Left Wing Extremism (LWE)

Basics About LWE

• LWE organizations are the groups that try to bring change through violent revolution. 
• They are against democratic institutions and use violence to subvert the democratic processes at the ground level.
• These groups prevent the developmental processes in the least developed regions of the country & try to misguide the people by keeping them ignorant of current happenings.
• It considers industrial-rural divide fundamental to capitalist exploitation and hopes to overcome it by a violent mass struggle.
• Naxal violence is related to the intensity of the feeling of people of their deprivation and their commitment to take revenge against the authorities.
• States Affected by LWE are Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Inspiration of These Movement

• The seeds of LWE is inspired from the  writings of Karl Marx Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
• They are also inspired from the Maoist movement that took place in China.

Evolution of Naxalism in India

Aims and Objectives of LWE

• It aims to overthrow the government through violent people’s war.
• It creates conditions for non-functioning of the government and actively seeks disruption of development activities.
• While impeding development works and challenging state authority, the Naxalites simultaneously try to derive benefit from the overall under-development.

Major Focus Areas of LWE

• Reallocation of land resources;
• Ensuring minimum wages for the labour working in the farms;
• Running a parallel government and impose tax and penalties;
• Run parallel Kangaroo Courts;
• Destruction of government property and abduct its officials;
• Attacks on police and law enforcing machinery;
• Enforce its own social code of conduct .

How do they gain support?

• Naxalites have their roots spread in media, NGOs, and almost every city of the country that help to propagate their ideology.
• The maoist cadets are recruited from poor tribal people by giving money or based on propaganda.
• They have a strong lobby of intellectuals which continuously shape public opinion in their favour. For example- Bhima- Koregaon case.

Source of Fund

• Extortion from government projects as well as from corporate companies working in their influence area. For example – Bastar in Chhattisgarh
• Kidnapping of high profile people and bargaining for money.
• Protection money from the organised crime groups for providing safe transit facilities to drug dealers and paddler.
• Loot government treasuries and banks
• Funding from fraudulent NGOs and fake societies.
• Funding through fake currencies.

Factors Responsible for Rise of Naxalism

1. Tribal Discontent:
   • The Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 deprives tribals, who depend on forest produce for their living, from even cutting a bark.
   • Massive displacement of tribal population in the naxalism-affected states due to development projects, mining operations and other reasons.
   • Issue of Jal Jammen Jangal
     • Encroachment and occupation of govt and community lands
     • Non-regularisation of traditional land rights
     • Land acquisition without appropriate compensation and rehabilitation
     • · Disruption of the age old tribal-forest relationship.
2. Monetary Influence by Maoist Groups
   • Tribal people who do not have any source of living are taken into naxalism by Maoists.
   • Maoists provide arms and ammunition and money to such people.
3. Depreviation
   • The regions affected by LWE is affected byshortage  basic facilities like education, freedom, sanitation and food.
   • Their is also issue of landlordism.
4. Governance Issue
   • Lack of routine administration
   • Incompetent, ill-trained and poorly motivated public personnel
   • Mismanagement and corruption in govt. schemes
   • Poor implementation of special laws
   • Perversion of electoral politics and unsatisfactory working of local govt.
   • Confusion over tackling naxalism as a social issue or as a security threat.
   • Lack of coordination among governments.

Government Initiatives to control LWE

• SAMADHAN Doctrine: It is the one-stop solution for the LWE problem. It encompasses the entire strategy of government from short-term policy to long-term policy formulated at different levels.
• Aspirational Districts Programme: Launched in 2018, it aims to rapidly transform the districts that have shown relatively lesser progress in key social areas.
• National Policy and Action Plan in 2015: It consists of a multi-pronged approach comprising security measures, development initiatives and ensuring rights & entitlements of local communities.
• Greyhaunt: Special force of  Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• Black Panther Combat Force; A specialised anti-Naxal combat force for Chhattisgarh.