BackFighting Maoists with herbs and honey
Fighting Maoists with herbs and honey
PremiumAlternative strategy: Women work at a state-run facility in Dugli, Chhattisgarh. The state cooperatives are an attempt by the government to provide income to the rural masses to keep them from joining
Dugli (Chhattisgarh): Natural cosmetics, lime grass insecticides, gooseberry candy, herbal medicines and honey are among the new weapons deployed by India in its fight against Maoist insurgents.
India’s war against Maoist insurgents cannot be won with guns alone, experts say—economic development and solutions to the grievances of rebel sympathizers are needed.
Last month’s massacre of 76 policemen by the rebels touched off a national debate about the need for “hearts and minds" efforts in insurgency-hit areas to accompany a nationwide security offensive launched last year.
The Chhattisgarh cooperatives are part of an attempt by the state to regain influence in the 45,000 sq. km of forests at the heart of what is known as India’s “red corridor", where the rebels hold sway.
“We will not join the Maoists because we have money in our pocket and food in our belly," 18-year-old Sharda Mandavi said as she busily ground herbs.
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Around her, men and women mostly aged 16-19, in aprons and face masks, worked eight-hour shifts in spartan tin-roofed enclosures set up by the state’s forest department.
“These kids are so busy that they cannot even think of joining the insurgency," said forest warden US Thakur in Jabarra, 165km from state capital Raipur.
In the villages in the area, home to the Gond, Muria, Maria or Halba tribes, Maoist recruiters are constantly on the look-out for jobless or disaffected potential cadres. Nocturnal visits are common, say locals.
One supervisor at the reprocessing centre in Dugli, who was abducted last month by the rebels but was freed when he refused to join the movement, said the project is helping to fill a void.
“We are doing what the police cannot do with guns and bullets," he said, asking not to be named for security reasons.
“These men and women are now fighting back with candies, herbs and honey and in the process we are also protecting our forests from the Naxals (Maoists)," he said.
Chhattisgarh’s top forest conservator R.K. Sharma said in Raipur that 8,500 such facilities were operating in troubled areas to try and “wean away young men and women into skilled jobs".
The projects under the Joint Forest Management (JFM) scheme have paid dividends of Rs58.4 lakh between 2000 and 2008 to local villages, according to records and supervisors.
Villages earn up to 30% of the profits from the sale of the forest products in government shops and other retail chains nationwide. Money is also shared with settlements that do not have resources.
Experts warn, however, that isolated projects such as Chhattisgarh’s JFM are not enough to fight the Maoists in states where they have entrenched support that feeds off resentment at state corruption and incompetence, as well as land disputes.
“Primary healthcare, education, agricultural reforms and tenancy laws need to be improved," said Maoist expert Mallika Joseph from the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, a New Delhi-based private think tank.
“It is a challenge but it is doable. The Maoists cannot achieve them," she added.
Home minister P. Chidambaram is the architect behind a surge of 58,000 paramilitary forces into Maoist-affected states and he has faced criticism, even from within his own party, for the hardline approach.
He has stressed, however, that the government has a “two-pronged strategy" that includes development aid.
But as with many national policies, there is often a gap between initiatives decided at a Union government level and implementation by states and local governments.
Nearly one-third of Rs500 crore of development aid earmarked in financial year 2008-2009 for the 35 worst-hit Maoist districts had not been used, he told a ministry committee on 3 May.
“There are also questions on whether the money spent actually had reached the intended beneficiaries," he said.
Besides these targeted funds, India has set aside Rs66,100 in the current financial year for general rural development.
In addition to the implementation constraints of development projects, the government also faces a dynamic enemy.
“Naxals still come to us and say ‘we will pay you more if you join our fight’," said a 21-year-old man at the Dugli facility.
“But please do not mention our names as we are scared and besides the police are powerless to give us any protection."
AFP
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