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Hello Bastar My reading experience of

the book
The very first chapter brings-forth the basic reason behind Naxalism/Maoism,
i.e inequalities be it in development or social status. These inequalities
further got accumulated through exploitation of the weaker groups. The state
failed in addressing this basic feature of the problem for quite some time.
Treating the issue as a mere law and order problem, or looking at the maoists
as people who destabilize the state is not the right perception of the
problem. This mistake of the state gave the movement ample time to gain
the support of the exploited sections.
A revolution doesnt come out of vacuum. People cannot be motivated to kill
their fellow beings just by providing them the ammunition. A strong feeling of
injustice accumulated over long periods of time is what that finds solace
through their violent action against their perceived enemy. And the main
cure lies in finding that cause of injustice and providing the right panacea for
it.
And for this problem i felt the solution lies in DEVELOPMENT,
DECENTRALIZATION and strengthening of DEFENSE infrastructure for the
vulnerable sections. (DDD formula)
By DEVELOPMENT, I mean it to be multidimensional. And the basis for this
will be education and health at the core. These two form the crux necessity
in the uplifting of the vulnerable sections. When these get supported with
employment opportunities, they slowly tend to move the people and their
systems towards economic stability. Economic stability makes the people
more involved with their living and thus takes off the sense of injustice from
their minds. This contributes to political stability and later to societal
stability.
By DECENTRALIZATION, I mean to cater the solution as per the needs. The
book clearly shows how maoism got spread to different areas making itself
available to different needs of the people. In Bihar, it spread through
addressing caste inequalities. For the Ghond tribes of bastar region it got
assimilated into their culture by providing a script to their language. They
thus could better communicate with the people and address their problems.
In Naxalbari, its the peasants that played a major role. They addressed
women exploitation by giving women an equal status in their association. I
felt it is this flexibilty in their functioning that gave them a lot of credibility
among the exploited. And this is why they got the cooperation of people and
their committed engagement. This is a lesson the state needs to learn.
Decentralise and first provide the basic amenities to the people as per their

requirements. This not only increases the effeciency in the functioning of the
democratic state but also avoids misuse and wastage of valuable and limited
resources as well as time.
Next comes strengthening of DEFENSE infrastructure. By this i mean two
points.
1. strengthening Defense infrastructure to the vulnerable sections from the
exploiters.
2. strengthening the ethical character of Defense forces of the state.
The first point relates to the legislative measures. State has come forward
with many laws against exploiters of the weaker sections. But why do they
fail in implementing them?. The basic hurdle in the process is lack of
awareness. How do you think a tribal in a forest to know the protections he
had in a law formulated far away from him. Many NGOs work towards this
but the Naxals proved efficient to the exploited. This is because they give
instant punishment to the exploiter. Whether the magnitude of punishment is
right or wrong doesnt matter to the tribal. He only feels justified in
punishment. The State failed to give him that support and trust. This is a
very important aspect that the state need to consider in its policy
formulation.
Secondly, why do the agent of the state in protecting the vulnerable, i.e the
police/paramilitary force fail in gaining the confidence of the the weaker
sections and the naxalites could win the same? This is because a naxalite is
a result of the problem where as police act as an agent of state to eliminate
the result. The mismatch lies here. Its the problem that needs to be solved.
Unless you solve the problem the right way, its different products emerge
continuously in new forms. One more mismatch here is the naxalite wing
works both as a facilitator of protection to the exploited as well the initiator
of awareness and development to the downtrodden. Whereas our police
forces have a single agenda of protecting state institutions and development
is something dealt with a different wing of the state. So the humane angle
gets missed in their functioning. There is a need to find a solution to this
mismatch. The training of the paramilitary and police forces should address
this issue. The morale and also the humane angle of their functioning need
to be strengthened as part of their training. This also avoids the force from
acting sometimes to the protection of the exploiters.
Finally coming to the ethical issue, i.e whom do you support? Naxalites or
state. Dont you think both are involving some times in misuse of their
power. Naxalites through destroying states infrastructure (includes life of
state representatives) and informers (sometimes innocent). And state forces
through aiding exploiters and sometimes fake encounters. I felt the issue
here is not whom of the both is right. The issue is the welfare and protection
of the people. Once addressed, it gives the ethical and moral support to the

facilitator be it a naxalite or the state. If the state could gain the trust of
the exploited, that itself makes a way for the weakening of the maoist
movement. Their strength lies in their morale and support of the people. So
irrespective of who is right i feel the state should gain righteousness through
reforming its path of uplifting the weaker sections in an efficient and
trustworthy way. Its important that the state does this rather than naxalites
because the effecient functioning of the state results in peaceful society and
this cannot be achieved through extremist movements.
This is what I felt while going through the book Hello Bastar by Rahul
Pandita

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