Prizing Open Central India's Natural Wealth

The shadowy civil war of the Indian paramilitary forces against Left Wing Extremism (LWE) has caught the news pages in recent days.

- GURBIR SINGH

Police spokespersons have claimed major victories in encounters with the rebels. In operations around the Karreguttalu Hills, at the junction of Chhattisgarh and Telangana, 31 Naxalites were gunned down last month. More recently, government forces have eliminated Basavaraju, a top leader of the banned CPI (Maoist).

The campaign to eliminate left extremism in what is called the 'Red Corridor' running through the tribal belts extending from Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district through Bastar and Chhattisgarh, and to Jharkhand in the East, has 'neutralized' 380 insurgents since January 2014, says a 10th April government release. The target, as per the press release, is to "completely eliminate Naxalism by 31st March 2026, since Naxalism is seen as the biggest obstacle in the development of remote areas and tribal villages."

Is the government campaign aimed at 'finishing off' the extremists, or are the larger goals to open up central India's mineral and natural resources for exploitation? Or both?

It is ironic that, in a parallel development, the Ministry of Environment has granted in-principle permission to clear 937 hectares of forest land and the felling of 1.23 lakh trees to pave the way for Lloyd Metals' beneficiation plant in Maharashtra's Gadchiroli district. The company was granted a mining lease in 2007, but mining operations have been stalled in the face of Maoist attacks, and protests by local communities over tribal and forest rights.

It is no surprise, with the insurgents now on the back foot, the Maharashtra government has pushed ahead with the formation of the Gadchiroli District Mining Authority.