Maroc - EURASIAREVIEW.COM - A la une - 17/Feb 23:40

India: Reinforcing Gains In Maharashtra – Analysis

By Deepak Kumar Nayak On February 11, 2025, the inspector of a special commando unit C-60, Mahesh Kavadu Nagulwar (39), died, succumbing to injuries sustained during an anti-Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) operation in the Bhamragad Tehsil (revenue unit) of Gadchiroli District. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis confirmed the Police inspector's death during an exchange of fire at Bhamragadh, where the Police team was dismantling a Maoist camp. Following the encounter, the Police team conducted a thorough search of the area and recovered significant Maoist materials, including an approximately 100 feet of Cordex wire, 15 Gelatin sticks, four detonators, solar plates, walkie-talkies, and other equipment used in daily operations by the rebels. On February 1, 2025, ex-panchayat samiti (local governing body) chairman Sukhram Madavi was killed by CPI-Maoist cadres at Kiyer village in the Bhamragad Tehsil of Gadchiroli District for allegedly helping Security Forces (SFs) set up permanent posts in the region. The Maoists left a pamphlet near the body stating that Madavi earned the Maoists' ire for assisting the Police in opening posts to facilitate mining operations by private companies. The Maoists were also angered by Madavi's alleged role in helping disenchanted cadres surrender to the Police. However, Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal claimed that the Maoists falsely accused Madavi of being a 'police informer' and of assisting the Police set up new camps, including one at Pengunda. Two persons have thus been killed (one SF Inspector and one civilian) in the two incidents of Left Wing Extremist (LWE)-linked violence in Maharashtra in 2025, thus far (data till February 16). According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), three civilians were killed through 2024 in Maharashtra. There were five such killings in 2023. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started compiling data on LWE-linked violence across the country, a total of 205 such killings have been documented in the state, including a high of 36 civilian fatalities in 2011. Significantly, SFs did not suffer any loss in Maharashtra through 2024, as well as in 2023. The state recorded no loss in this category through 2022 and 2021. The last SF fatality recorded was on August 14, 2020, when a Police constable was killed and another constable sustained injuries, when a CPI-Maoist 'action team' opened fire on them in a market at the Kothi village under the Bhamragad Tehsil of Gadchiroli District. In remaining part of the year, another two fatalities were recorded in 2020, bringing the count of SF fatalities to three through 2020. The SF category recorded a high of 52 fatalities in 2009. A total of 171 such killings have been recorded since March 6, 2000. Meanwhile, SFs neutralised at least 24 Maoists in 2024, in addition to six in 2023. A maximum of 51 Maoist fatalities was recorded in 2018. A total of 351 such killings have been recorded in the state since March 6, 2000. Significantly, the last SF:Maoist kill ratio recorded was 1:3 in 2020. There were no SF fatalities between 2021 and 2024. Meanwhile, the favourable kill ratio for the SF was 1:25.5, recorded in 2018. Significantly, the overall SF:Maoist kill ratio in the state since 2000 has been 1:2.05, in favour of the SFs. In 2024, SFs arrested nine Naxalites (LWEs), in addition to seven such arrests in 2023, according to the SATP database. Since March 6, 2000, 490 Maoists have been arrested. Mounting SF pressure also resulted in the surrender of 19 Naxalites in 2024, in addition to five in 2023. Since March 6, 2000, total surrenders stand at 333, including 21 such surrenders already recorded in the current year (data till February 16). In the most recent surrender, on February 10, 2025, four wanted CPI-Maoist cadres, collectively carrying a bounty of INR 2.8 million, surrendered before the Police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Gadchiroli District. The surrendered Maoists include Ashok Pochya Sadmek aka Balanna aka Chandrashekhar (63), a 'divisional committee member (DVCM)', Vanita Dohe Zore (54), 'area committee member (ACM)', Sadhu Lingu Mohanda aka Shailesh aka Sameer (30) and Munni Podiya Korsa (25), both Platoon Members of Platoon No. 32. Other parameters of LWE-linked violence also indicate significant improvement in the security situation in the state. There was no major incident (resulting in three or more fatalities) involving the Maoists in 2024, as well as in 2023. The last major incident was recorded on May 1, 2019, when at least 15 SF personnel of the special commando unit C-60 of the Maharashtra Police, and one civilian driver, were killed in an ambush by CPI-Maoist cadres, who triggered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion on the Dadapur Road near Lendali Nullah in Jamburkheda village under Kurkheda Police Station limits in Gadchiroli District. The Maoists failed to carry out any incident of arson in 2024, as against one such incident in 2023. On March 2, 2023, a group of CPI-Maoist cadres set three road construction machines on fire between Pursalgondi and Alenga in the Etapalli Tehsil in Gadchiroli District. Further, the Maoists did not issue any bandh (shut down strike) call in 2024, as against one such call in 2023. On November 23, 2023, the CPI-Maoist called for a 'Gadchiroli bandh' on November 30 in protest against Police action in dispersing anti-mining protesters from Todgatta village in Etapalli Tehsil, Gadchiroli District. The CPI-Maoist 'western sub-zonal bureau' called for the bandh. According to the SATP database, all Maoist-linked fatalities Maharashtra in 2024 were reported from Gadchiroli District alone. Likewise, in 2023, all fatalities were reported from Gadchiroli. Meanwhile, an analysis of underground and over-ground activities of the Maoists in 2024 indicated that, while Gadchiroli remained highly-affected, Gondia and Pune were considered marginally affected. By comparison, in 2023, Gadchiroli remained highly-affected, while Gondia was marginally affected. An analysis of the overall fatalities recorded in Maharashtra since March 6, 2000, indicates that, out of 738 fatalities (205 civilians, 171 SF personnel, 351 Naxalites and 12 Unspecified), at least 722 (196 civilians, 167 SF personnel, 348 Naxalites, and 12 Unspecified) were recorded in Gadchiroli alone, followed by seven (five civilians and two SF personnel) in Gondia, three (one civilian and two SF personnel) in Bhandara, two (one civilian and one LWE) in Nagpur, and one civilian in Aurangabad. The location of three fatalities (one civilian and two Maoists) remains unspecified. Maharashtra has a total of 35 districts. The last fatality outside Gadchiroli was recorded on October 18, 2019, in Gondia District, when CPI-Maoist cadres shot dead a civilian, Bhagchand Dhurve (50), suspecting him of being a 'police informer'. Against the backdrop of the declining impact of the CPI-Maoist, especially in Gadchiroli district, the epicenter of Maoist violence in Maharashtra, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken several steps against LWE elements in Maharashtra. Most recently, on January 2, 2025, NIA chargesheeted four CPI-Maoist cadres for the abduction and brutal killing of a youth in Gadchiroli District. The accused, Doba Wadde, Ravi Pallo, Sattu Mahaka, and Komati Mahaka, were charged with the abduction and murder of Dinesh Pusu Gawade in November 2023. Tha NIA stated, "They had kidnapped and killed Gawade on suspicion of being a police informer and a member of RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]." In its chargesheet filed before the NIA Special Court, Mumbai, Maharashtra, in case RC-03/2024/NIA/MUM, the agency stated that the accused were active members of CPI-Maoist and had committed the crime in furtherance of the outfit's conspiracy to spread terror in the minds of the local villagers. The case was initially registered at Dhodraj Police Station by Gadchiroli Police, which arrested the accused and seized a Bharmar gun, along with explosives and other incriminating materials. Meanwhile, according to a November 8, 2024, report, security and intelligence agencies joined forces to increase surveillance on around 180 pro-CPI-Maoist private (front) organisations spread across Maharashtra. These frontal organisations project various socio-political agendas, but their main aim is to ensure that no parties inimical to the Maoist cause come to power in Maharashtra. The end goal is to prevent the formulation and implementation of plans to eradicate Maoism from the region. The frontal organisations are reportedly active in many Maharashtra cities, including Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Kolhapur, Satara, Nanded, Yavatmal, Akola, Buldhana, Chandrapur, Wardha, Bhandara, and Gondia. Moreover, Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah has urged Maoist-affected states such as Maharashtra to set a deadline for the complete elimination of Maoism. The Maharashtra government, which is planning a law against front organisations of the banned CPI-Maoist, titled the Maharashtra Security Act, has reportedly set a deadline of April-December 2025. The Maoists are failing in their appeals to secure the support of the local masses. On June 14, 2024, seven tribal hamlets of Bhamragadh Tehsil in the foothills of Abujhmadh, which houses the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) headquarters on the Maharashtra-Chhattisgarh border, banned the CPI-Maoist from entering their hamlets under the government's 'gaonbandi' scheme of rewarding villages for not giving support or providing assistance to Naxalites. The tribal hamlets of Paraynar, Nelgunda, Kucher, Kawande, Gongewada, Midadapalli, and Mahakapadi are escaping Maoist influence after four decades of forced indoctrination in the ultra-Left ideology. On June 14, 2024, they took a historic vow during a 'krishi melava' or agricultural congregation at the Dhodraj Police outpost, to shun the Maoists and extend support to SFs, in lieu of government benefits which form the bulwark of the 'gaonbandi' scheme. They promised to shut out Maoists, boycott their meetings, and ban their entry into villages, which are often used as launchpads for guerrilla operations, as well as to propagate LWE ideology, or organise political and military training camps. To bolster security against the rebels and curb their activities, a new Police Station was inaugurated on January 30, 2025, at Nelgunda in the Bhamragad sub-division of Gadchiroli District, to strengthen security and promote overall development in the remote and inaccessible parts of the district, which has long been affected by Maoist activity. On January 1, 2025, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the 32-km-long Gatta-Gardewada-Wangeturi Road and bus services of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation on the Wangeturi-Gardewada-Gatta-Aheri route in the Gadchiroli district. The road link will connect Maharashtra directly to Chhattisgarh. On December 11, 2024, a new Police Assistance Centre was opened at village Pengunda under Bhamragad Sub-Division, with the objective of providing security and overall development to the citizens of the extremely remote Pengunda and surrounding villages, to bring them into the mainstream of development. Meanwhile, according to a January 3, 2025, report, Chief Minister Fadnavis reintroduced the Maharashtra Special Public Security Bill, 2024, during the winter session of the State Assembly, asserting that the proposed law does not attempt to suppress genuine dissenting voices, but to close down the dens of 'urban Naxals' instead. The Bill has been sent to a Joint Committee and will be brought up again during the monsoon session later this year. Despite important security and developmental components, Maharashtra continues to suffer critical gaps of strength and quality in the State Police Force meant to fight against any kind of internal challenge. According to the latest Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) data, as on January 1, 2023, the sanctioned strength for the States' Police was 232,965, but only 172,382 personnel were in position, yielding a vacancy of 60,583 (26 percent). Police personnel per 100,000 population in Maharashtra currently stand at a sanctioned 184.92, while those actually available are 136.83. Further, the Police/Area Ratio (number of policemen per 100 square kilometers) for Maharashtra is just 56.02, as against the national average of 65.14. Both the State and national averages on the Police/Area ratio are well below their sanctioned strength, at 75.71 and 82.82, respectively. Further, of a sanctioned strength of 317 apex Indian Police Service (IPS) Officers in the State, 41 posts, i.e., 12.93 per cent, remained vacant, substantially weakening executive command of the Force. At least two out of 1,191 Police Stations had no telephones. The Maharashtra Police has been able to ensure a relatively safe environment on the ground, and has substantially contained the Maoist challenge. This is an opportunity for SFs to further consolidate their gains and eradicate Naxalism from the state. Deepak Kumar NayakResearch Associate, Institute for Conflict Management