Analysts have documented in some detail the constraints facing the government: the countryside is vast; the forests help protect the militants; the adivasi population in particular supports them; the hit-and-run tactics of the Maoists keep the security forces off balance; the increasing unification of the various factions makes the movement formidable and not easy to divide and conquer; its access to money and guns is growing as is its political...

For interrogation on the orders of District Superintendent of Police  A tribal woman caught in a “cross fire” last September was allegedly prevented by the Chhattisgarh police from travelling to the capital on Sunday for follow-up treatment to her wounded leg. The woman was injured during an alleged encounter between naxalites and security forces. According to Himanshu Kumar of the Vanvasi Chetna Ashram (VCA), a local Gandhian group, Sambho Sodi was...

Advocate Sudha Bharadwaj of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha and PUCL talks to Jyoti Punwani about Chhattisgarh, where the Centre has announced the start of its offensive against the Maoists: What news of the offensive? When Operation Green Hunt began in September, notice under Section 95 of the CrPC (which includes sedition) was served on newspapers for publishing the Maoists' press releases, which said that the only persons to have been...

As the central paramilitary forces launched their ground offensive against the Maoists in two districts bordering Maharashtra, the Chhattisgarh Police are also stepping up their own campaign — Operation Green Hunt — in other areas in order to mount pressure on the rebels in the state. “The joint operation, involving the paramilitary forces, has almost started in Rajnandgaon and Kanker in North Bastar. It’s a slow but sure operation. The...

At the edge of Killai, a village on India’s southeast coast, there is a collection of 163 concrete houses, single-story blocks set in neat rows and surrounded by open fields. This is the neighborhood of M.G.R. Nagar, named after M.G. Ramachandran, a much-beloved actor and former chief minister in the state of Tamil Nadu. M.G.R. Nagar was built by aid agencies after the 2004 tsunami. It is home to around 300...