Vivek Chadha replies: There has been a long-standing debate on the deployment of Army in the Maoist-infested areas. One of the first instances, when this debate came into the public domain, was in 2010, when the then Chief of Army Staff, Gen. V.K. Singh, ruled out the deployment of the Army. The debate has repeatedly come to the fore since after major incidents of Maoist violence.

P.V. Ramana replies: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and all other Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) deployed in Anti-Naxal Operations (ANO) would need to adhere to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in order to minimise casualties.

Calibrated security response together with vigorous development measures would help to meet the Naxalite challenge in Chhattisgarh. These would include health, education and connectivity.

For more on the subject, please refer to the following IDSA publications:

P.V. Ramana replies: It is not different. It is spearheaded by a single group known as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) or CPI (M). It has a presence across 106 districts in 10 States including in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

The objective is to capture/seize political power through an armed revolution or ‘protracted people’s war’. Their ideology is based on Marxism – Leninism – Mao Tse Tung (MLM) thought.

P.V. Ramana replies: The Maoists started entering Bastar in present-day southern Chhattisgarh in 1982. In terms of geographical area, Bastar is a little larger than Kerala and slightly smaller than Haryana. At that time, Bastar was a single district, but now comprises seven districts.