would be more effective than using the paramilitary forces to check Maoism,
experts suggested to Saturday.
Speaking here at a round table discussion on Naxalite Maoist Insurgency: A
Solution, former bureaucrats and security experts said the Maoists had come
to occupy the vacant space that the government had itself created by not
implementing the land reforms and failing to safeguard the rights of the
tribals.
Former additional chief Secretary of West Bengal S.C. Agarwal said land
reforms were more lethal an answer than the fire power of the security
forces to counter the Maoists.
He said: We know the remedy to deal with Maoist insurgency but we cant be
impatient with it.
The former bureaucrat, who was popular among people as Zamin Batane Wala
Admi (the man who distributes land), said even if those in the corridors of
power came to appreciate the necessity of land reforms, a bigger challenge
would be to put in place the land records which are non-existent in many
states.
Land could not be distributed due to this reason in states like Bihar,
Jharkhand or in West Bengals Purulia district, he said.
National Security Council member E.N. Rammohan said historically the lands
in India were vested with the upper caste members and the one reason that
land reforms could not get the desired thrust was that the political
leadership too rested with the upper caste members.
The upper caste owners of land also controlled the political leadership
thus land reforms were not implemented, Rammohan said.
Rammohan, a former chief of the Border Security Force, said land reforms
were carried out in Russia, China and Japan but India had lagged behind in
the field.
He also mocked officials of the home ministry for deploying the Central
Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in the areas affected by the Maoists.
The baton-wielding CRPF is a law and order force and cannot do the job that
should be entrusted to a well-trained force like the Border Security Force,
Rammohan said.
Nandini Sundar of the Delhi School of Economics said: Unfortunately nothing
has been done.
Calling for political gestures and imaginative political solutions, the
sociologist said the solutions are simple.
The problem was with the militarist mindset of those in the power
corridors, Sundar said.
Sundar, who successfully waged in the apex court a battle against the
arming of tribals to counter Maoists in Chhattisgarh, said the government
had not learnt any lessons from Pakistans experience with jehadis.
The sociologist said the Pakistan government had, for various reasons, set
up jehadi groups and today those very groups are training their guns back
on their former mentors.
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