04-26-2006, 10:58 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Army, weapons, funds, Maoists have 'em all </b>
pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
In the dense jungles and remote hills of India, hundreds of hardcore Maoists are undergoing tough training in the art of guerrilla warfare. Equipped with sophisticated weapons, these men have been indoctrinated to wage a war against the nation, a protracted war that they hope to win in the next 30 to 40 years.
<b>In the vanguard of the Maoist army is the hardcore People's Guerrilla Army (PGA) with an estimated strength of 8000 cadres spread mainly across - Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The PGA is responsible for carrying out all daring strikes, including setting up ambush against the police and para military forces, snatching their weapons, eliminating 'enemies', and letting loose a reign of terror</b>.
<b>The guerrilla army is equipped with sophisticated weapons like light machine guns, self-loading rifles, rocket launchers, land mines, carbines, grenades and Insas rifles</b>. Police and intelligence agencies have learnt that most of these weapons have been acquired from militant outfits operating in the northeast and underworld elements. A large chunk of the their armoury also consists of weapons looted from the police and para military forces.
The Maoists are also involved in indigenous production of explosives and rocket launchers through their own research and development programmes.<b> They also managed to acquire weapons from surrendered ULFA cadre between 1990 and 1996. Some of the weapons airdropped in Purulia also reached them,</b> sources said.
<b>At the second level of the Maoists army network is the 25,000-strong Jan Militia, which is less heavily armed, but provides intelligence and logistical support to the PGA. </b>The militia performs pre-strike reconnaissance, guards exit routes, blocks police entry and lends back up support when the guerrilla army retreats.
<b>Below them come 50,000 unarmed Sangam cadres who have been roped in by the Maoists in villages to spread the gospel of armed struggle</b>. The exercise to spread public propaganda is carried out by the frontal organisations who have unidentified numbers of dedicated supporters.
<b>The Maoists have also set in place money-minting mechanisms, which rake in approximately Rs 750 cr each year. A study jointly carried out by the Bihar Police and intelligence agencies in 2000, before the formation of Jharkhand, showed that the MCC and PW, which later merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist), used to raise Rs 250 cr each year from the State. As the ultras have grown both in size and influence, agencies estimate that at least Rs 750 cr is collected annually by the Maoists across the country. </b>
<b>Another major source of funding is collection of levy from those awarded Government contracts. It is common knowledge that in the Maoist strongholds, nearly 15 to 20 per cent of development fund are pocketed by the ultras. In fact, even Central undertakings pay a "levy" to carry out their development activities and day-to-day functioning.</b>
The ultras have also raise substantial sums of money through membership and fine imposed on those who defy their diktats. Contractors and officials engaged in mining and coal extraction are also compelled to pay huge sums of money. Interrogations of the arrested Maoists have revealed that they collected Rs 1000 from each truck that rolls out from coal or metal mines in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The funds are used to acquire arms and infrastructure like satellite phones, sustain cadres, provide training, run propaganda campaign, distribute and print literature. The Maoists effectively use money power to manipulate media and judicial organs. They are also spending a large chunk of money on expansion programmes to find a toehold in States where they have negligible presence.
<b>Experts say the Government needs to work on a two pronged approach. The first and foremost task was to restrict the Maoist area of influence through effective governance and develop regions adjoining their domain.</b> "They need to be quarantined and areas falling outside their influences be immunised to prevent the growth of the malice," an official said.
Side by side, the Government needs to raise Special Task Forces, on the pattern of Grey Hounds of Andhra Pradesh and modernise the police force, set up a Central coordination committee and put in place a long-term strategy to deal with the Maoists. But so far, apart from admitting the seriousness of the problem the Governments seems to be doing precious little. This indifference could internally bleed the nation and make it ineffective in taking on the full fore of the Maoist onslaught as and when they decide to go for the final coup.
<b>Red alert </b>
Maoist Army
People's Guerrilla Army ------------ 8000 men
Jan Militia ------------ 25,000 men
Village level cadres ------------ 50,000
Arms: Light machine guns, self-loading rifles, rocket launchers, land mines, carbines, grenades and Insas rifles.
Fund: Rs 750 cr per year.
Source of fund: Extortion, Levy, penalty, membership, cut from development fund, coal extraction and mining.
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pioneer.com
Navin Upadhyay | New Delhi
In the dense jungles and remote hills of India, hundreds of hardcore Maoists are undergoing tough training in the art of guerrilla warfare. Equipped with sophisticated weapons, these men have been indoctrinated to wage a war against the nation, a protracted war that they hope to win in the next 30 to 40 years.
<b>In the vanguard of the Maoist army is the hardcore People's Guerrilla Army (PGA) with an estimated strength of 8000 cadres spread mainly across - Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The PGA is responsible for carrying out all daring strikes, including setting up ambush against the police and para military forces, snatching their weapons, eliminating 'enemies', and letting loose a reign of terror</b>.
<b>The guerrilla army is equipped with sophisticated weapons like light machine guns, self-loading rifles, rocket launchers, land mines, carbines, grenades and Insas rifles</b>. Police and intelligence agencies have learnt that most of these weapons have been acquired from militant outfits operating in the northeast and underworld elements. A large chunk of the their armoury also consists of weapons looted from the police and para military forces.
The Maoists are also involved in indigenous production of explosives and rocket launchers through their own research and development programmes.<b> They also managed to acquire weapons from surrendered ULFA cadre between 1990 and 1996. Some of the weapons airdropped in Purulia also reached them,</b> sources said.
<b>At the second level of the Maoists army network is the 25,000-strong Jan Militia, which is less heavily armed, but provides intelligence and logistical support to the PGA. </b>The militia performs pre-strike reconnaissance, guards exit routes, blocks police entry and lends back up support when the guerrilla army retreats.
<b>Below them come 50,000 unarmed Sangam cadres who have been roped in by the Maoists in villages to spread the gospel of armed struggle</b>. The exercise to spread public propaganda is carried out by the frontal organisations who have unidentified numbers of dedicated supporters.
<b>The Maoists have also set in place money-minting mechanisms, which rake in approximately Rs 750 cr each year. A study jointly carried out by the Bihar Police and intelligence agencies in 2000, before the formation of Jharkhand, showed that the MCC and PW, which later merged to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist), used to raise Rs 250 cr each year from the State. As the ultras have grown both in size and influence, agencies estimate that at least Rs 750 cr is collected annually by the Maoists across the country. </b>
<b>Another major source of funding is collection of levy from those awarded Government contracts. It is common knowledge that in the Maoist strongholds, nearly 15 to 20 per cent of development fund are pocketed by the ultras. In fact, even Central undertakings pay a "levy" to carry out their development activities and day-to-day functioning.</b>
The ultras have also raise substantial sums of money through membership and fine imposed on those who defy their diktats. Contractors and officials engaged in mining and coal extraction are also compelled to pay huge sums of money. Interrogations of the arrested Maoists have revealed that they collected Rs 1000 from each truck that rolls out from coal or metal mines in Jharkhand and Orissa.
The funds are used to acquire arms and infrastructure like satellite phones, sustain cadres, provide training, run propaganda campaign, distribute and print literature. The Maoists effectively use money power to manipulate media and judicial organs. They are also spending a large chunk of money on expansion programmes to find a toehold in States where they have negligible presence.
<b>Experts say the Government needs to work on a two pronged approach. The first and foremost task was to restrict the Maoist area of influence through effective governance and develop regions adjoining their domain.</b> "They need to be quarantined and areas falling outside their influences be immunised to prevent the growth of the malice," an official said.
Side by side, the Government needs to raise Special Task Forces, on the pattern of Grey Hounds of Andhra Pradesh and modernise the police force, set up a Central coordination committee and put in place a long-term strategy to deal with the Maoists. But so far, apart from admitting the seriousness of the problem the Governments seems to be doing precious little. This indifference could internally bleed the nation and make it ineffective in taking on the full fore of the Maoist onslaught as and when they decide to go for the final coup.
<b>Red alert </b>
Maoist Army
People's Guerrilla Army ------------ 8000 men
Jan Militia ------------ 25,000 men
Village level cadres ------------ 50,000
Arms: Light machine guns, self-loading rifles, rocket launchers, land mines, carbines, grenades and Insas rifles.
Fund: Rs 750 cr per year.
Source of fund: Extortion, Levy, penalty, membership, cut from development fund, coal extraction and mining.
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