Top think tank fears resurrection of Maoists in Bihar

• The report says there is a decline in number of arrests of the Maoists in Bihar

A latest assessment report by a top government think tank has warned of resurrection of a flailing CPI (Maoist) in the near future due to poor counter-Moaism efforts by the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government.

The report titled "Left-Wing Extremism: Trends in 2013" prepared by Ajit Lal, chairman of Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC), vetted by the dna categorically says that "Any respite, at this stage, such as provided by the feeble anti-Naxal response in Bihar, could be fatal to the gains made by security forces" and could help Maoists "form new battle ready company and units."

Taking a grim view of the assessment, the Centre is soon expected to send a stinker to chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Working directly under cabinet secretariat, the JIC is second most important security think tank of the government after the National Security Council (NSC) that predicts future trends after analysing Intelligence data from the Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and the Directorates of Military, Naval and Air Intelligence.

Taking a dim view of Bihar, the assessment report notes a significant 57% increase in terms of killings in the state even though the rise in the number of incidents was only 5%.

"A part of the reason for the increase in violence in Bihar was the poor counter-Naxal efforts. As compared to 27 security forces personnel killed during 2013 in anti-Naxal operations, there were nil casualties on the Naxal side. In terms of arrests and recoveries also there was a decline. As against 272 Naxals arrested, 2 surrendered and 148 weapons recovered in 2012."

"Again, 38 weapons were looted from the security forces in 2013 as against nil in the preceding three years. These 38 constitute over 53% of the total 71 arms looted by the Maoists all over the country. This acceleration in weapons and ammunition could help in the formation of a new platoon or company units which the party had been hoping to raise for Bihar-Jharkhand region," the report states.

In sync with the JIC assessment, a senior official of the central reserve police force (CRPF), key central armed police force involved in anti-Maoism operation across seven states said, "In last one-and-a-half years, we have been witnessing a steady decline in the will of the state and its police to tackle Maoist insurgency. Quite often, despite having strong intelligence inputs the state police refuse to cooperate with the central forces to launch counter operations. This, in turn, demoralises our jawans as they cannot function alone in a state."

Analysing Bihar in detail, the report singles out Gaya and Aurangabad in central Bihar and Jamui and Lakhisarai in the eastern part of the state as the worst affected districts. It also notes that the state has witnessed efforts of a Maoist revival in parts of North Bihar.

"Overall 32 of the 38 districts were assessed as Maoist affected but violence was confined to 16. Of these almost 60% of the violence was limited to Aurangabad, Gaya and Jamui districts, all located close to the Jharkhand border, and indicating a free flow of cadres and resources across the states," the report states.

Maoists extort estimated Rs 140 cr annually from corporates, traders: Govt

Maoists are possibly receiving foreign funds but the chunk of their money comes from extortion of corporate houses and 'levy' imposed by them on mining, the government said on Wednesday. Spread over in areas spanning from Jharkhand to Andhra Pradesh with command centres in jungles of four states of Chhatisgarh, Maharashtra, Odhisa and Andhra Pradesh, the funding issue of Maoists has been a cause of concern to the states as well as the central government. In a written reply in Rajya Sabha, minister of state for home RPN Singh said it was nearly impossible to know the exact amount collected by CPI-Maoists but he quoted a study by Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses which had pegged the money at Rs140 crore per year.

Source http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-dna-special-top-think-tank-fears-resurrection-of-maoists-in-bihar-1961609