War on Maoists

THE massacre that claimed the lives of over 70 Central Reserve Police Force personnel in Dantewada, the deadliest ambush in terms of casualties in the 43-year-old history of the Maoist movement, deserves a fitting retaliation (Cover Story, May 7). Operation Green Hunt has obviously yielded no desired results.

According to the latest intelligence inputs, Maoists occupy almost 40 per cent of the countrys area. The people reported killed in Maoist bloodshed outnumber those who have died in repeated terror attacks in India. While the rebels use sophisticated artillery, the security forces are ill-equipped. There is an urgent need to use concrete methods to counter these highly motivated, well-armed insurgents. The Home Minister should realise that talks will not give any tangible results.

Ippili Santhosh Kumar Srikakulam, A.P.

THE Cover Story brought into focus the Maoist problem in its entirety and made some sound suggestions. Bullets are not a substitute for development. Maoists are strong in neglected areas. New policies and new strategies need to be evolved. If we fail now, we will fail again.

A. Jacob Sahayam Thiruvananthapuram

IT seems that while the Central and State governments are weary of formulating strategies to combat the naxalite menace, the naxalites are able to attack the security personnel repeatedly.

It has become a practice with the Central government to put security personnel at great risk, thereby demoralising them. Even if developmental activities are carried out in full swing in all areas where they have a presence, the Maoists will not hesitate to go ahead with their agenda. What would help the Central government in its anti-Maoist operation are efforts to trace the Maoists sources of funds and arms.

S. Lakshminarayanan Puvanur, Tamil Nadu

ACCORDING to the Cover Story, it is now time to review Operation Green Hunt. The Maoist threat is increasing.

The incidents that occur in Chhattisgarh time and again illustrate the governments shortcomings in countering this threat. A thought must be spared for the common people who have been bearing the brunt of violence for decades. A full-fledged stratagem to counter and segregate the ultras is needed.

Vinod C. Dixit Ahmedabad

THE deployment of CRPF personnel to combat Maoists was not only a flawed strategy but an ill-conceived one. The Central government must understand that the State police and other agencies will not work under the CRPF or other Central agencies. The CRPF or any other Central agency engaged in combating the Maoists will be in greater danger from the local police than from the Maoists. The Maoists, the local police and politicians may be working in collusion; this must be clear to the Central government.

R.N. Agarwal Bikaner, Rajasthan

THIS is in reference to the Cover Story article Reluctant reform. The caption below the photograph on page 27 refers to the rifles being used by the policemen as AK-47s, which is incorrect; they are actually AK-103s.

Rajhans Trehan Haridwar, Uttarakhand

THE fight between the government and the Maoists is based purely on Newtons third law. Unless the fighting is stopped and peace talks start, this war is not going to end. Apart from this, the government should take steps to provide the tribal people basic facilities such as electricity, water, jobs, food and land on a priority basis. Land-grabbing and atrocities carried out by the security forces should be stopped.

The government should not wage war on its own people, and it should not dance to the tune of the corporates. We should not forget that the number of Maoists only increased after the formation of Salwa Judum.

S. Ajish Khan Pollachi, Tamil NaduMalnutrition

OWING primarily to food insecurity, India has a whopping 21.705 crore malnourished people (Dying young, April 23). In the Global Hunger Index, India fares very badly. That more than half of Indias children are underweight points to the sorry state of affairs in the country with regard to pregnancy and childcare.

Admittedly, the Integrated Child Development Services programme is stretched beyond its resources. The government has several schemes and targets, but at the institutionalisation and implementation levels, bureaucratic stupidity creeps in.

For example, in several States, crores of rupees has been frittered away on building new legislative complexes. This money could have been used to build proper buildings for ICDS centres most of which continue to function in shanties.

Most of the governments programmes and plans are only on paper or in budget speeches. That is not enough to fight the menace of malnutrition.

Bichu Muttathara Pune

IT is shameful for a country with one of the fastest-growing economies to have half of the worlds undernourished children. If India wants to become a developed nation, it should nurture its true assets, which are well-nourished and healthy children. No nation can be economically strong if its working-age population is stunted.

Ankur Garg Chandausi, U.P.

IT is alarming to know that our country has the largest number of stunted, wasted and underweight children in the world. The fact that millions of children die every year because of under-nutrition raises serious questions. What kind of development are we trying to achieve if it is at the cost of the children of the country? The government needs to draw up a food and health policy framework that strikes a better balance between the interests of the haves and the have-nots.

Neeraj Kumar Jha Madhubani, BiharSIT & Modi

WITH the Special Investigation Team questioning Chief Minister Narendra Modi with regard to the 1992 massacre at Gulberg Society, one can finally believe that the law is catching up with him (Time to answer, April 23). However, I feel that politicians like L.K. Advani, Modi and Mayawati cannot be touched through any means. I nevertheless salute Zakia Jafri for taking on Gujarats most powerful man.

Kannur Rajan MumbaiMuziris

THE discovery by the Archaeological Survey of India of Muziris near Kodungalloor near Kochi underlines the truth that the region was the traditional base of the Chera dynasty, whose munificent acts of devotion were praised in early Sangam classics and also in various latter-day Tamil epics such as Periyapuranam (Muziris, at last?, April 23).

The historic finds should demolish the late mediaeval fabrication that proposes a unique history and language for that part of ancient Tamilakam. One is reminded of what the Constitution of the U.S. says: we hold these truths to be self-evident.

Chozhan Peruvirarkilli Chidambaram, T.N.Islam

IN the review of the book Islam: A Graphic Guide, I was surprised that Anwar Sheikh was mentioned as an example of a scholar in the contemporary Muslim world (Explaining the faith, April 9). His anti-Islamic writing has been widely publicised in India by the RSS and its associated organisations. No one credits him with any scholarship on Islam.

Syed Shahabuddin DelhiCORRECTION

In the pictures accompanying the Special Feature on "Airports Authority of India" (April 23), the air traffic control tower and the boarding bridges do not belong to AAI airports.

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