NAXALS GROOMING BAL MILITIA
Sambalpur : The presence of 10 to 12 children with a group of about 60 naxalite in the villages of of Kishinda, Pithouguda, Dhalapur, Luisingh and few other village under Kishinda Police Station late on Thursday night has confirmed the grooming of military wing of children called ‘Bal Militia’ and holding of ‘Bal Sangham’ to indoctrinate children and train them in handling arms. The children in school uniform are then used by the ultras to target unsuspecting policemen as the children in uniform do not arouse suspicion. Although reports of increasing use of child soldiers have been reported from neighbouring Chhatisgarh, it is for the first time that the disturbing fact has been acknowledged in the region. Besides fighting alongside their grown up comrades, many are indirectly involved and are used as decoys, or to spot movement of security forces, transport ammunition, for money laundering and cooking.
In fact in Jagdalpur district of Chhatisgarh, Police had tracked two girls aged about 14 to 15 years who were found hiding after an encounter with naxals in village Dhanora. The girls were not well trained and started crying thinking they would be shot by the police. Investigation revealed that they had been picked up by the naxals from the school and forced to join the cadres. Even back home Sundargarh district, one Birsa Munda had surrendered to the police on May 27, 2005 and is now under the care of the police after he apprehended of being kidnapped back by the naxals operating from the Saranda forest. And barely a couple of months after this 15-year-old boy surrendered, another girl Kanduri Lohar alias Madhuri surrendered to Sundargarh Police on August 8, 2005. Madhuri was forcibly picked up from Sagjodi bazaar and has since been married off to one Arjun Mahato of Bondamunda near Rourkela with effort of the then Sundargarh SP Y K Jethwa.
While the police continue to underplay and deny the growing tentacles of the naxals in villages and use of children, there is no denying of the fact that their number has been growing not only in the state but across the globe. UNICEF estimates that globally 2,50,000 children have been recruited as soldiers in various capacities. Similarly a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross mentions that speaks about the armed children and the threat they pose to themselves and others after they are plied with alcohol and drugs to incite them to violence and fearlessness.
Admitting the growing use of children by the naxals, Dr. Rajat Kujur, who has to his credit of producing the only Doctoral thesis on growing naxalism in India with special focus on Orissa, said that there are two reasons – socio-economic and strategy - for induction of children into the ranks and files of the naxals. He said that curiosity, poverty, lack of education and opportunities, livelihood insecurity push children into joining the ultras. This apart, he said that he found that naxalite draw heavily from the LTTE. Since use of children has been tested successfully by the Tamil Tigers in their strategy, the naxals are also banking upon children heavily. Besides consuming less, they are obedient and lashed with drugs and alchohol are also fearless.
And while even the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has been accepting the growing naxals menace as a socio-economic problem and not law and order as is being envisaged by the police, the closing down of EGS centers in naxal infested areas has come as boon for the naxalites active in the region. District Project Co-ordinator Manoj Kumar Mohanty informed that 234 EGS Centre have been closed in the district and more are likely to be closed. Even the naxal infested areas have not been spared and while in Jujomura Block 20 EGS Centre has been closed down, 22 have been shut down in Rairakhol, 16 in Naktideul Block, 23 each in Jamankira and Kuchinda Block and 3 in Maneswar Block.
Simiarly in naxal infested Deogarh district 219 out of 276 EGS Centre have been closed down. While 73 has been closed down in Barkote Block, 69 and 72 have been shut down in Reamal and Teliebani Block respectively.
And with more opportunities, education and recreation being mooted by Child Right activists across the country to check children getting drifted towards insurgency, it is time the government should sit up and work out strategies to stop this alarming trend.
Sambalpur : The presence of 10 to 12 children with a group of about 60 naxalite in the villages of of Kishinda, Pithouguda, Dhalapur, Luisingh and few other village under Kishinda Police Station late on Thursday night has confirmed the grooming of military wing of children called ‘Bal Militia’ and holding of ‘Bal Sangham’ to indoctrinate children and train them in handling arms. The children in school uniform are then used by the ultras to target unsuspecting policemen as the children in uniform do not arouse suspicion. Although reports of increasing use of child soldiers have been reported from neighbouring Chhatisgarh, it is for the first time that the disturbing fact has been acknowledged in the region. Besides fighting alongside their grown up comrades, many are indirectly involved and are used as decoys, or to spot movement of security forces, transport ammunition, for money laundering and cooking.
In fact in Jagdalpur district of Chhatisgarh, Police had tracked two girls aged about 14 to 15 years who were found hiding after an encounter with naxals in village Dhanora. The girls were not well trained and started crying thinking they would be shot by the police. Investigation revealed that they had been picked up by the naxals from the school and forced to join the cadres. Even back home Sundargarh district, one Birsa Munda had surrendered to the police on May 27, 2005 and is now under the care of the police after he apprehended of being kidnapped back by the naxals operating from the Saranda forest. And barely a couple of months after this 15-year-old boy surrendered, another girl Kanduri Lohar alias Madhuri surrendered to Sundargarh Police on August 8, 2005. Madhuri was forcibly picked up from Sagjodi bazaar and has since been married off to one Arjun Mahato of Bondamunda near Rourkela with effort of the then Sundargarh SP Y K Jethwa.
While the police continue to underplay and deny the growing tentacles of the naxals in villages and use of children, there is no denying of the fact that their number has been growing not only in the state but across the globe. UNICEF estimates that globally 2,50,000 children have been recruited as soldiers in various capacities. Similarly a report of the International Committee of the Red Cross mentions that speaks about the armed children and the threat they pose to themselves and others after they are plied with alcohol and drugs to incite them to violence and fearlessness.
Admitting the growing use of children by the naxals, Dr. Rajat Kujur, who has to his credit of producing the only Doctoral thesis on growing naxalism in India with special focus on Orissa, said that there are two reasons – socio-economic and strategy - for induction of children into the ranks and files of the naxals. He said that curiosity, poverty, lack of education and opportunities, livelihood insecurity push children into joining the ultras. This apart, he said that he found that naxalite draw heavily from the LTTE. Since use of children has been tested successfully by the Tamil Tigers in their strategy, the naxals are also banking upon children heavily. Besides consuming less, they are obedient and lashed with drugs and alchohol are also fearless.
And while even the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has been accepting the growing naxals menace as a socio-economic problem and not law and order as is being envisaged by the police, the closing down of EGS centers in naxal infested areas has come as boon for the naxalites active in the region. District Project Co-ordinator Manoj Kumar Mohanty informed that 234 EGS Centre have been closed in the district and more are likely to be closed. Even the naxal infested areas have not been spared and while in Jujomura Block 20 EGS Centre has been closed down, 22 have been shut down in Rairakhol, 16 in Naktideul Block, 23 each in Jamankira and Kuchinda Block and 3 in Maneswar Block.
Simiarly in naxal infested Deogarh district 219 out of 276 EGS Centre have been closed down. While 73 has been closed down in Barkote Block, 69 and 72 have been shut down in Reamal and Teliebani Block respectively.
And with more opportunities, education and recreation being mooted by Child Right activists across the country to check children getting drifted towards insurgency, it is time the government should sit up and work out strategies to stop this alarming trend.
posted by Ratan K Pani at
1:28 AM
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