-Rediff.com    The last six to seven years of the Nitish Kumar government in Bihar has not seen any significant increase in maoist violence, which nevertheless continues to take a toll of lives and government property. According to figures compiled by the state police headquarters, in 2008, the maoists destroyed three government buildings, blasted railway tracks at six places, besides two private buildings, torched five JCB machines used in road construction and 12...

Dispelling the general perception that the CPI(maoist), the left wing extremist outfit, is opposed to all industrial projects, Odisha-based top red leader Sabyasachi Panda said going all out against industries would shatter the livelihood of labourers. The secretary of the Odisha organising committee of CPI(maoist) clarified this while speaking to a select group of journalists at an undisclosed location in Kandhamal district, about 250 km from here, on Thursday evening. “Communism always...

Holding that “ideology should control the gun and not vice versa,” Odisha Organising Committee secretary of the Communist Party of India (maoist) Sabyasachi Panda admitted that many of the outfit's cadres were becoming trigger-happy due to an inadequate understanding of revolutionary movement and society. “Ideology should control the gun, not vice versa. Many of our cadres, who are armed, do not know about principles. As a result, they resort to...

A well-established nexus between coal smugglers, maoists and a section of police has ensured illegal mining is a thriving trade in the coal belt and it was no different in Bokaro today, barely 24 hours after a cave-in led to the death of five women at Jhungurghuttu, just about 400 metre away from Chandrapura police station. According to an intelligence bureau report, coal mined illegally from areas in Chandankyari, Chandrapura and...

-The Telegraph   A routine road trip from Ranchi to Dhanbad was enough for an aghast senior functionary of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to pull up Jharkhand for illegal mining and exploitation of tribals at the hands of the coal mafia. A source told The Telegraph that NHRC secretary-general Rajiv Sharma had visited the state in January. “On a drive from Ranchi to Dhanbad, he saw tribal children pushing coal-laden cycles uphill. It...