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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Men in khaki, pull up your socks


Here’sconfirmation for something most people already know.Almost three out offour Indians (73%) are unhappy with policing in their local areas. Then, more than half of Indians (53%) believe Maoists are the biggest threat to India. In comparison, only 32% view cross-border terrorism as the most potent threat facing this country. And yes, a large majority (68%) think the government isn’t doing a very good job of combating the red rebels.

A Hindustan Times-CNNIBN survey conducted by research organisation C fore covering 1,621 adults across eight cities should also be an eye-opener for those intellectuals who glorify and romanticise Maoist violence. Only 40% of Indians consider their wanton acts of terror to be ideologically driven.A larger minority (45%) feel such violence is nothing but terrorism.

But, at the same time, they aren’t blind to the reasons fuelling Maoists – 61% blame social inequity for driving people to rebellion and 70% feel developmentand political participation can wean people back to the mainstream.

On Kashmir, too, Indians are pretty certain about whom to blame. More than three out of four respondents (76%) blame the Centre, the state government or the local police for letting the situation get out of control. But they’re also optimistic about a solution — 65% feel the situation can be retrieved and 55% say it can be done without involving Pakistan.

Significantly, a third of Indians see Pakistani involvement as a necessary condition for lasting peace in the Valley. Opinion is almost equally divided on Kashmir’s notorious stone throwers —44% feel stone throwing is the work of motivated gangs, while a slightly smaller percentage (39%) say they’re venting their anger.

While a clear majority (53%) feel autonomy is the best solution for the state, more than one in five favour independence. And surprise! More than one in three Indians (36%) feel foreign mediation is necessary to solve the Kashmir problem. Is India a soft state? Two out of three Indians think so. This, perhaps, is what gives our neighbours the gall to fish in our troubled waters. Again, 65% feel India’s neighbours are fanning the unrest in Kashmir and Nagaland.

A majority also have aremarkably benign view of India’s role in its neighbourhood — 54% say the country does not behave like a big brother. A large minority, however, have no illusions —32%, or one in three people, accept that India does throw its weight around in the subcontinent.