The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to the Union Home Secretary seeking a factual report on the news that security forces carried the bodies of dead naxalites, including women, with their hands and feet tied to bamboo poles in West Bengal. The Commission issued the notice after taking suo motu cognisance of the news and photographs that appeared in the media on June 18 wherein it was shown...

India has strongly protested the inclusion of Naxal issue under the realm of an "armed conflict" in a UN report, saying the violence being perpetrated by these groups does not make it a zone of armed conflict as defined by international law. Referring to the recent UN report that deals with 'Children and armed conflicts', India's envoy to UN Hardeep Singh Puri told Security Council that operations of the Maoist...

They may be at the bottom of all social indicators but most Naxalite-affected districts have better scores to show in the rural job scheme than areas that are not under the insurgency shadow. The main reason was better implementation, the direct result of the resolve by the state and central governments to counter the influence of the rebels through a development surge. The other reason, rarely stated but tacitly acknowledged, is...

Their movement widely limited, says study A large number of doctors posted in the Naxal-infested areas of Chhattisgarh say that while they are generally permitted to stay and practise in and rarely face direct personal harm, they are subjected to harsh unwritten rules imposed by insurgent groups, typically referred to as “insiders” or meaning those dwelling in camps deep inside the forests, which cover large tracts of rural parts. A...

The fight against naxalites and development activity in rebel-affected areas are set to get a much-needed impetus over the next two years. Authorities in 11 rebel-affected districts of Jharkhand, which are among 33 across the country, have been told by the Planning Commission to prepare development plans to the tune of Rs 100 crore each for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 fiscals. Since the beginning of the month, deputy commissioners of...