Nearly 166 jawans of the Indian Reserve Battalion rebelled in Jangalmahal on Wednesday, alleging they were being made to work in inhuman conditions and are getting no help from the police in high-risk operations. The flashpoint of the rebellion was in Silda, where Maoists had massacred 24 EFR jawans in February 2010. Three other critically located IRB camps - Salboni, Barikul and Ranibandh - are affected. As news of the revolt...

At the Independent People's Tribunal in Delhi last year, a young tribal man, Lingaram Kodopi, had a question: "My family is well off, but they [security forces] accuse me of being a naxalite. Why can't we adivasis wear a good watch or drive a car without being picked up by the police?" In September 2009, 10 men with AK-47s entered Kodopi's home in Sameli, Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. They wanted to know...

‘It is correct that... Kopa Kunjam tried to save me from the naxalites,’ said Jhadi Nagesh in the sessions court of Bijapur, Bastar. Maoists kidnapped two men on June 2, 2009. One, Punem Hoonga, was killed the other, Jhadi Nagesh, was released. On December 10, Kunjam was arrested for the murder of Hoonga, who the Maoists killed. Nagesh, the man who was released unharmed by the Maoists, testified in court that...

-The Telegraph   Home minister P. Chidambaram today described Left-wing extremism as the “most violent movement” in the country as he put the onus of governance on states to win the battle for minds and hearts in Maoist-affected areas. The prod came at a workshop where the minister told collectors of 60 affected districts that the time had come to address the “trust deficit” among villagers. Chidambaram cited figures to show that Left-wing rebels...

-The Economic Times   Development and land rights are the new weapons in the government's war against naxals. To forge an effective response, the rural development ministry is consulting the collectors of the 60 Left-wing extremism (LWE)-affected districts at a day-long meeting in the Capital on Tuesday. In the past, development programmes have failed to take into account the ground realities in these districts. This has contributed to ineffective programme implementation in these...