Guns and talks in India's Wretched of the Earth
By Suhas Chakma

On 15 October 2004, the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Peoples War Group (PWG) held first ever-direct talk to resolve the three decade old armed conflict. Earlier on 16 June 2004, the Andhra Pradesh government declared a three-month ceasefire which has further been extended. A 20 member ceasefire monitoring committee consisting of civil liberties activists, journalists, trade union leaders, political leaders and retired bureaucrats has been formed. In a further confidence building measure, on 20 July 2004, Andhra Pradesh government withdrew the ban on the PWG.
This is the most serious attempt to find a negotiated settlement with the PWG which was formed by Kondapalli Seetharamaiah on 22 April 1980 to fight against social injustices and economic exploitation of the poorer segments of the society. The peace talks initiated in May 2002 collapsed after three rounds of preliminary discussions as the State government refused to accede to PWG demands for an official cease-fire and termination of alleged 'fake encounters' and arrests of Naxal cadres. Earlier, in 1989, then Chief Minister M. Channa Reddy withdrew the ban on the PWG. The PWG allegedly exploited the freedom to consolidate its strength and the government banned it again in 1992.
During the talks on 15 October 2004, the PWG will be represented by Ramakrishna, Secretary of Andhra Pradesh State Committee of the PWG, S Sudhakar, Secretary of the Andhra-Orissa Border Special Zonal Committee and Ganesh, member of the North Telangana Special Zonal Committee. The approved agenda, among others, includes the withdrawal of cases against Naxalite activists, release of political prisoners, removal of cash awards on activists of Naxalite groups, disbanding of anti-Naxalite groups and creation of a separate Telengana state.
The lack of land reforms is the single most important factor for the Naxalite movement. Despite adoption of a large number of laws including Andhra Pradesh Land Reforms (Ceiling and Agricultural Holdings) Act, 1973, land reforms has never been adequately implemented. According to the Bureau of Economics and Statistics, for 1998-99 the net sown area in Andhra Pradesh is a little over 1.09 crore hectares out of the total geographical area of over 2.74 crore hectares. Out of these, only about four lakh hectares of surplus lands was declared since the adoption of the Act in 1973. It took nearly 10 years to acquire the surplus land from land owning farmers, owing to prolonged litigation. Yet, in the year 1995, the non-tribals were in possession of 7,51,435.66 acres of lands in Scheduled Areas in clear violation of the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Developmental funds are either mis-used or remain unutilized. In the meeting with Naxalite affected states on 21 September 2004, Minister of State for Home, Sriprakash Jaiswal stated that funds allotted to some states in 2003 under the Scheme of Backward Districts Initiative (BDI) had not be utilised fully. Consequently, the Centre decided that the states would not get the next installment of the central fund till they showed they had used up the money given in the previous year. The National Democratic Alliance government had included 53 Naxal-affected districts under the BDI. Each of these districts will get an additional Rs 15 crores a year for three years from the Centre. Yet, in 2002-2003 the Central government received proposals under Integrated Action Plans, encompassing development as well as security aspects in the affected areas, of Rs.1299.17 crores from Andhra Pradesh, Rs.1862.72 crores from Bihar, Rs.1435.13 crores from Chattisgarh, Rs.615 crores from Madhya Pradesh, of Rs.838 crores from Maharashtra and Rs.268.84 crores from Orissa. Yet, the most States cannot utilize a meager Rs 15 crores per district.
Apart from poverty and land alienation, the atrocities against the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes provide the grounds of growth of Naxalism. Whether it is in the case of the massacre of Dalits at Tsundur village in Guntur district in 1991 or brutal murder of a dalit leader, Birusanti Obanna from Koilkuntla area of Kurnool district on 22 January 2004, perpetrators often go unpunished.
Andhra Pradesh government had established only 12 Special Courts by 2003 under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 and the conviction rate for offences against the SCs and STs remains extremely low primary because of the caste bias. The Kurnool District Special Court for under SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act, rejected 39 cases registered under the Act between 29 May and 3 September 1999 on the grounds that the crimes - which included murders, assaults, rapes - were not committed on account of the victims being Dalit, but on account of enmity and lust. The judge in his orders did not give any reason as to how he arrived at this conclusion. Out of the 1,805 cases of atrocities against SCs and STs registered in 1998, 1,897 cases in 1999 and 1,912 cases in 2000, only 27 persons were convicted by May 2001.
Extrajudicial executions have been part of anti-Naxalite operations. The Andhra Pradesh Police reportedly established an armed vigilante group known as the "Green Tigers.
The NHRC has investigated some 285 reported cases of so-called "fake encounter deaths" allegedly committed by the Andhra police in connection with anti-Naxalite operations. In its 1996-97 annual report, the NHRC stated that the evidence on record did not show in any of the cases "that any prior attempt" was made by the police to arrest the deceased persons and in "none of these encounters, did police personnel receive any injury", while one or more persons from the other side died. "No attempt whatsoever" was made to ascertain the identity of the police officers who fired the bullets that caused the deaths, and that no attempt was made to investigate the circumstances under which the police opened fire.
Unless, both the Naxalites and state government of Andhra Pradesh can develop mechanisms to address land alienation of the tribals and land reforms, and establish accountability for atrocities against SCs and STs and extrajudicial executions, the Naxalite movements are unlikely to wither away.
*( The author is Director, Asian Centre for Human Rights)