Maoists reorganising in Bengal

Caesar Mandal, TNN

Jun 17, 2011, 06.44pm IST

KOLKATA: Maoist once again in a reorganisation bid in West Bengal following the formation of new government. Weeks ago, Maoist leader Bikash and Bikram on behalf of outfit's west Bengal state committee announced that the outfit is ready for talks with Mamata Banerjee led Bengal government if the state create a conducive atmosphere for talks.

Sources said, responding the Maoist feeler, state government has already slowed down the pace of anti-Maoist operation in Jangalmahal for past few weeks. Even in the formation of policing the state has brought some visible change which indicate that government is want to send a positive message to the red rebels.

Earlier in West Midnapore district, where Lalgarh is situated on of the most Maoist hit district in Bengal had two SP ranked officers to curb down Maoist 'menace'. But the new government has changed it and now only one SP rank officer is managing the entire district. Similarly since June 2009, to intensify the Maoist operation and for a better coordination with central forces a deputy Superintendent ranked officer was assigned to head each Maoist hit police stations of the district. In past few weeks DSP's who were on deputation were called back to their original posting.

" Practically anti-Maoist operation has been suspended,' said a police officer. CRPF officers posted in the trouble zone have also corroborated the fact.

Taking advantage of the situation, several senior Maoist leaders reportedly came down to the forested plains of Lalgarh and adjoining area. " Even once again, one of their central committee member is active in an around Jhargram area along with ther state leadership like Akash and Bikash,' said an intelligence officer who pointed out the Thursday incident in Jahrgram. On Thursday afternoon, a mob of Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities(PCPA) beleived to be the mass outfit of the Maoists ransacked houses of five CPM leaders at Sapdhara and Aguiboni village of Jhargram. " It is significant because since police operation was started, PCPA never tried to do such daring attack in broad day light. Such happened when the entire area was under Maoist seize for eight months since november 2008," said an intelligence officer, who confirmed that some armed Maoist cadres had led the mob on Thursday.

Maoist insiders however hinted that they are now trying to expand their political activities for further recruitment and to recover the initial set back during recent police operation. Maoist are not in a mood to intensify their military operation rather they are trying to reorganise.

Trinamul-Maoist Nexus Endangers National Security

THROUGH these columns, we had been repeatedly exposing the diabolic nexus between the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists in West Bengal. If any reconfirmation was ever necessary, it has now come in a resounding manner through voluntary declarations by leaders of both the Trinamul and the Maoists that have appeared in the media.

Trinamul Congress MP from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, Shri Kabir Suman, has recently launched his autobiographical narrative named `Nishner nam Taposhi Malik’ (the name of the flag is Taposhi Malik). The book, significantly, has been dedicated to Kishenji, the Polit Bureau member of CPI(Maoist) operating in West Bengal. In the book, Mr Suman has given an eye witness account of a meeting held in Trinamul Congress headquarters in Kolkata attended by two individuals – Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chattopadhyaya – who are at present in judicial custody booked under certain provisions of the UAPA for their links with the Maoists. The concerned meeting, Shri Suman informs, was also attended by Ms Mamata Banerjee and Shri Sougata Roy who are currently ministers of the UPA government. The meeting discussed the possibilities of intervention in Nandigram in which implicitly the Maoists would also be involved.

The Maoists have earlier given detailed accounts of their involvement in Nandigram with the Trinamul Congress through public statements which have never been contradicted. The media reported on January 8, 2009 the following: “To wipe out CPI(M) from West Bengal, we must work together with all parties of the ruling class like, Trinamool Congress, Congress, BJP etc. The CPI(Maoist) document, titled `Some important problems and its solutions’ was circulated to the members after the incidents of Shalboni and Lalgarh. We must get all ruling parties associated as long they desire to be. We call CPI(M) as a Social Fascist organisation. Relations with Trinamool Congress and railway minister Mamata Banerjee must be strengthened.”

Such reports appeared periodically in various sections of the media all through the year. More exposures came in 2010. The Bengali daily, Aaj Kal, reported under the heading “Maoist leader detained from TMC leaders car” on November 10, 2010, the following: “Maoist leader Kanchan Deb Singh was arrested from Trinamool block president Nepal Singh’s car in Shalbani. Police stopped the car for checking and recognised Kanchan inside the car. Nepal Singh as well as Kanchan was taken to the police station though the block president was released within no time. Kanchan was associated with the PSBJC arms training in 2008. He was charged with various landmine blasts, looting of police van etc.”

The Delhi edition of The Hindustan Times has reported on January 5, 2011 a media statement : “purportedly signed by CPI(Maoist) West Bengal state committee member Vikram said: `We want our movement-oriented alliance with Mamata Banerjee to flourish…”. Further: “The declaration said both Maoists and TMC were silent on their alliance because of political compulsions, but they are coming out in the open as there is nothing more to hide. `We fought together during the struggles in Singur, Nandigram….”

It is now, clearly, beyond doubt that the Trinamul Congress had provided and continues to provide both the political cover and all assistance for the Maoists to penetrate into West Bengal in order to be used to mount terror attacks against the CPI(M) cadre and the common people aiming at extracting electoral benefit in the forthcoming elections.

We had drawn attention earlier to an irreconcilable contradiction within the UPA. On the one hand, the prime minister describes the Maoists as “posing the single gravest threat to India’s internal security”. On the other, in the union cabinet led by this very prime minister, there are members of the Trinamul Congress who are collaborating with the Maoists in order to achieve electoral gains at the expense of jeopardising India’s internal security.

Can this be allowed? Can such crass political opportunism (to retain a majority for the government) that endangers our country’s unity and integrity be permissible? Further, can such diabolic and cynical politics, for the sake of electoral gains that destroys democracy, peace and development so crucially required for creating better livelihood conditions for our people be tolerated?

Such politics, for the sake of not only Bengal and its people but for the sake of India and its people, needs to be defeated if the struggle for building a better India has to be carried forward.

 

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY,

Editorial

January 5, 2011

MAOISTS GHASTARDLY KILLED SEVEN FB MEMBERS IN PURULIA

By SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

FRONTLINE, JAN 01-14, 2011

The Maoists strike again, this time in Purulia, killing seven Forward Bloc members on a single night.

A paramilitary soldier stands guard beside the bodies of four residents of Bagbandi village in Purulia district who were abducted from their homes and killed by the Maoists in a nearby forest on the night of December 16.

THE cold-blooded killing of seven All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) members, including a woman and a 75-year-old man, in West Bengal's Purulia district by extremists belonging to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) betrays a sense of desperation in the organisation as it faces the heat from not only the State police and Central forces but also sections of the local population. On the night of December 16, four teams of militants raided four villages in the district's Jalda-I block near Ayodhya Hill, where joint security forces operations were under way. They dragged the seven victims out of their houses and gunned them down.

The first to get killed was Tapan Singh Sardar of Gutilowa village. Armed extremists entered the house of his brother Chandicharan Singh Sardar, president of the village panchayat samiti. Not finding Chandicharan there, they settled for Tapan, a local AIFB leader, and killed him near the house. The next attack was on Bagbandi village where Kinkar Singh, Gobardhan Singh, 75-year-old Gopeswar Mahato and Chapala Garai, president of the village panchayat, were abducted from their homes, taken to a nearby forest and killed.

The other two victims were Ananta Mahato of Chirutar village and Aju Singh Sardar of Naugarh village. The entire operation took place between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. The posters the Maoists left behind as a signature threatened the Left parties and the Congress over the joint police operations.

In the past few months, the rebels have suffered severe setbacks at the hands of the joint forces of the Central and State police and, for the first time, faced resistance from sections of the local population. With the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) recently regaining control of its stronghold of Lalgarh in Pashchim Medinipur, the Maoists have been on the run from some of their earlier bases and have been forced to try forming new bases.

But, according to police sources, even in these “new” areas where the presence of police and Central forces is not so strong, they are meeting with opposition from the local people.

Inspector General of Police, Western Zone, Zulfiquar Hasan told Frontline: “One thing is absolutely clear, that they have totally alienated the local people with their terror tactics. The seven people they killed were not police informers. They realised there was growing resistance against them and this was an attempt to scare the local people into subjugation. We have seen that whenever operations against them succeed, their killings also increase.”

The Jalda block is a strong base of the AIFB, a constituent of the ruling Left Front in the State. “By targeting AIFB members here, the Maoists are following an old tactic of creating a political vacuum, just as they have been doing in parts of Pashchim Medinipur and Bankura. To gain control of this region, they realise they will have to break the political backbone of the Forward Bloc,” said an intelligence source. A statement issued by the AIFB central committee said that the increasing popularity of the party had eroded the Maoist support base, provoking the recent killings.

The killings took place less than two weeks after the rebels suffered a major setback. On December 3, Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan, secretary of the CPI (Maoist)'s West Bengal Committee, was arrested in Kolkata along with three associates. Kanchan has been the biggest catch for the police since the arrest in March of Venkatesh Reddy alias Telugu Deepak, the chief of the State Military Commission of the Maoists in West Bengal.

Kanchan, who has been the State secretary since 2008, was one of the main organisers of the Lalgarh movement and was engaged in extending the Maoist influence to places beyond the Jangalmahal (the forested area comprising parts of the three adjoining districts of Pashchim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia, largely inhabited by tribal people) to other districts in the State.

Although a resident of Garbeta in Pashchim Medinipur, Kanchan often came to Kolkata to liaise with supporters, recruit new members and collect consignments. The police had apparently been tracing his movement through tapped phone conversations and came to know that Kanchan, along with three top aides, would be coming to Kolkata to pick up a consignment of ammunition and gadgets.

Late in the evening of December 3, all four were arrested from the Maidan area of central Kolkata. Along with Kanchan were Anil Ghosh and Barun Sur – both top Maoist operatives and State committee members – and Shankar Mallick alias Buchu, a Maoist linkman. Interrogation of those arrested also enabled the police to secure Kalpana Maity alias Anu, an influential woman Maoist leader.

Sophisticated equipment

Raids on Maoist hideouts in and around Kolkata have led to the seizure of a huge amount of sophisticated electronic equipment along with arms and ammunition. Very high frequency (VHF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) wireless communication sets, remote-operated timers, hi-tech explosive devices and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) found during the raids point to an ominous shift in the operating style and strategy of the Maoists.

According to Rajiv Kumar, chief of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police, the Maoists appear to be trying to develop activated devices that can be used from a distance – a departure from their earlier method of using wired devices that necessitated closer proximity to the target.

“It is clear that the Maoists have studied the operations of the joint forces and identified certain weaknesses in their own mode of operations that allow the security forces to reach them. They are now trying to counter this with the help of technology. If they are successful, it can make things a little difficult for us,” a police source in the region told Frontline.

 

According to him, such gadgets are easily available in the border areas of India and Nepal and Bangladesh, if not in the markets. “We have documentary evidence of the great importance the Maoists attach to the strengthening of their technology wing. Moreover, they also have a lot of educated sympathisers such as engineering students, even engineering teachers, who help them develop and use new technology,” a police source said.

Link with other militants

Police interrogation of the arrested extremists has also brought to light a nexus between the CPI (Maoist) and the insurgent People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) of Manipur. Kanchan apparently revealed that the Maoists' deal with Prepak was sealed six to eight months ago. Under the deal, the two groups will exchange arms and ammunition, and Prepak will train Maoist cadres. Apparently such training has already taken place in the forested areas of Jharkhand.

“The Maoists are also in contact with other organisations in Manipur, but with Prepak these links are not limited to ideological sympathies; they have reached a practical level,” said Rajiv Kumar.

The police have not ruled out the Maoists having links with other militant groups of the north-eastern region, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim – Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM).

Recent developments have also indicated that the Maoists have been spreading their tentacles to regions other than the Jangalmahal. On December 9, they struck in Birbhum district, killing CPI(M) leader Sasti Bawri inside the district party office. This was the second time this year that the region witnessed Maoist killings. Earlier there have been instances of attempted sabotage of public property. The State government has, in fact, sent a proposal to the Centre to declare three more districts – Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad – as Maoist affected.

In spite of the Maoists' diminishing influence, however, it would not be correct to assume that the Lalgarh region is returning to normalcy. On December 20, suspected Maoists gunned down Kalipada Mahato, a schoolteacher, in Nayagram, not far from Lalgarh.

“Though incidents of violence have been greatly reduced in the last couple of months, there is still the potential for danger here. Lalgarh holds such a central place in their movement in the State that the Maoists really cannot afford to leave it. There is still the threat of their regrouping and regaining control of the region,” said Manoj Verma, Superintendent of Police, Pashchim Medinipur.

While killings continue to take place in the region, it is unlikely that there will be any Maoist action in the immediate future on the scale of the Silda massacre in February this year when 25 jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were mowed down in their camp. “After the recent setbacks, the mode of operations of the Maoists has changed. They now move in smaller groups and cause isolated incidents in places where security is not strong. Their manpower is greatly reduced and, as of now, their potential for large-scale action has diminished in Pashchim Medinipur,” said Verma.

Maoist key result area: Destruction of 33 schools, 105 roads, 13 rly properties

12 Nov, 2010, 03.50AM IST, Bharti Jain, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Maoists continue to hit at symbols of welfare and development while carrying on with their rhetoric about neglect of tribal areas by the state. Over the last 10 months, the Left-wing extremists unleashed 278 attacks on government buildings and infrastructure works across seven states, destroying 33 schools, 20 panchayat offices, 105 roads/culverts and 38 communication towers.

Railways continue to be a favoured target, having recorded 22 Naxal attacks until October 31, 2010. Of these, Chhattisgarh witnessed 13 attacks on railway properties, Maharashtra 12, West Bengal 7 and Jharkhand 6.

Majority of Naxalite attacks in 2010 focused on forest roads and culverts. As many as 105 forest roads and culverts were destroyed by Maoists, as compared 126 in the whole of 2009, in an apparent bid to instill a sense of fear in contractors to meet extortion demands.

Public sector units and works in Maoist-infested areas witnessed 22 attacks, up from 17 through 2009. NMDC’s premises in Chhattisgarh were targeted in 11 different incidents in the first 10 months of 2010. Eight attacks were directed at the Gramin Sadak Nirman Yojana in three states. Essar Pipelines, which faced 6 attacks last year, saw only one attack in 2010.

There was also some respite from Naxalites’ targeting of communication towers, with attacks coming down from 67 last year to 38 in the first ten months of 2010. Of these, Jharkhand accounted for 14 attacks and Bihar for 12 attacks.

Government’s psychological warfare highlighting “mindless” attacks on schools by Maoists appears to have had some positive effect. Such incidents were down from 67 in 2009 to 38 until October 31 this year. However, panchayat offices and buildings continued to bear the brunt, with 20 of them coming under Maoist fire as compared to 23 in the whole of last year.

Mining units saw nine attacks in the first 10 months of 2010, a three-fold rise from 3 attacks witnessed through 2009. Six of the nine incidents of mines being targeted this year were reported from Jharkhand.

Power plants were not spared either. Maoists attacked 3 power plants, one each in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa. Last year, two attacks on power plants were reported, both in Maharashtra. Maoists also destroyed pole/transmission towers in two different incidents in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Maoists’ targeting of key infrastructure and development works stands in direct conflict with their so-called struggle against neglect and deprivation by the state. “It only proves that the Left-wing extremism is nothing more than red terror, devoid of any reasoning or ideology,” noted a senior official of the security establishment.

As many as 577 civilians and 264 security forces have been killed in a total of 1842 incidents of Maoist violence in the first 10 months of 2010.

Forces won't be withdrawn, says Pranab

TNN, Oct 31, 2010, 06.59am IST

NABAGRAM: Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday ruled out any possibility of withdrawing the joint forces from Bengal despite his Cabinet colleague Mamata Banerjee going public with the demand that the Centre should give marching orders to the forces stationed in Maoist-hit Jangalmahal. 

The Trinamool Congress chief has argued that the joint security forces have come to the advantage of the CPM cadres trying to regain grounds in the trouble-torn districts of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia. 

Talking to mediapersons after inaugurating a national integration camp at Nabagram organised by the Nehru Youth Centre, Mukherjee said: "Joint forces will remain in Jangalmahal till it is required. They have a presence in other states as well. They will stay as long as Maoists and forces like them continue to pose a threat to the government." 

Mukherjee's comment comes within days of Trinamool partymen hitting the streets demanding withdrawal of the forces. A Trinamool delegation, led by minister of state Mukul Roy, had called on Union home minister P Chidambaram, explaining how CPM cadres were taking the forces' help to gain foothold in the area.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6844210.cms?prtpage=1#ixzz13x8ssW7R

Naxal woman leader, who alleged sexual abuse, surrenders

TNN, Aug 28, 2010, 03.58am IST

KOLKATA: Maoist woman leader Shobha Mandi alias Uma, who had narrated a sordid saga of rape and sexual abuse in an exclusive interview to TOI published on August 24, surrendered to the police in West Midnapore on Friday. After four months on the run, the CPI-Maoist Jhargram area commander walked into West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma's office around 7pm. Clad in a green salwar-kameez with a cream dupatta covering her head, she handed over a bag containing Rs 55,500 and her personal belongings to the cops. She wasn't carrying any weapons.

Mandi said she belonged to People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), the Maoist-led group responsible for the mass upsurge against police and CPM cadres in Lalgarh. She had mentored PCPA members involved in the Jnaneswari train blast that killed 148 people.

"She will be kept in a secure transit camp. Her parents have been informed. They can come and meet her. We will write to the Screening and Rehabilitation officer who will decide what benefits she will be entitled to as per the surrender policy," Verma told TOI. Uma had got in touch with the district police 7-8 days ago through her own network expressing her intention to surrender, said Verma. Wanted in five cases in Belpahari and Jhargram, she has not been arrested though.

After her case is scrutinized by the government and police, she will be entitled to a host of benefits that the government gives to encourage former Naxals to join the mainstream. These include a fixed deposit of Rs 1.5 lakh which can be withdrawn after three years subject to good behaviour; monthly stipend of Rs 2,000 for maximum 36 months and vocational training for skill development.

The 23-year-old woman who commanded 25-30 armed Maoist squad members deftly fielded questions by reporters. She said she ran away from her commanding post in April this year but denied reports that she had been in police custody all this while. She said she hadn't been home for two years and was living in hideouts in forests and other places since she deserted the red ranks. She refused to divulge the locations for fear of exposing those who shielded her from the wrath of Naxals.

 

Why did she surrender? "I want to lead an ordinary life, a life that all normal people life," she told reporters. Earlier, she had told TOI she had been wanting to run away from day 1. She had alleged that she had been raped by senior Maoist leaders, including key Maoist leader Bikash. When she complained, she was isolated and threatened with dire consequences if she protested again. "They commit injustices against which they claimed they are fighting," Uma had told TOI.

Her father Jamadar Mandi told TOI he was happy that his daughter was back. "We have seen her twice in the last seven years. Last time we saw her, she was in fatigues and went back the same day."

Raped repeatedly, Naxal leader quits Red ranks

By Rakhi Chakrabarty, TNN, Aug 24, 2010, 01.02am IST

Somewhere On The Bengal-Jharkhand Border: The eerie calm in the dense sal forest is deafening. Walking along a snaking dirt track, a clear patch appears. Sitting on a rock, hidden by thick, emerald green foliage, is the diminutive figure of a woman, a gamchha (thin towel) covering her head. Her blue salwar-kameez meld with the surroundings. Her eyes dart around at the slightest hint of sound. Shobha Mandi, alias Uma, alias Shikha, gives a searching look and then smiles. The 23-year-old CPI-Maoist Jhargram area commander says she was expecting us.

From commanding 25-30 armed Maoist squad members, Uma turned a fugitive four months ago. She fled her command post on the plea of seeing a doctor. She hid with her aunt for a short while; and now she says she wants the world to know her story. She wants to surrender and is likely to give up Naxalism on August 26.

Why did she decide to shed her battle fatigues seven years after she joined the Naxals? "They committed injustices against which they claimed they were fighting," said Uma. "As a recruit, I protested against the habits of some leaders in the presence of Kishanji. Nobody liked it. The leaders instructed the squad members not to speak to me. I was isolated and warned of dire consequences if I protested," she said.

What didn't she like about the leaders? "They rape," she shot back, eyes flashing with rage. "After about a year of joining Naxals, I was put on night-long sentry duty at a forest camp in Jharkhand. Suddenly, out of the dark, Bikash (now, head of the state military commission) came up and asked me for water. As I turned to fetch it, he grabbed me and tried to do 'kharap kaaj' (indecent acts)." When she objected, Bikash threatened to strangle her. After forcing her into submission, Bikash raped her, she said. She was 17 then.

"He warned me against telling anyone about this. But, I told Akash (Kishanji's confidant and a state committee member). He said he would look into it but did nothing. In fact, Akash's wife, Anu, lives with Kishanji," Uma said.

Most women recruits are exploited by senior Maoists. Senior women leaders, too, have multiple sexual partners, Uma said. "If a member gets pregnant, she has no choice but to abort: A child is seen as a burden that hampers the agility of guerrillas."

Uma has heard tales of brutalization of other women Naxals, too. "Seema (then a recruit) told me that Akash raped her as well. Rahul (alias Ranjit Pal) raped Belpahari squad commander Madan Mahato's wife, Jaba. In this case, the party punished Rahul, who is a key weapons trainer at Maoist camps. He was removed from the regional committee for three months," said Uma.

State committee secretary Sudip Chongdar, alias Goutam, was also punished for similar acts, she said, and transferred to Jharkhand's West Singbhum district. Maoists divide time between forest camps and hideouts in villages. Villagers can't refuse shelter to gun-toting Maoists. Also, they must keep all night vigil to alert them against police raids. "When Sudip took shelter in villages, he raped women in their homes. They were too scared to protest," said Uma.

 

Many of her senior leaders exploited her sexually. One day, says Uma, Kamal Maity, who is a Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa regional committee member, came to her rescue. At a meeting attended by Kishanji and other top Maoists, Kamal proposed a relationship with Uma. The leaders agreed. "After Jaba's incident, I learnt that a woman cadre is protected against sexual exploitation only if she is with a senior leader," she said. That was a turning point and she rose steadily in Naxal ranks.

 

Uma is on the police's most wanted list. She is suspected to have planned and executed a series of attacks, including the massacre of 24 EFR jawans in Silda (February 2010); a raid on Sankrail police station in which two policemen were killed and an officer abducted (October 2009). She is also one of the suspects in Jharkhand MP Sunil Mahato's murder in 2007.

 

She mentored PCPA members, including Bapi Mahato who is in jail for the Jnaneswari train sabotage. Last year, when the joint central and state forces advanced into Lalgarh to break an eight-month siege, she along with other Maoists fired at the police. In Jhargram, she is known as didi. According to a source, Uma single-handedly built up the PCPA at Jhargram.

 

Uma joined the rebels in 2003. CPI-Maoist hadn't been formed then. "I joined the People's War ( PW) which later merged with MCC in 2004 to form CPI-Maoist," she said. She was given a new name, Uma. "I was plump. Anu (Akash's wife; Kishanji's companion) said I looked like Uma Bharti. So, she named me Uma."

Maoist leaders spotted her organizational skills. She was asked to mobilize tribals women at Jamboni and Dahijuri in West Midnapore. She also underwent three-month arms training at Jharkhand's Gorabandha forest. "First, we are taught with dummy weapons using tree branches. All recruits have to fire three bullets in their first session. Those who hit the target are picked for armed squads," she said.

 

In spite of guns and guerrilla warfare, the woman in her sometimes longs for simple pleasures like painting her nails or wearing earrings. But, she says, "We were not permitted to use even fragrant soaps, lest we get detected. Only Lifebuoy is used by cadres."

Did she join the rebels of her own free will? Circumstances, she said. Uma is second of four siblings. Along with their parents, they worked as wage earners on farms or collected sal leaves, mahua and red ants (kurkut) to sell. "I was good in studies but weak in math. I worked all day and studied at night," the girl from Khayerpahari village in West Bengal's Bankura district recounted. "I couldn't pass the Class X board."

 

This was in 2002. Younger brother Sanjay, who was in Class VIII, was already taken away by the extremists. He became a Lalgarh squad member and is in jail now. "My father, Jamadar Mandi, was an alcoholic suffering from tuberculosis. There was no money to buy him medicines. We sold our land and also borrowed money," Uma said.

While the family struggled, some "party" members offered help. "They gave my father some money and told me to join them. They said I could leave if I didn't like working with them," said Uma. The prospect of a job spurred her.

 

But only after she signed up did she realize she could never go home. "Whoever comes here, never returns," a senior leader told her. She wanted freedom from poverty but found herself chained to an ideology she couldn't understand.

After seven years of witnessing bloodletting, she has no fear of death. She now hopes the state she has fought against will rehabilitate her. "There are many in the Maoist ranks who would flee given half a chance," she said.

Trigger-happy Maoists don’t touch state’s mining mafia

By Rajaram Satapathy, TNN, Jun 5, 2010, 02.08 am IST

BHUBANESWAR: The Orissa mining scam, billed by some as the biggest loot of public property ever, has shocked even those who know little of the nitty-gritty of mining operations. In a nutshell, ores were extracted from mines much beyond the permitted limit. In many cases, mining was done without any permission in hand. The trend is still continuing.

A majority of these shady mines are located in the Maoist-dominated areas of Keonjhar and Sundergarh. These two districts have often reported incidents of Maoists attacking construction companies and other establishments for money. But there has been no report as yet of the extremists touching the mining mafia.

The state government has admitted to illegal extraction of ores, but has not come up with figures to quantify the volume of ore siphoned and the loss to the state exchequer. Orissa Jana Samilani, which has taken the scam to the Supreme Court seeking a high-level inquiry, estimates the annual illegal outgo of ore at nearly Rs 8,000 crore continuing for over five years. “This was our preliminary estimate. Now we feel the amount could be much more. Earlier, it was alleged ores were transported by trucks only. Present findings reveal railway has been a major transporter of illegal ore,” Samilani leader Rabi Das said.

Industry minister Raghunath Mohanty said, “The government is seized of the matter. We have taken a series of steps to curb illegal mining.” He attributed the scam to “loopholes in the law”. “There are many holes in the law, which helped people do illegal mining,” asserted.

Officials admitted illegal mining had been detected in all kinds of mines, but the focus was more on iron ore as it fetched huge profits. Revenue from the mining sector has gone up steadily from about Rs 550 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 1,380.5 crore in 2008-09. But who’s gained?

“Orissa may be one of India’s major mineral bearing states. But the fruits of development have always fallen in the hands of the rich making them richer. The poor have got little benefit out of the huge mineral resources lying in their backyard,” said environment activist Biswajit Mohanty.

According to Mohanty, Orissa had been hit by the “resource curse”. “The state has become the favourite destination for mining groups from all over the world. That is why Orissa’s per capita income has not grown much compared to the national average. At 1999-2000 prices, the per capita income of Orissa increased from Rs 7,700 in 1980-81 to Rs 15,100 in 2006-07 while that of the nation grew by 160% from Rs 8,600 in 1980-81 to Rs 22,700,” Mohanty pointed out.