Red corridor

The Red Corridor is the region in the eastern, central and the southern parts of India that experience considerable Naxalite–Maoist insurgency.[1]

Areas with Naxalite activity in 2007 (left) and in 2013 (right).

The Naxalite group mainly consists of the armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).[2] These are also areas that suffer from the greatest illiteracy, poverty and overpopulation in modern India, and span parts of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, and West Bengal and eastern Uttar Pradesh states.[3][4][5] As per Ministry of Home Affairs, altogether 1,048 incidents of Left-wing extremism (LWE) violence took place in these 10 states in 2016.[6]

All forms of Naxalite organisations have been declared as terrorist organizations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India (1967).[7][8][9][10] According to the Government of India, as of July 2011, 83 districts (this figure includes a proposed addition of 20 districts) across 10 states are affected by extremism[11][12] down from 180 districts in 2009.[13] As of February 2019, 90 districts across 11 states are affected by extremism.[14]

Economic situation

The districts that comprise the Red Corridor are among the poorest in the country. Areas such as Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Telangana (formerly part of Andhra Pradesh), are either impoverished or have significant economic inequality, or both.[15][16][17]

A key characteristic of this region is non-diversified economies that are solely primary sector based. Agriculture, sometimes supplemented with mining or forestry, is the mainstay of the economy, which is often unable to support rapid increases in population.[18][19][20] The region has significant natural resources, including mineral, forestry and potential hydroelectric generation capacity. Odisha, for example, "has 60 percent of India’s bauxite reserves, 25 percent of coal, 28 percent of iron ore, 92 percent of nickel and 28 percent of manganese reserves."[21]

Social situation

The area encompassed by the Red Corridor tends to have stratified societies, with caste and feudal divisions. Much of the area has high indigenous tribal populations (or adivasis), including Santhal and Gond. Bihar and Jharkhand have both caste and tribal divisions and violence associated with friction between these social groups.[22][23][24] Andhra Pradesh's Telangana region similarly has deep caste divide with a strict social hierarchical arrangement.[25][26] Both Chhattisgarh and Odisha have significant impoverished tribal populations.[27][28][29]

Affected Districts

As of February 2019, 90 districts across 11 states are affected by extremism.[14] As of December 2017, 105 districts across 9 states are affected by extremism.[11][12] The districts affected by extremism stand at 106 in 10 states as on 12 February 2016.[30]

State No.of Districts in State No. of Districts Affected Districts Affected
Jharkhand 24 19 Bokaro, Chatra, Dhanbad, Dumka, East Singhbhum, Garhwa, Giridih, Gumla, Hazaribagh, Khunti, Koderma, Latehar, Lohardaga, Palamu, Ramgarh, Ranchi, Simdega, Saraikela Kharsawan, West Singhbhum
Bihar 38 16 Arwal, Aurangabad,  Banka,  East Champaran,  Gaya, Jamui,  Jehanabad,  Kaimur,  Lakhisarai, Munger, Muzaffarpur,  Nalanda, Nawada,  Rohtas,  Vaishali,  West Champaran
Chhattisgarh 28 14 Balod,  Balrampur,  Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Dhamtari, Gariyaband, Kanker,  Kondagaon,  Mahasamund,  Narayanpur, Rajnandgaon,  Sukma, Kabirdham
Odisha 30 15 Angul, Bargarh,  Bolangir, Boudh,  Deogarh, Kalahandi, Kandhamal,  Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabrangpur, Nayagarh,  Nuapada, Rayagada,  Sambhalpur, Sundargarh
Kerala 14 3 Malappuram, Palakkad, Wayanad
Andhra Pradesh 13 6 Guntur, Visakhapatnam, East Godavari, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, West Godavari
Telangana 33 8 Adilabad, Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Jayashankar-Bhupalpally, Khammam, Komaram-Bheem, Mancherial, Peddapalle, Warangal Rural
Maharashtra 36 3 Gadchiroli, Chandrapur, Gondia
Uttar Pradesh 75 3 Sonbhadra, Mirzapur, Chandauli
West Bengal 23 1 Jhargram
Madhya Pradesh
 55 2 Balaghat, Mandla
Total
 369 90

The Odisha gap

The Red Corridor is almost contiguous from India's border with Nepal to the absolute northernmost fringes of Tamil Nadu. There is, however, a significant gap consisting of coastal and some central areas in Odisha state, where Naxalite activity is low and indices of literacy and economic diversification are higher.[31][32][33] However, the non-coastal districts of Odisha, which fall in the Red Corridor have significantly lower indicators, and literacy throughout the region is well below the national average.[31][34]

See also

References
  1. Rahul Pandita. Hello Bastar: The Untold Story Of India’s Maoist Movement. Tranquebar Press (2011). ISBN 978-93-8065834-6.Chapter VI. p. 111
  2. Agarwal, Ajay. "Revelations from the red corridor". Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
  3. "Armed revolt in the Red Corridor". Mondiaal Nieuws, Belgium. 25 June 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  4. "Women take up guns in India's red corridor". The Asian Pacific Post. 9 June 2008. Archived from the original on 22 June 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  5. "Rising Maoists Insurgency in India". Global Politician. 13 May 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2008.
  6. "Bihar ranks third among 10 states hit by Maoist violence".
  7. ::Ministry of Home Affairs:: Archived 10 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. "Maoist Communist Centre - Extremism, India, South Asia Terrorism Portal". Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  9. "People's War Group - Extremism, India, South Asia Terrorism Portal". Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  10. Sukanya Banerjee, "Mercury Rising: India’s Looming Red Corridor", Center for Strategic and International Studies, 2008.
  11. "Centre to declare more districts Naxal-hit". Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  12. "The Union Government of India to Bring 20 More Districts in the Naxal-hit states". Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  13. "Press Information Bureau". Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  14. "Naxal affected Districts". www.pib.gov.in. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  15. Magnus Öberg, Kaare Strøm, "Resources, Governance and Civil Conflict", Routledge, 2008, ISBN 0-415-41671-X. Snippet: ... the general consensus is that the insurgency was started to address various economic and social injustices related to highly skewed distributions of cropland ...
  16. Debal K. SinghaRoy, "Peasant Movements in Post-colonial India: Dynamics of Mobilization and Identity", Sage Publications, 2004, ISBN 0-7619-9826-8.
    • Loyd, Anthony (2015). "India's insurgency". National Geographic (April): 84. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
  18. Fernando Franco, "Pain and Awakening: The Dynamics of Dalit Identity in Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh", Indian Social Institute, 2002, ISBN 81-87218-46-0. ... Land deprivation is the major cause of mass poverty especially in view of the low level of economic diversification in rural areas. Amongst all major states, Bihar has the second highest proportion (55 per cent) of landless or quasi-landless households in the rural population ...
  19. Dietmar Rothermund, "An Economic History of India: From Pre-colonial Times to 1991", Routledge, 1993, ISBN 0-415-08871-2. Snippet: ... Eastern India has been bypassed by the 'Green revolution' to a great extent ... Instead of urbanization, we can find rural areas with an amazing degree of overpopulation ...
  20. Rabindra Nath Pati, National Organization for Family and Population Welfare, "Population, Family, and Culture", Ashish Publishing House, 1987, ISBN 81-7024-151-0.
  21. "Forbes India: Orissa's war over minerals". IBNLive. Retrieved 1 April 2015.
  22. "Bihar: Caste, Politics & the Cycle of Strife". Mammen Matthew, SATP. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  23. "Bihar caste clashes kill six". BBC. 26 October 2002. Retrieved 19 October 2008.
  24. Smita Narula, "Broken People: Caste Violence Against India's untouchables", Human Rights Watch, 1999, ISBN 1-56432-228-9.
  25. A. Satyanarayana, "Land, Caste and Dominance in Telangana", Centre for Contemporary Studies, Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, 1993.
  26. Tulja Ram Singh, "The Madiga: A Study in Social Structure and Change", Ethnographic & Folk Culture Society, 1969.
  27. Ajit K. Danda, "Chhattisgarh: An Area Study", Anthropological Survey of India, Government of India, 1977.
  28. Gyanendra Pandey, "Routine Violence: Nations, Fragments, Histories", Permanent Black, 2006, ISBN 81-7824-161-7.
  29. Oliver Springate-Baginski and Piers M. Blaikie, "Forests, People and Power: The Political Ecology of Reform in South Asia", Earthscan, 2007, ISBN 1-84407-347-5.
  30. "LWE affected districts". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
  31. "National Family Health Survey". International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra. Retrieved 18 October 2008.
  32. B. B. Jena and Jaya Krishna Baral, "Government and Politics in Odisha", Print House (India), 1988. Snippet:... The literacy rate of the four coastal districts is much higher than that of other districts ...
  33. Sanjoy Chakravorty and Somik V. Lall, "Made in India: The Economic Geography and Political Economy of Industrialization", Oxford University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-19-568672-1. Snippet:... and Punjab are considered advanced regions, while Bihar and Odisha are considered lagging regions. With the district level data used here, it is possible to create new data driven definitions of advanced and lagging regions that are distinct from politically defined regional ...
  34. Sevanti Ninan, "Headlines from the Heartland: Reinventing the Hindi Public Sphere", Sage Publishers, 2007, ISBN 0-7619-3580-0. Snippet:... This one state (Madhya Pradesh) alone, taken together with Chhattisgarh, accounted for 17.9 percent of the total decadal decrease in illiteracy in India in the 1990s ...

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