-The Hindu For the first time in decades, the Maoists have encouraged calibrated polling in some areas, instead of fanatically implementing a policy to boycott the election The districts of Chhattisgarh partially controlled by Maoists - with 12 Assembly constituencies - voted overwhelmingly in 2013. Compared to 2008, voter turnout in 2013 increased by 9.67 percentage points in 12 constituencies, while the overall polling was 6.81 percentage points higher than in the...
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Naxalite-affected areas to have community radios -Himanshi Dhawan
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: For the first time, community radio stations will come up in Naxalite-affected areas in the country. In a significant shift in policy, the government has given the nod for nine CR stations in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The first one is likely to come up in Bastar in Chhattisgarh. The CR stations that have received permission include one each in Ambikapur and Bilaspur and two in Raipur,...
More »Not at home in their homeland -KumKum Dasgupta
-The Hindustan Times I remember her face but not her name. She was one of the 30 people I met one winter afternoon in 2009 at Basaguda village in Chhattisgarh's Maoist-hit Bijapur district. A thin, tall woman, she stood at the edge of the group, listening attentively to her neighbour who was narrating an incident of an armed attack on the village that had left them homeless for months. When my...
More »Maoists training villagers to choose NOTA for Chhattisgarh polls -Rakhi Chakrabarty
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The outlawed CPI-Maoist are using the 'none-of-the-above' (NOTA) option for voters, allowed by the Supreme Court, to buttress their assembly election boycott call in Chhattisgarh. According to reports, the rebels have been conducting training camps with dummy EVMs for villagers in Bastar to familiarize them with the NOTA option if they decide to vote. Such camps have been spotted in villages in Sukma, Dantewada, bordering Andhra...
More »With the PDS gambit, Raman Singh hopes to checkmate Congress-Gargi Parsai
-The Hindu BJP Chief Minister Raman Singh is the face of the reformed public distribution system in Chhattisgarh and indeed, he is still banking on it for a third consecutive term despite the anti-incumbency factor against several MLAs and a few ministers in his council. In his recent vikas yatra, he showcased development and focussed on the path-breaking Public Distribution System (PDS) reforms that were dovetailed into the Chhattisgarh Food Security Act...
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