dedicated by him/her including names of organizers and other participants, names of financers, harbourers, guides, details of the naxal organizations, arms / ammunition and the property looted/dispersed/disposed of by the Naxalite and organization to which the Naxalite belongs, which may be confirmed.

Court Cases

Heinous corruptions committed by the surrendered may continue in the courts. For minor offences, plea bargaining could be allowed at the preference of the State Authorities. States may deliberate providing free legal services/advocate to the surrendered Naxalite as per the policy of the concerned State. Fast track courts may be constituted by the anxious States for speedy trial of cases against the surrendered.

Impression Assessment of the Strategies

The Ministry of Home Affairs may review these guidelines occasionally in consultation with the concerned State Governments and take suitable corrective action if required.

IMPORTANT STRUCTURES FOR LWE PRETENTIOUS STATES

In order to holistically discourse the LWE problem in an effective manner, Government has formulated National Policy and Action Plan adopting multi-cleft strategy in the areas of security, development, guaranteeing rights and prerogative of local communities etc.

Safety Related Distribution (SRE) Structure

Under the Security Related Disbursement (SRE) Scheme, support is providing to 106 LWE affected districts in 10 States for recurring outflow relating to operative needs of safety forces, training and insurance and also for Left Wing Extremist squads who surrender in accordance with the renunciation and rehabilitation policy of the concerned State Government, community policing, security-related substructure by village defense committees and publicity material.

Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I)

For refining road connectivity, the Government permitted the Road Requirement Plan Phase (RRP-I) on covering 34 LWE pretentious districts of 8 States i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. The scheme envisions 5,422 km road lengths at an assessed cost of ₹ 8,585 Crores. 4,290 km roads have been accomplished. 08 critical bridges are also actuality constructed under RRP-I in 6 LWE affected States. The development is being reviewed regularly. Out of 8 bridges, 2 have been accomplished in Telangana (1) and Maharashtra (1), while other 6 are under progress at innumerable stages.

Road Connectivity Project for LWE affected areas (RRP-II)

The Government permitted this scheme for additional improving road connectivity in 44 regions of 9 LWE affected States. This Scheme envisages 5412 km roads and 126 connections at an estimated cost of rupee 11,725 Crores. Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry for this project. The roads included under the structure have been acknowledged by the Ministry of Home Affairs in discussion with the State Governments and the security activities.

LWE Mobile Tower Scheme

To recover portable connectivity in the LWE areas, the Administration approved connection of mobile strongholds in LWE pretentious States, namely: Andhra Pradesh (227), Bihar (184), Chhattisgarh (497), Jharkhand (782), Madhya Pradesh (22), Maharashtra (60), and Odisha (253). The Department of Telecommunication has been realizing this Scheme. 2187 mobile towers have been connected and the project stands accomplished.

Scheme of Fortified Police stations

The Ministry has sanctioned 400 police stations in 10 LWE pretentious States at a unit cost rupee 2 crores under this scheme. A total of 373 of PSs have been completed, work at 27 PSs is under advancement.

Civic Action Programmed (CAP)

This scheme is under execution from 2010-11 in LWE affected areas. Under this structure funds are providing to CAPFs (CRPF, BSF, ITBP and SSB) @ rupee 3.00 lakh per company per year for leading various civic activities for welfare of local poor individuals in LWE affected areas. This is a very efficacious scheme to bridge the slit between the Security Services and the local people and also helpful for winning their hearts and minds. In this background, funds of rupee 19.02 crore and rupee 19.00 crore were released during the financial years 2015-16 and 2016-17 respectively. For the current economic year 2017-18, an amount of rupee 19.00 crore has been assigned under the Scheme.

GIS Mapping

LWE Division originated a new proposal of GIS mapping of the indispensable services in the 35 most affected LWE districts. A project has been introduced for mapping of financial services, school, post offices, health facilities, mobile strongholds, PDS services, Road and security landscapes etc. in time bound method. This will help to the investor to take informed decision on the developmental and security associated issues.

Unified Expertise

A Unified Facility has continued set up in the States of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal. The Unified Command has generals from the safety establishment, also civilian officers’ representative the civil administration and it will carry out carefully planned hostage LWE trials.

The Left Wing Extremism affected States have been asked to effectually implement the provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 (PESA) on precedence, which categorically allocates rights over minor forest yield to the Gram Sabha.

A number of Left Wing Extremist outfits have been functioning in certain remote and poorly connected pockets of the nation for a few decades now. In a noteworthy development in 2004, the People’s War (PW), then operational in Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI), and formerly operating in Bihar and adjoining areas, complex to form the CPI (Maoist) Party. The CPI (Maoist) Party is the foremost Left Wing Extremist outfit responsible for majority of occurrences of vehemence and killing of civilians and sanctuary forces and has been included in the Schedule of Terrorist Organizations along with all its formations and front associations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. The CPI (Maoist) viewpoint of armed insurgency to overthrow the Government is intolerable under the Indian Constitution and the founding philosophies of the Indian State. The Government has given a call to the Left Wing Extremists to shun violence and come for talks. This plea has been forbidden by them, since they believe in violence as the means to capture State influence. This has resulted in a strengthening cycle of ferocity in some parts of India. The poor and the marginalized sections like the tribal are bearing the brunt of this violence. Many well-meaning liberal intellectuals fall prey to the Maoist publicity without understanding the true nature of Maoist insurrection doctrine which glorifies violence and believes in accepting the military line to capture power. The majority of the civilians killed are ethnic often branded as ‘Police informers’ before being viciously tortured and killed. In fact, the tribal and the economically deprived sections, whose cause the Maoists claim to espouse, have been the biggest victims of the so called ‘prolonged people’s war’ of the CPI (Maoist) against the Indian government.

The Subtleties of Maoist Uprising

Some sections of the society, especially the younger generation, have idealistic illusions about the Maoists, arising out of an incomplete empathetic of their ideology. The vital theme of Maoist ideology is an asset. The Maoist uprising principle adores violence as the crucial means to confound the existing socio-monetary and political structures. The People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA), the equipped wing of CPI (Maoist), has been created with this purpose in mind. In the first stage of the insurgency, the PLGA resorts to paramilitary warfare, this primarily aims at creating a vacuum at the sward-roots level of the existing governance edifices. This is achieved by killing lower-level government officials, police-recruits of the local police stations, the workers of conventional political parties and the people’s legislatures of the Panchayats Raj system. After creating a political and governance vacuum, they compel the local population to join the movement. A vociferous propaganda is also carried out against the ostensible and real inadequacies of the existing state erection.

In areas under Maoist dominion, the absence of governance develops a self- fulfilling prophecy since the conveyance systems are extinguished through killings and bullying. This is the first step in the strategy of the Maoists to seek to control the landscape. In the meanwhile, many Front Organizations are created to facilitate mass-deployment in semi-urban and urban areas through ostensibly democratic means. Most of the Front Organizations are led by well-sophisticated intellectuals with firm belief in the Maoist uprising doctrine. These ideologues function as masks to cover the vehement nature of the CPI (Maoist) thought. They also form propaganda/disinformation technology of the party.

They vociferously take up issues like ‘displacement of tribal’, ‘corporate exploitation’, ‘human rights violations’ by security forces etc. and often make eccentric claims in this regard which get reported even by the conventional media. The Front Organizations also skillfully use state structures and legal processes to further the Maoist agenda and weaken the implementation regime. The important purposes of these Organizations include conscription of ‘professional revolutionaries’, raising funds for the uprising, creating urban shelters for underground cadres, providing legal support to arrested cadres and mass- mobilization by agitating over issues of relevance/ convenience. The Front Organizations aim to provide short-period democratic subterfuge to concealment-up the totalitarian and oppressive nature of the Maoist philosophy. The CPI (Maoist) also has a strategic game-plan to generate a ‘United Front’ with all like-minded dissatisfied/terrorist getups in India. It needs to be remembered that many of these outfits are supported by external forces hostile to India and the CPI (Maoist) consider such coalitions as tactical assets.

In a casing, the CPI (Maoist), the main LWE outfit in India, aims to take over the existing democratic state structure with fierceness as their primary weapon, and mass mobilization and tactical united fronts as complementary mechanisms and plans to usher in so termed ‘New Democratic Revolution’ in India.

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA’S METHOD

The Government’s tactic is to pact with Left Wing Extremism in a comprehensive means, in the areas of security, expansion, guaranteeing rights and entitlements of local populations, improvement in governance and public discernment management. In dealing with this periods-old problem, it has been felt suitable, after various high-level considerations and communications with the State Governments concerned, that an integrated approach aimed at the moderately more affected areas would deliver results. With this in view, a comprehensive analysis of the spread and tendencies in respect of Left Wing Extremist vehemence has been made and 106 districts in ten States have been taken up for special attention with respect to planning, enactment and monitoring various interventions. However, ‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’ being State subjects, action on conservation of law and order lies mainly in the domain of the State Governments. The Central Government closely displays the situation and supplements and synchronizes their efforts in several ways. These include providing Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Commando Battalions for Unyielding Action; sanction of India Reserve (IR) battalions, setting up of Counter Uprising and Anti-Terrorism (CIAT) schools; upgrading and upgradation of the State Police and their Intelligence tackle under the Scheme for Modernization of State Forces Forces (MPF scheme); reimbursement of safety related disbursement under the Security Associated Expenditure (SRE) Structure; if airliners for anti-naxal acts, support in training of State Police comprehensive the Ministry of Defense, the Central Police Organizations and the Bureau of Police Research and Development; sharing of Intelligence; simplifying inter-State coordination; assistance in community policing and civic action computer operator etc. The underlying attitude is to enhance the capacity of the State Governments to tackle the Maoist menace in an intensive manner.

EVALUATION AND MONITORING APPLIANCES

To give special focus to expansion in the LWE affected areas, MHA has been reviewing the LWE condition regularly through number of evaluation and monitoring appliances. Reviews cover operational and developmental issues with those of other Ministries of the Government of India. These mechanisms include:-

• The Union Home Minister summons the meetings of Chief Ministers of LWE exaggerated States.
• The Union Home Minister and the Minister of Federations (Home) visit LWE affected States to review the LWE condition.
• Analysis Group Meeting underneath the chairmanship of the Cabinet Secretary.
• Get-togethers by Union Home Secretary through Secretaries of Central Ministries and Chief Administrators of the LWE affected States and Central Ministries.
• Empowered Committee underneath AS (LWE), constituted to review the development of various evolving schemes/developments.

Conclusion

It is the trust of the Government of India that through an all-inclusive approach directing on development and security related involvements, the LWE problem can be efficaciously tackled. Though, it is clear that the Maoists do not want root reasons like underdevelopment to be talked in a meaningful manner since they resort to aiming school buildings, roads, railways, bonds, health organization, communication conveniences etc. in a major way. They wish to keep the populace in their areas of influence marginalized to preserve their outdated thought. Consequently, the process of development has remained set back by decades in many parts of the country under LWE effect. This needs to be recognized by the civil humanity and the media to build burden on the Maoists to eschew violence, join the conventional and recognize the fact that the socio-monetary and political subtleties and aspirations of 21st Century India are far removed from the Maoist world-view. Further, an ideology based on violence and annihilation is doomed to fail in an egalitarianism which offers legitimate forms of criticism redressal.