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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Deal with it

Deal with it

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published Published on Feb 17, 2012   modified Modified on Feb 17, 2012

-The Indian Express

 

Don’t panic that Maoists have won panchayat polls. Isn’t getting them into the system the idea?

The Centre has expressed alarm that, in the ongoing Orissa local elections, Maoists have inserted themselves into the very system they also want to destroy. Despite the boycott and attacks on security officials in the area, it turns out that candidates with Maoist links have won around 30 blocks in eight districts, including Malkangiri and Koraput. They won unopposed, as Maoist groups intimidated and kept out others. What this means is that welfare funds, including MNREGS and the Backward Region Grant Fund, will now be in Maoist hands, allocated according to their priorities. This area is one of the most wretched sites of the Maoist conflict, where security forces and the administration are locked in bloody combat with the insurgents.

However, there is little point asking the state government to dilute the consequences now. The pressure should have been exerted before the poll, to make sure the election was a free contest. The Orissa government, by failing to counteract Maoist pressure and allowing this to be a choiceless poll, has betrayed the promise of an election. Now that the Maoists have won, the government must focus on making sure that development funds are used fairly. After all, this is the outcome that the state has argued for in all bitter insurgencies — for the rebels to join the fold, accept electoral judgment of their agenda. They must be given the chance to administer funds their way, so long as these are genuinely directed towards improving the prospects of the people. Studies of left-wing extremism-affected areas have shown that there is less investment in infrastructure, health and education there — and there is a depressing circular logic to these figures. The more dangerous and violent an area is, the less likely welfare schemes will take root. And the fewer the paths to progress, the more likely that disaffected populations will believe Naxal slogans about the state’s illegitimacy.

The question is, does the Maoist victory reveal a willingness to democratically engage, or is it a deliberate raid on the portals of administration? Whether they deliver on their promise — and how they are monitored by the local administration — will provide the answer.

The Indian Express, 17 February, 2012, http://www.indianexpress.com/news/deal-with-it/913145/


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