WORLD IN REVIEW
a greater capacity to threaten the status quo. United and
low-hanging fruit is gone, and the Indian Government cancohesive, the group has made war on the government of
not win a guerrilla war with muscle. It must find a more tactiIndia. By 2006, the group was estimated to control 1/5 of
cal, efficient strategy to reassert control in the red corridor.
India’s total forest area and had an active presence in over
Far more than exposing India’s security deficit, how¼ of India’s administrative regions. Manhoman Singh, then
ever, the Naxalite movement evinces a moral one. Indian
Prime Minister of the country, was concerned enough to
tribal populations have been marginalized for centuries,
dub the Naxalite insurgency “single biggest internal security
but the rapid industrial development of recent decades has
challenge ever faced by our country.” In recent years, the
exacerbated the problem greatly. Under the provision of the
attacks have been fiercer and more frequent, culminating in
1894 Land Acquisition Act, a legacy of the British colonial
the Jeeram Nullah raid this March.
regime, the government is allowed to seize land to fulfill a
Those who are ready to anoint
India an ascending superpower
would do well to pay attention to
the Naxalite movement. The relative
success of the Naxals speaks volumes
about India’s internal capacity to
maintain law and order. Though,
admittedly, policing a country of
1.2 billion is no easy task, the fact
that a group of tribesman with no
formal military training is able to
wreak such havoc over such a wide
swath of the country certainly does
not reflect well on the strength and
stability of the Indian state. It is difficult for a nation so weak and ineffectual internally to be influential in
international affairs. Other nations,
observing the difficulty India has
had containing a group of untrained,
undersupplied guerrilla fighters, will
Hard-line communists, belonging to the political group, the Naxalite, pose with
be less likely to trust it to execute
bows and arrows during a rally in Calcutta to protest the Indian government’s
vital functions in the modern global
economic policies.
system. For example, India’s dreams
of permanent membership of the
“public purpose.” Though the law requires that appropriate
Security Council, which works to maintain peace and
monetary compensation be given in exchange, this is hardly
stability in the world, might appear bitterly ironic.
appropriate for a tribal population that has long existed selfWhat’s more, the solution to this security deficit is not
sufficiently in the forests, and who don’t “own” their land
as simple as taking the threat more seriously. In fact, fullin a formal sense. Consequently, tens of millions of people
throated, offensive police and paramilitary forays into the
have been displaced since Independence, their very worlds
“red corridor” are just as likely to be harmful as beneficial.
uprooted, with little recourse. Aside from the immense huIn mid-2009, the Indian government effectuated an initiaman toll this has taken,