70 jawans killed in biggest Maoists/Naxal attack ever in India

[rahulrulezz]

The hypocrisy surrounding the Indian society - media' date=' politicians, people - in the contrasting reactions to Islamic terrorists and Naxalite militants is amusing. Imagine the reaction if this or a similar attack was carried out by Muslim terrorists, this thread would have been 500 posts long for starters by now.[/quote'] sad but true

[coffee_rules]

SO a lot more people die due to poor road conditions and people are less outraged by it rather than in Naxla or terrorist attacks. Isn't that ironical too?

[riya]

73 out of 81 DIED!!!!!!!!!!...I just read the proper news... Man' date=' it was brutual..It was a trap..They attacked from 3 hills and left one side open..when our Jawans ran towards the 4th open side, they didnt know there were landmines and sharpshooters assigned just for that area.... I am seriously pissed... and sad part is, we indians are so hypocrite... All news channel are flooded with Sania-Shoaib crap..Indians on social network sites are worried about where Sania would live after marriage.. Effing noone cares we lost 73 soldiers today.. Rather than worry about Pakistan, its time we effing kill these effing bastards Naxals who are killing our jawans and policemen from last decade[/quote'] Sh!t media.Hate it absolutely.This is terribly shocking oh my God:((.R I P to those brave soldiers.

[Clarke]

^^ Totally agree mate...BTW' date=' Naxalism in AP has taken a severe beating due to the Greyhounds, a special police force that recruits local youth to fight the naxals. Since these are local youth, they have been very successfull in driving out the naxals due to their [b']immense knowledge of the local terrain..Maybe that explains the migration of many top naxal leaders to Chattisgarh..Development in AP is next to nothing in the naxal strongholds of Nalgonda and the surrounding forrest areas which are still backward...

Which is probably why this incident happened .. as per media reports, the CRPF did not involve the local police as much, which was a crucial mistake considering their lack of terrain knowledge. I wonder if the drones and other sophisticated equipment that the armed forces possess are utilized at all, they would provide invaluable intelligence on such terrain. This is where the CRPF needs the help of the Armed Forces, not raw firepower but technological superiority.

[Lurker]

SO a lot more people die due to poor road conditions and people are less outraged by it rather than in Naxla or terrorist attacks. Isn't that ironical too?

Well that has always been the case, is it not?? The "Indian" junta tends to follow IPL's much more than what is a collosus loss of life. Losing jawans to Naxals is nothing new. Last year about 35 or so of Greyhounds were butchered as they were crossing a river in Orrissa. Wonder how many even read that news. And yes if one would put a tadka of Islamic terrorism the killing of 75(or even last year's 35) would have raised an immediate outrage. xxx

[Lurker]

Which is probably why this incident happened .. as per media reports' date=' [b']the CRPF did not involve the local police as much, which was a crucial mistake considering their lack of terrain knowledge.

Most likely because Naxals often have local sympathies. It is not impossible to imagine the local police force with absolutely low moral and sitting ducks for these Naxals, in many case they turn as informers for them. CRPF forces would want to avoid that, even then some information was leaked obviously.

I wonder if the drones and other sophisticated equipment that the armed forces possess are utilized at all, they would provide invaluable intelligence on such terrain. This is where the CRPF needs the help of the Armed Forces, not raw firepower but technological superiority.

Lets not get nonsensical. Indian Armed forces are stretched to the core. They are trained for fighting enemies in a war, instead they are fighting Terrorism, Insurgency, Floods, Earthquakes, Pirates, UN missions etc etc. CRPF itself does everything from manning our borders to defending Parliament(this was the troop that killed all the terrorist in the attack on parliament), fights naxals, defends industrial stations, historical sites. Really how much more can you stretch them? or for that matter Air forces?? They are made for a particular combat type why keep diluting their training?? The big change, for me, is both use of technology(to know the unmanageable terrains) and also a big change in Indian thinking. We have become very callous in the notion of nation, and nowhere does it reflects it as much as when it comes to Naxals. xxx

[Clarke]

Lets not get nonsensical. Indian Armed forces are stretched to the core. They are trained for fighting enemies in a war, instead they are fighting Terrorism, Insurgency, Floods, Earthquakes, Pirates, UN missions etc etc. CRPF itself does everything from manning our borders to defending Parliament(this was the troop that killed all the terrorist in the attack on parliament), fights naxals, defends industrial stations, historical sites. Really how much more can you stretch them? or for that matter Air forces?? They are made for a particular combat type why keep diluting their training?? The big change, for me, is both use of technology(to know the unmanageable terrains) and also a big change in Indian thinking. We have become very callous in the notion of nation, and nowhere does it reflects it as much as when it comes to Naxals. xxx

My point was not involving the army in direct confrontation with the guerrillas but putting their multi billion dollar imported equipment to proper use. For instance, the Army & the Air Force control the locally made as well as imported Israeli drones .. the CRPF needs them badly in these circumstances. BTW how on earth are the Indian Armed Forces stretched ? By what measure are you suggesting that ? Dont tell me that the world's second largest standing army is stretched in peacetime! Maybe some of the special forces are extremely busy in their respective roles, which is why they exist in the first place. The biggest issues the IAF deals with are its crashes. The Navy should hardly be pushed while dealing, in partnership with the worlds most powerful navies, with the somali pirates.

[patriot]

Its not RAW's job but IB and other domestic intelligences. The worrying factor is not only the access of powerful weapons but how are these weapons getting transported to the remotest/interior part of India. It is one thing to use Dawood's network to offload shipment in Mumbai, completely different to send it all the way to interior part of India where even Indian Security forces are unable to reach. xxx

I think we have gone through this before. You should work on your knowings about the deliverables of RAW. Plenty of information is readily available on the internet. RAW is principally an external intelligence agency. But it is responsible for monitoring and working against the rise of secessionist movements within the country and de facto wars against the Govt of India - which the Maoists are waging. Unfortunately for us Indians, our key decision makers are WIMPS. When you take limited action. Expect only limited results. The question is how have these Naxalities been arming themselves to the teeth ? Is it purely by attacking weapon caches of the army and police ? I don't think so. Their numbers run in hundreds of thousands. There is a supply chain. Has this supply chain been traced to the roots , which are external ? This is the job of RAW. RAW has miserably failed to do the dirty work here - I don't blame them entirely. At the end of the day they are simply informers and sort of Indian civil servants in the under world. The key and hard decisions are taken by the high command. The septuagenarians and octogenarians in the cabinet.

[asterix]

Just like USA/Isreal uses Drones effectively, India should use drones to locate and destroy large groups of naxals. Night survellience using thermal imagery equipments mounted of these drones could help locate these Naxals in dense forests.

[patriot]

http://www.deccanherald.com/content/62495/no-air-power-against-naxals.html

No air power against Naxals New Delhi, April 6, DHNS: The Centre on Tuesday ruled out use of air power against Naxalites. Promising to hit hard, Union Home Secretary Gopal K Pillai said: “I don’t think we need to use air power at the moment (in the anti-Naxal operation). We can manage with what we have. Our strategy is unfolding and we should be able to manage without air power.” Earlier in the day, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said “Something has gone very wrong. They (security personnel) seemed to have walked into a trap set by the Naxalites. I am deeply shocked. This attack shows the savage nature of the CPI (Maoist).” He said all the 82 personnel who had participated in the operation have been accounted for and none has been captured by the Maoists. He too emphasised that air power will be used only for evacuation and mobility of troops. “In the attack 74 CRPF personnel, including a Deputy Commandant and an Assistant Commandant and a Head Constable of state police force have died. Seven injured have been shifted to Jagdalpur,” he said. Those who have gone from the base camp, to rescue the attacked team, also came under fire, he said. “One of the helicopters which has been dispatched to bring back the injured personnel also came under fire from the Maoists,” he added. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed shock over the attack and discussed the matter with Chidambaram. Later, the National Security Council discussed internal security where the three chiefs of armed forces, the NSA and the heads of RAW and IB were present.

[Lurker]

My point was not involving the army in direct confrontation with the guerrillas but putting their multi billion dollar imported equipment to proper use. For instance' date= the Army & the Air Force control the locally made as well as imported Israeli drones .. the CRPF needs them badly in these circumstances. .

How are the drones helpful? I see people throwing the term without understanding the implications. Drones would be handy if this was a war faught in an open area, or atleast amidst urban setting. The idea obviously is to hit the target without sending your soldiers into harm's way. For that you need pin-point accuracy(which the drones have) but also need extremely good visibility. How are you going to get the latter in a forest?? You need to have about 4-5 miles of good visibility for drones to function. Even for attack choppers you shall need open skies, unless you suggest we fly choppers between trees etc etc.

BTW how on earth are the Indian Armed Forces stretched ? By what measure are you suggesting that ? Dont tell me that the world's second largest standing army is stretched in peacetime!

Peacetime? When did that happen? Do let me know because for the better part of my life our Armed forces have been fighting one enemy after the other.

Maybe some of the special forces are extremely busy in their respective roles, which is why they exist in the first place.

Extremely busy is a huge understatement. These paramilitary forces are fast being cover ups for that other institutions that is either failing or has already failed - Police. To have fair election in this country nobody trusts the local cops and only breathes a sigh of releif when CRPF shows up. Same with riots. Even the mega corporations are happy to utilize the services of CRPF(or its umbrella groups CISF) against alleged terrorist attacks and dont have much faith in Cops. To suggest that they are merely doing what they ask for is simply ridiculous. And of course there is a small matter of doing all this for 6000 bucks. xxx

[Lurker]

The question is how have these Naxalities been arming themselves to the teeth ? Is it purely by attacking weapon caches of the army and police ? I don't think so. Their numbers run in hundreds of thousands. There is a supply chain. Has this supply chain been traced to the roots , which are external ? This is the job of RAW.

That part is simple. They are getting it from China, mostly smuggled from North East. Now what? Naxal development, by and large, is Chinese driven. Thats the settled part. The unsettled part of course is how are these huge caches of weapons being moved all the way from North East to Chattisgarh without so much as raising a blip on radar??

[seedhi]

A good article on how the Centre's posturing has sown confusion about the strategy against the Maoists.

This is war Maoists have struck again, this time in Dantewada. At least 76 CRPF jawans have died in the attack, the highest toll till now. Will the Government give up its fumbling approach to tackling Red terror and use all possible means to deal with the gravest threat to internal security? Or will it persist with its line of least resistance? Ajai Sahni & Ajit Kumar Singh explain what needs to be done The attack by Maoists on CRPF jawans in Dantewada on Tuesday, in which at least 76 jawans were killed, is no more than a culmination of a succession of such attacks across the regions of Maoist dominance. While this represents the highest fatalities in any Maoist operation till date, there has been a long chain of such attacks with fatalities in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Unfortunately, India’s strategic and security establishment has stubbornly refused to learn any lessons from the disasters they have invited upon hapless security force personnel and civilians, and have persisted with incoherent responses that yield no enduring gains and put more and more people at risk. There will be a certain furore over this attack for a few days and then we will revert to talking about talks and developmental solutions and negotiations with the Maoists. The problem with talks — or even with talking about talks — is not just that they have no possibility of success within the circumstances that currently prevail in the Maoist insurgency in India, but that they create expectations that they do. Within the existing situation, all talk about talks projects an enveloping incoherence on the perspectives of the state and its agencies, undermines the determination and will to fight and, indeed, even to prepare for the fight that is inevitable. Politicians have little understanding of the fragility of the fighting man’s psyche. In their distant imagining, the jawan (trooper) is a trained and disciplined machine, ‘designed’ simply to obey and execute. But a man does not cease to be human just because you put him into a uniform; the intangibles that contribute to morale have to be understood by those who seek to guide warfare from the safety of distant command centres and state and national capitals. Significantly, a flurry of statements about a ceasefire and talks between the Centre and the Maoists came in the wake of two major attacks executed by the Communist Party of India(Maoist). On February 15, at least 24 security force personnel, principally from the State’s paramilitary Eastern Frontier Rifles, were killed, along with one civilian, at a camp at Sildha in West Midnapore district of West Bengal. Just two days later, at least 12 villagers, including three women and a child, were killed when nearly 150 heavily-armed CPI(Maoist) cadre attacked Phulwariya village in Jamui District of Bihar, on February 17. Published excerpts from the diary of one of the EFR jawans killed in the Sildha raid are poignant testimony to the abject collapse of morale in the State’s agencies in Maoist-afflicted areas in West Bengal. Suraj Bhan Thapa’s diary recorded: “There is a threat to our lives at all times here. Anything can happen at any timeâ€; and further, “The party politics of a few people has endangered the existence of the country. We are also suffering...†Just before the attack at Sildha, Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium is reported to have told the Supreme Court, “Every officer in the area is marked for deathâ€. The same news report records the conditions of the Sildha camp: “No sentries, no watchtowers, a fence with one entire side missing, a crowded marketplace, a public toilet — personnel of the EFR camp over-run by the Maoists were little more than sitting ducks.†It is within this context that the farce of mutually rejected offers of ‘talks’ between Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and Maoist politburo member Koteswar Rao aka Kishenji occurred. Initially, on February 19, Mr Chidambaram had declared that the Centre would “find ways to facilitate talks†with the Maoists if the latter halted violence for 72 hours. On February 22, Koteswar Rao responded with a conditional offer of a 72-day ceasefire commencing February 25, if the Government suspended operations against the Maoists, released all “political prisoners†(read, Maoists in custody) and “concentrate on development of tribal areasâ€. This was, in some measure, a dilution of Rao’s earlier stance, where he had demanded the withdrawal of all security force deployments in Maoist-dominated areas before he would engage in any negotiations with the state. The February 22 offer was made through the media, and triggered a flurry of adolescent posturing on both sides. On February 23, Mr Chidambaram declared that he would accept no “ifs and buts†for talks, and demanded that the Maoists first “abjure violenceâ€. The puerile twist came in the tail, when Mr Chidambaram gave the media his fax number (011-23093155) with the instruction that the Maoists could fax their truce offer to him directly, if they were ready. Not to be outdone, and again through the media, Rao gave his phone number with the declaring, “If he (Mr Chidambaram) wants to talk on our ceasefire proposal, let him speak to me on my phone number 09734695789. He is welcome to call me on February 25 but after 5pm.†Unsurprisingly, there was no direct communication from either side. The absurdity of this exchange is underlined by the fact that, less than a fortnight earlier, while addressing the Conference of Chief Ministers on Internal Security at New Delhi, on February 7, Mr Chidambaram had stated: “You will recall that at the last Conference of Chief Ministers, I had announced that we would encourage State Governments to talk to the Naxalites if they abjured violence. Our public offer was scoffed at and spurned by the CPI(Maoist). Hence, in consultation with the Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected States, we decided to boldly confront the challenge thrown by the CPI(Maoist).†Again, on February 19, Mr Chidambaram argued, “There can be no half-way approach. Most people still think there could be a compromise or some kind of median approach. This is immature and foolish… This is expected because as long as we did not engage them, they were happy and expanding. They will continue to expand unless we challenge them.†Precisely month earlier on January 19, Mr Chidambaram said, “Left-wing extremists have to be confronted squarely and boldly. We have to deal with them firmly and decisively.†Within such a perspective, abruptly engaging in a high-profile media debate on talks no more than served the Maoist agenda of sowing confusion, particularly in the context of the apparent unwillingness on the part of at least two Chief Ministers among the worst-affected States, Mr Shibu Soren of Jharkhand and Mr Nitish Kumar of Bihar, to tow the Centre’s line on anti-Maoist operations. Speaking in the immediate aftermath of the Sildha incident in West Bengal, Mr Nitish Kumar declared, on February 16, “Maoists cannot be countered by force. All-round development and launching of welfare measures can bring the ultras back to the mainstream.†Earlier, on January 18, Mr Soren went a step further, denying the very existence of the Maoists in his State: “The question is whether they are Naxals or not? The media has created a hype by claiming that Naxals are active in the State.†Mr Soren added, further, “If there is a need, then force can be used. But if the situation can be resolved without confrontation, why not solve it?†Worse, it was abundantly clear that the Maoists had taken a decision to escalate and widen their ‘people’s war’, and this decision had influenced the Centre’s approach. Mr Chidambaram, at the February 7 Conference, noted, “In consultation with the Chief Ministers of Naxal-affected States, we decided to boldly confront the challenge thrown by the CPI(Maoist). Consequently, there was a rise in the number of deaths in 2009. As the security forces move forward to reclaim areas that are now dominated by the Naxalites, it is possible that this trend will continue in 2010 too.†On December 21, 2009, Koteswar Rao had, moreover, warned, “If 2009 was bad, 2010 would be ‘bloodier’ if the Government goes ahead with its planned offensive against the Maoist jungle. This so-called assault against us will backfire.†It must be obvious that fishing for talks in these circumstances could serve little purpose. Significantly, Mr Chidambaram had himself noted, on February 19, that intellectual support to the Maoists made the task of tackling them “very difficultâ€, as it confused people. Far from injecting some clarity into the discourse, the futile talk about talks can only have further confounded issues. This could not have happened at a worse time. The South Asia Terrorism Portal database indicates that fatalities in 2009 had seen a dramatic spurt to a total of 998, just below the high intensity conflict benchmark of 1,000 fatalities, as against 638 in 2008. In 2009, these included 392 civilians, 312 security force personnel and 292 Maoist cadre. The situation, however, is much worse. According the Ministry of Home Affairs data (Year-end Review, published December 24, 2009), Maoist-related fatalities in 2009, up till November, included 514 civilians and 304 security force personnel — numbers that will take the 2009 total well above the high intensity mark. (Open source data frequently underestimates fatalities). The beginnings of 2010 are far from auspicious, and by March 1, Maoist-related fatalities were already totalling 160, including 65 civilians, 37 security force personnel and 58 Maoists. Critically, Mr Chidambaram has already noted that 223 districts across 20 States in the country are already infected by Maoist activities, up from just 55 in 2003 — though areas that “consistently witnessed†violence covered just 400 police stations in 90 districts in 13 States (there are 14,000 police stations in the country). The seven worst-affected States in 2009, in terms of fatalities, were Chhattisgarh (345 killed), Jharkhand (217), West Bengal (159), Maharashtra (87), Odisha (81), Bihar (78), and Andhra Pradesh (28) (SATP data). It is now evident that the Maoist potential to penetrate other States, which had hitherto remained outside their grasp, has evolved enormously. On February 20, 2009, for instance, Kerala State intelligence sources indicated, against the backdrop of the launching of operations to flush out Left-wing extremists from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, that the Maoists had penetrated into rural areas of Kerala in the guise of labourers. Similarly, after the arrest of five CPI(Maoist) cadre belonging to Narayanpur district of Chhattisgarh by a joint team of the Chhattisgarh Police and Gujarat Police from the Hazira industrial area of Surat in Gujarat on April 10, 2009, the Surat Deputy Commissioner of Police, Mr Subhash Trivedi disclosed that the group had visited Chhattisgarh frequently. “They used to return to Surat, either after carrying out attacks, or when any member fell ill.†On October 12, 2009, the Balaghat Superintendent of Police, Mr HC Mishra, noted that more than 50 CPI(Maoist) cadre had sneaked into Madhya Pradesh’s insurgency-affected Balaghat district, from Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, after the security forces targeted them in the two neighbouring States. It is evident that the Maoist geographical extension is continuing and, as in the past, may indeed be facilitated by the ‘squeeze’ that operations are exerting on them in certain areas. Maoist consolidation and mobilisation has, indeed, continued despite the arrest of several Maoist leaders, prominently including Kobad Ghandy from an undisclosed place in Delhi, Chhatradhar Mahato from West Bengal, and Ravi Sarma and B Anuradha, who were arrested in Jharkhand. The Maoist organisational base clearly has the complexity and dynamism not only to survive such losses, but to continue to expand despite these. Maoist networks of extortion are further testimony to this dynamism. Documents and hard disks seized from Misir Mishra, a central committee member of the CPI(Maoist) who was arrested in Jharkhand in March 2008, had revealed that the Maoists collected over Rs 1,000 crore in 2007 through their State committees, and had set a target of Rs 1,125 crore for 2008. Mr Vishwa Ranjan, Director-General of Police, Chhattisgarh, stated on November 29, 2009, that the Maoists annually extorted up to Rs 20 billion across India, mostly targeting iron and coal mining companies, infrastructure project contractors and tendu patta (leaves of Diospyros melonoxylon used for bidis, local cigarettes) businessmen. These ‘levies’ are augmented through abductions, extortion and looting, as well as coercive ‘tax collection’ in rural areas. The Home Minister notes, moreover, “There is no evidence of Naxalites getting money from abroad. They are able to raise money inside the country. But they also loot banks, kidnap and extort.†It must be evident — and this is something that MHA rhetoric has repeatedly confirmed — that an enemy as relentless and well-organised as the Maoist can only be countered through a coherent and well-thought-out strategy. If, however, even a basic consensual assessment of the threat is lacking — and is further undermined by the inconsistent public postures of the top Central and State leaderships — it is not clear how such a strategy is to be framed. Unsurprisingly, the operations that have been fitfully launched over the past year have little potential to secure any enduring gains. A ‘major’, concerted and centrally coordinated offensive against Naxalites is supposed to have started with police in Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh launching a joint operation on December 25, 2009, but with questionable gains, the Government has been forced to backtrack. The reality is, in the absence of a strategy that factors in available and required force capacities, any emphasis on operations is destined to fail. Each such failure will further undermine force morale and create rising and irrational pressure for ‘negotiated’, ‘developmental’ and ‘political’ solutions, even as Maoist consolidation progresses. The false confidence that was generated by the deployment of ‘massive’ CPMF contingents into the Maoist-afflicted areas is a further case in point. In the wake of the furious rhetoric about a ‘massive offensive’ against the Maoists, CPMF deployments in Naxalite-affected States were raised from 37 battalions to 58 battalions. 21 additional battalions yield barely 8,400 personnel in the field, taking total deployment up to a bare 23,200 CPMF personnel for the six worst-affected States, with a total area of 1.86 million square kilometres and a total population of over 446 million. As has been repeatedly emphasised before, this is like trying to irrigate the desert with dewdrops. A tremendous effort of capacity consolidation and building will have to precede any effective operational strategy to stall and then neutralise the Maoist rampage. The most significant component of this process will have to be distributed across the State’s forces, and cannot be engineered through CPMF augmentations alone. In the absence of any consensus on the Maoist threat and counter-insurgent strategy, however, there has been increasing reliance on Central forces and agencies. Astonishingly, the Government has reduced allocation for the CPMFs from Rs 30,900 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 29,940 crore in the next fiscal, introducing a new element of incoherence in the state’s responses. Assistance to the States for the modernisation of their forces, at Rs 19.75 billion, moreover, has seen no more than a modest increment of Rs 1.3 billion (6.6 per cent), making a mockery of Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee’s commitments, in his Budget speech on February 26, to make “adequate funds†available. A societal consensus clearly does not exist with regard to the Maoist conundrum in India. A range of Maoist front organisations, as well as sympathetic and often simply confused ‘intellectuals’, systematically undermines the possibility of the crystallisation of such a consensus (it is unsurprising that, while making his conditional offer of a ceasefire, Koteswar Rao appealed to ‘intellectuals and human rights activists to mediate’ between the Maoists and the Government). This is to be expected, and can be countered, if the state and its agencies are able to project coherent assessments, policies, strategies and perspectives. When the state itself sows confusion, there can be no prizes for guessing who gains. -- Ajai Sahni is the Executive Director of Institute for Conflict Management. Ajit Kumar Singh is a Research Fellow at the Institute for Conflict Management. www.satp.org http://dailypioneer.com/247434/This-is-war.html

[asterix]

How are the drones helpful? I see people throwing the term without understanding the implications. Drones would be handy if this was a war faught in an open area, or atleast amidst urban setting. The idea obviously is to hit the target without sending your soldiers into harm's way. For that you need pin-point accuracy(which the drones have) but also need extremely good visibility. How are you going to get the latter in a forest?? You need to have about 4-5 miles of good visibility for drones to function. Even for attack choppers you shall need open skies, unless you suggest we fly choppers between trees etc etc.

For some, ignorance is BLISS. But bakarchodi ki aadat hain, easily jaayegi nahin.. http://indiatvnews.com/news/India/India_To_Deploy_Drones_To_Attack_Maoist_Hideouts-599.html

India To Deploy Drones To Attack Maoist Hideouts [ Updated 17 Nov 2009, 08:31:39 ] Unmanned Aerial Vehicles will be used for the first time to detect Naxal hideouts in dense forests and hilly terrains and monitor the movement of ultras to help ground forces carry out precision attacks. The UAVs, with in-built camera, well-equipped data link and video link, will gather and record information, which will be shared among the security forces engaged in anti-Naxal operations, especially in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Maharashtra and West Bengal. The trials of the UAVs, developed by the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, have recently been conducted in Hissar and Delhi while more trials will be conducted in jungles of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand soon. "We are satisfied with the UAV trials in Hissar and Delhi. If we are satisfied with next stage of trials, we will take the help of UAVs in our operations against Naxals," a home ministry official said. Security experts also want to see which of the UAV variants will be useful in forests and hills as most of the Maoist bases are located there only. The UAVs also provide flexible surveillance and reconnaissance capability with external payload, including weapons capability. "Since the Maoists are keep changing their movements, deployment of UAVs will certainly be an advantage for security forces," the official said. Each of the UAV will cost a minimum of Rs 18 lakh and the home ministry has already earmarked a substantial amount of funds for the purpose. The HAL is developing the UAVs with an aerospace company of Israel, a known technologically advanced country. Officials said the Maoists are now having a free run in 40,000 sq km area across the country where around 25 lakh people live, necessitating urgent action against them. The Naxalites have killed more than 2,600 people, including civilians, in 5,800 incidents in last three years. The highest number of incidents of violence has taken place in the four worst-affected states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa, where 2,212 people lost their lives from January 2006 to August this year. In the proposed anti-Naxal operations, around 40,000 paramilitary personnel will assist the respective state police forces. Almost 7,000 troops specially trained in jungle warfare are also part of the total strength of the central forces to be deployed for the task. The cabinet committee on Security had already approved the government's new plan to counter Maoists under which the affected states will have an effective coordination and the police will take a lead role. The anti-Naxal plan also includes a Rs 7,300-crore package for undertaking developmental works in areas cleared off the left-wing extremists. PTI

[patriot]

That part is simple. They are getting it from China, mostly smuggled from North East. Now what? Naxal development, by and large, is Chinese driven. Thats the settled part. The unsettled part of course is how are these huge caches of weapons being moved all the way from North East to Chattisgarh without so much as raising a blip on radar??

^ Then India must present these large seized weapon caches that are of Chinese origin and confront China diplomatically or create a ruckus about China's rogue designs at international forums and shame them. Because the WIMPS running the country certainly don't have the b@lls to retaliate by arming the Xinjiang and Tibetans that are in our neighbourhood and very much China's own renegade provinces. Oh but actually..we are retaliating by allowing Dalai Lama in India to show that we are the most secular society in the world. This is what happens when you have WIMPS running the country. If you keep portraying yourself as a SOFT state that will keep taking blows, even a Bangladesh will humiliate you, and it has in the past. A year and a half 10 Pakistani militants pi$$ed all over the financial capital of a "superpower" for 3 whole days. We have them on the discussion table, and they keep giving us the same bull shyte. And we keep taking it. China must be laughing it's butt of at the pain in the @.s.s that Pakistan is causing us. And will surely be encouraged to toy with the state machinery and sovereignty of the "superpower" that India is. We need someone like Narendra Modi leading the country. We are run by wimps. Can you tell me one leader. Just one leader besides Narendra Modi that has atleast attempted to make national security and sovereignty a top priority ?

[Lurker]

^ Then India must present these large seized weapon caches that are of Chinese origin and confront China diplomatically or create a ruckus about China's rogue designs at international forums and shame them. Because the WIMPS running the country certainly don't have the b@lls to retaliate by arming the Xinjiang and Tibetans that are in our neighbourhood and very much China's own renegade provinces. Oh but actually..we are retaliating by allowing Dalai Lama in India to show that we are the most secular society in the world. This is what happens when you have WIMPS running the country. If you keep portraying yourself as a SOFT state that will keep taking blows, even a Bangladesh will humiliate you, and it has in the past. A year and a half 10 Pakistani militants pi$ all over the financial capital of a "superpower" for 3 whole days. We have them on the discussion table, and they keep giving us the same bull shyte. And we keep taking it. China must be laughing it's butt of at the pain in the @.s.s that Pakistan is causing us. And will surely be encouraged to toy with the state machinery and sovereignty of the "superpower" that India is. We need someone like Narendra Modi leading the country. We are run by wimps. Can you tell me one leader. Just one leader besides Narendra Modi that has atleast attempted to make national security and sovereignty a top priority ?

You need to go for a jog or get some cold shower to drown your mindless aggression. Let your arguments speak, not the atitude. That said, China has been confronted many a times but do you honestly beleive they would admit to anything? Look around the world, not only India, and see how anytime weapons are seized the definition always is "Chinese made AK-47". Do you think that "shames" China? Well they simply brush it away. Pakistan never admits to the weapons that are shown to have been made in their country, why would China??? Regards to Dalai Lama he has been in India since 50s, or thereabouts, there is hardly anything new to this. In fact India may be the only country that has stood against China almost always, and definitely for the sake of Tibetans. All the world powers including US, Russia, England etc have kow-towed to Chinese at some time. heck had it not been for Kissinger-Nixon China would still be in dark age. So I suppose you should get off India's back here. xxx

[patriot]

You need to go for a jog or get some cold shower to drown your mindless aggression. Let your arguments speak, not the atitude. That said, China has been confronted many a times but do you honestly beleive they would admit to anything? Look around the world, not only India, and see how anytime weapons are seized the definition always is "Chinese made AK-47". Do you think that "shames" China? Well they simply brush it away. Pakistan never admits to the weapons that are shown to have been made in their country, why would China??? Regards to Dalai Lama he has been in India since 50s, or thereabouts, there is hardly anything new to this. In fact India may be the only country that has stood against China almost always, and definitely for the sake of Tibetans. All the world powers including US, Russia, England etc have kow-towed to Chinese at some time. heck had it not been for Kissinger-Nixon China would still be in dark age. So I suppose you should get off India's back here. xxx

Your problem is that, you want to think that the best way to deal with this is reactively. Terrorism and such mass violence is NEVER resolved reactively. If terrorism and violence against the state is dealt reactively - you will get what has been happening in Kashmir for the last 60 years. You will get what LTTE did to Sri Lanka for 4 decades. Please revisit your world history lessons. It is not 'mindless aggression', like you choose to term it, but taking hard steps. Taking proactive steps. If those hard steps mean stepping up the diplomatic or military ante, so be it. In world history, how many such issues have been solved by means of reactive strategy ? None. Nations have taken very hard decisions, our fault is partly we have failed to nip this cancer when it was in its nascent stage. Now we need to take hard steps. China is India's No.1 enemy. Make no mistake about it. The way a small country like Pakistan has troubled us constantly for 60 years, if we don't take hard decisions on national security with regards to China now, they will anyways strangle us mercilessly.

[Clarke]

How are the drones helpful? I see people throwing the term without understanding the implications. Drones would be handy if this was a war faught in an open area, or atleast amidst urban setting. The idea obviously is to hit the target without sending your soldiers into harm's way. For that you need pin-point accuracy(which the drones have) but also need extremely good visibility. How are you going to get the latter in a forest?? You need to have about 4-5 miles of good visibility for drones to function. Even for attack choppers you shall need open skies, unless you suggest we fly choppers between trees etc etc.

Think female, not male :blink: Most of the drones that we have are for surveillance and not the 'male' type that are armed with missiles like the predator. The missiles by themselves can cause collateral damage in rural areas as they do in Pakistan and moreover are very expensive. The surveillance drones are your eyes in the sky which can help track guerrilla positions and movements. Those with infrared imaging which should not have problems with forests. Moreover, unless the maoists carry stinger missiles or an equivalent (which is a hell of a big deal), they cannot bring the drones down.

Peacetime? When did that happen? Do let me know because for the better part of my life our Armed forces have been fighting one enemy after the other.

Peacetime - when a nation is not at war. Facing insurgencies does not mean the armed forces are busy all the time. Explained further below.

Extremely busy is a huge understatement. These paramilitary forces are fast being cover ups for that other institutions that is either failing or has already failed - Police. To have fair election in this country nobody trusts the local cops and only breathes a sigh of releif when CRPF shows up. Same with riots. Even the mega corporations are happy to utilize the services of CRPF(or its umbrella groups CISF) against alleged terrorist attacks and dont have much faith in Cops. To suggest that they are merely doing what they ask for is simply ridiculous. And of course there is a small matter of doing all this for 6000 bucks. xxx

What you're listing is paramilitary forces and yes, some of their organizations have been doing the bulk of the dirty work. But they're a small subset of the Armed Forces. You do realize the Indian Army is an altogether different entity and so is the Border Security Force. Which is where the army's cooperation is needed owing to its big toys. For instance, USA is now using drones to monitor the US-Mexico border which are probably operated by the National Guard and not the US Army.

[Clarke]

Govt's new anti-Naxal strategy: use of UAVs The Home Ministry has requested the Defence Ministry to lend them two unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs controlled by trained Air Force personnel for their anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh. Since Home Minister P Chidambaram is aware of a possible resistance from some of his colleagues, he would specifically ask for aircraft including bulletproof choppers for defensive operations like evacuation, logistical support, search activities and movement of forces. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govts-new-antinaxal-strategy-use-of-uavs/112931-3.html?from=tn Spot on with what i mentioned earlier ....

[asterix]

Govt's new anti-Naxal strategy: use of UAVs http://ibnlive.in.com/news/govts-new-antinaxal-strategy-use-of-uavs/112931-3.html?from=tn Didnt i say so ....

Shocking :fail: by Kangress Home Ministry. If you read the news item I posted earlier, this should've been done in 2009 itself!! Home Ministry had this plan in 2009 too to use UAVs. Effing tossers.