FUNDING PATTERN IN THE NAXAL MOVEMENT IN CONTEMPORARY INDIA.

Abstract

The naxal movement in India has reached the sixth decade of its inception. According to the home ministry, 330 police stations across 76 states had recorded incidents of Naxal violence in 2013. Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar were categorized as the states severely affected by Left wing Extremism. Naxalites have a presence in 20 states, spread across 203 districts. To run a war machinery of this size, the outfit requires large amounts NLUJ Academic Use Only of funds. Responding to Question No. 2276, in the Rajya Sabha, on February 12, 2014, Minister of State for Home Affairs, RPN Singh said, "the CPI(Maoist) party has been collecting not less than Rs. 140 crores annually from a variety of sources. Further, the possibility of certain front organizations of the CPI (Maoist) ... clandestinely getting foreign funds cannot be ruled out." Money is collected from individuals as well as business groups ranging from small to big industries. The sources are - Government Works and Schemes, Industry and Business, Social Institutions, Infrastructure, People, Membership Fees, Supporters/Sympathizers, Revolutionary Taxes in cash and kind, fines on defaulters etc. The Naxal movement in India in its current phase has significantly diverted from the ethical and ideological moorings of yester years. It is now resorted to most of the illegal methods for raising funds to run the movement and its fight against the state. Due to increasing network of naxalism it is now imperative for them to look for the alternate source of funding. The paper seeks to look into the various sources of funding utilised by the naxals. It has also made an attempt to look into possible nexus between the corporate groups and the naxals. Further the paper has made an attempt to look into the estimate of the funds they receive from variety of sources. Also how are diese funds being utilised by naxals and what are their ways of keeping these funds have found analysis in the paper. My paper has also suggested some guidelines for the state to deal with the problem. Part one has attempted to explore the various possible sources of funding as a general overview. Part Two probes into the corporate linkage of naxals for funding. Part Three looks into the instances of extortions and levies imposed by the naxals on local contractors and other groups. Part Four deals with the way money that is being utilised by the naxals for the purchase of weapons and other logistics for their movement against the state. Part Five suggest measures to deal the problem. Sources used for the paper arc govemincnl reports, media reports and news and academic works published on the naxal issue in India.