Naxals, naxalites or naxalvadis (name taken from the village of naxalbadi in west bengal the place where the movement started) are a group of far left radical communists, supportive of maoist political sentiments and ideology. Initially, the movement had startted in west bengal but has now spread into less developed rural areas of central and eastern india, such as orissa, chattisgarh, andhra pradesh and bihar.
The movement ideally involves indian peasants and lower class tribals overthrowing the government and upper class through the barrel of the gun. In very recent times, naxalites have massacred, assaulted and killed a huge number of people through devastating and widespread violence.
Even as the center works towards revamping its anti-maoist operation after the gruesome Dantewada massacre on the 6th of april in which 6 CRPF jawans were killed, hundreds of policemen from the state get ready to fight the terror with only a lathi for defense. Pitted against the maoists, who are armed with grenades , guns and rocket launchers, the policemen are proving to be sitting ducks waiting to be attacked. If the center and the home defense ministry keep working like this, all that the citizens can expect are more attacks in naxalite affected areas. We can describe it as a war between "sticks and mortars".
Its not that the center and state governments dont have the will to crush the insurgents. It simply is lack of vision and strategy.But again the question arises- What are the demands of the maoists ? What is it that they want ? Well. their strategies might be explosive, but their demands are simple.They demand- development of their people, social justice so that wealth can be equally distributed among the poor, social equality- tribals should not be looked down upon by people and should be given equal status in society and respect amongst the citizens.
Even though the government is trying to improve the living conditions of these tribals, there is a long way to go to make their lives worth living The government must try and improve health and education facilities and also provide good job opportunities to these people, to improve their incomes and make them afford better living conditions.
