1.Despite severe losses, the Maoists refuse to acknowledge the futility of their cause
Context: deaths of 26 rebels in a police operation in Gadchiroli , the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) has faced yet another setback in its “protracted armed struggle” against the Indian state.
About Gadchiroli: a largely forested and tribaldominated district, is among Maharashtra’s poorest and the Maoists have sought to expand their presence extending from neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
- There have been major encounters in the district
- Gadchiroli falls in the “severely affected” category of the leftwing extremism(LWE).
Futility cause:
- Lack of leadership: Despite suffering significant losses to its leadership either in military operations or due to physical infirmities.
- shrinking areas of influence: the Maoists have refused to withdraw from their pursuit of armed struggle.
- Refusal to acknowledge: the diverse industrial base in the country, their rejection of liberal democratic instruments in the Indian state and the faith of the poor in the robust electoral system have blinded them to pursue a futile cause.
Problems However still remain:
- violence against violence: In cycles of violence, Maoists have managed their own strikes against security forces, but such attacks have not provided them any heft in expanding their presence or increasing their support base. The conflict has fallen into a pattern — violence begets violence as insurgents and the security forces continually lose combatant.
- Affects the poor tribal people whose lives are caught in a prolonged crossfire.
- Links with the State and Non-state actors: Maoists smuggle arms, ammunition, fake currency through Nepal. They have had links with the Pakistani network in the past.
Government efforts:
- National Policy and Action Plan – 2015 by MHA: a multi-pronged strategy in the areas of security, development, ensuring rights & entitlement of local communities etc. to combat LWE.
- Security establishment and its work:
- Scheme Modernization of Police Forces for 2017-20: Major Sub schemes includes – Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) including construction of 250 Fortified Police Stations in LWE affected states.
- Greyhounds unit in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh
- Black Panther combat force – A specialised anti-Naxal combat force for Chhattisgarh on the lines of Greyhounds.
- Enhancing Expenditure:
- Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme (approved in 2017): strengthening the capacity of the LWE affected States to fight against the LWE problem in an effective manner.
- Special Central Assistance (SCA) for 35 most LWE affected districts.
- Assistance to Central Agencies for LWE management Scheme.
- Use of cutting edge technology: by the CAPFs in LWE theatres, like trackers for weapons, bio-metrics for smart guns and a Unique Identification Number (UID) for gelatine sticks and explosives.
- The National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) is assisting the Security Forces in anti-Naxal operations by providing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
- For Dialogue:
- Civic Action Programme (CAP) to bridge the gaps between Security Forces and local people through personal interaction.
- Media Plan Scheme: to counter the Maoist propaganda
- Infrastructure development initiatives:
- Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I) – 2009 is being implemented by the M/o Road Transport & Highways, for improving road connectivity in 34 LWE affected districts of 8 States.
- Road Connectivity Project for LWE affected areas (RRP-II)- 2016: Under PMGSY – under M/o Rural development for further improving road connectivity in 44 districts of 9 LWE affected States.
- LWE Mobile Tower Project to improve mobile connectivity in the LWE areas – Projects under Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF).
- Aspirational District Scheme (ADP) of NITI Aayog: ADP is based on 49 indicators from the 5 identified thematic areas, which focuses closely on improving people’s Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure
- Skill Development related Schemes:
- ROSHNI Scheme (Ministry of Rural Development) is a special initiative under Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana which envisages training and placement of rural poor youth from 27 LWE affected districts.
- Skill Development in 34 Districts affected by LWE” under implementation from 2011-12 aims to establish ITIs and Skill Development Centres in LWE affected districts.
- Livelihood Colleges: Seeing the success of educational hub and a livelihood centre in Dantewada district, the government has now opened up livelihood centres, known as Livelihood Colleges, in all the districts.
- Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY): 47 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 68 Skill Development Centres (SDCs) are to be established by March 2019.
Way forward: Maharashtra must not rest on its success in militarily diminishing the Maoist threat in Gadchiroli. It must act continually in winning over the support of tribals in the region and retaining their faith in the liberal democratic institutions of the state.
2. Learning from the best in India’s COVID-19 fight
Context: Innovative interventions have helped communities across the country change the course of the pandemic response
Examples of Innovations: [You can quote these examples in Governance answers in GS 2 as well as GS 4]
Story of Vaccination in Jhabua, MP: As per government figures, with one of the highest percentages of Scheduled Tribes population in India.
- A few months ago, officials deep inside Madhya Pradesh’s tribal districts had to contend with an additional crisis: vaccinating a people firmly resistant to any coronavirus vaccines. Till April 15th only 10% of the eligible population was vaccinated.
- A transformation: District officials decided to organise khatla baithaks (khat means “woven bed,” and baithak means “meeting”), or community meetings, to dispel vaccine myths. By July, Jhabua saw a five-fold increase in vaccination uptake, with approximately 40% of eligible people in the district having received at least one dose. In fact, medical staff was welcomed with turmeric-smeared rice to rural houses in the traditional way.
- Such Transformation all across India: The data has made us see that like Jhabua, there are multiple districts and regions where individuals and groups, from both government and civil society, have stepped in to ensure that impact of COVID-19 was mitigated in any and every way possibl.
COVID SOS Organizations:
- During CoVID Crisis: There existed a wide spectrum of people who had made it their mission to help society steer to safer shores in this pandemic: medical professionals who, despite the volume of patients, were managing COVID-19 in an evidence-informed, pragmatic way;
- Functions performed: teams vaccinating entire villages once overwhelmed by hesitancy; workers ensuring even the remotest areas had adequate oxygen supply, etc.
A Partnership with village elders and Medical staff – in Janefal, a rural hamlet with just over 500 residents in Maharashtra’s Aurangabad district.
- Village heads came out for vaccination first: To build trust and confidence, village heads and other front line workers set an example by getting vaccinated first. They had their photos taken while getting the vaccine, and later, to address apprehensions, spent time painting gram panchayat buildings.
- A task force was also set up: It comprised health workers, police officers and village council leaders who discovered villagers had an unprecedented fear of hospitals and were terrified doctors would kill them and rob them of their kidneys if they went in for treatment.
- Using the occasion of Festival: With the nearest vaccination centre being eight kilometres away, the task force overcame both challenges by conducting a vaccination camp in the village, taking the vaccines to the people. They also did this on April 27, Hanuman Jayanti — an auspicious day for the locals. It was an insightful and clever way to leverage the occasion for the right cause.
In Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, The district administration in collaboration with local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) addressed vaccine hesitancy effectively, too.
- The NGOs enlisted the help of community members to write songs in tribal languages to share the benefits of getting vaccinated.
- The district administration also recorded statements from village leaders in their own languages, regarding the vaccine’s effectiveness, and broadcast those messages throughout the district’s different villages.
- Result: This helped villagers engender trust, and soon, vaccination rates there went up, too.
In East Champaran, Bihar, district officials remarkably achieved 95% COVID-19 vaccination of adults in the Bankatwa block in just two days using what has been dubbed the “Bankatwa Way”.
- The Challenges in the Bankatwa block historically had low routine immunisation coverage of just 64.3% due to challenges of difficult terrain, poor health infrastructure and vaccine hesitancy in the community, among others.
- The Mission mode approach: all government departments in collaboration with World Health Organization, civil society organisations, local elected leaders, and religious leaders, mobilised all eligible people in the district for COVID-19 vaccination.
- Result: In just 48 hours, over 55,000 of the block’s 62,000 registered inhabitants were vaccinated by setting up vaccination sites in each of the area’s 102 villages and hamlets.
- 100% Vaccination: The effort had a knock-on effect across the district with similar intensive effort campaigns, delivering 100% first dose coverage by early October.
Way Forward – The learning’s:
- Inspiration for the Future: Like these stories, there are many such novel, inspirational efforts that can be found in the case studies we have helped to collate. If we can effectively share and disseminate learnings and highlight the best interventions from across different domestic geographies, we can take a step towards being better equipped to tackle health crises in the future.
- Other diseases still remain: India has high incidence of various other diseases like TB, Leprosy, Kala Azar etc. We can apply these learning’s there as well.
SOURCE:
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