To defeat Red terror, cops & CRPF need to be better equipped, organised

In May 2006, then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had described the Maoist/ Naxalite insurgency (also known as Left Wing Extremism) as India’s most serious internal security challenge. However, the response of various state governments and the Centre has been mostly reactive and knee jerk. Coordination between the police and intelligence agencies of the affected states and the Centre needs substantial improvement. Intelligence about the Maoists’ activities, arms and equipment, training, sources of funding and future operations must be shared on a near real-time basis to the functional level.

State police forces as well as the central armed police forces (CAPFs) like the CRPF need to be better equipped and a lot better trained in order to successfully combat the serious threat posed by the Naxalites. At present, they lack the army’s organisational structure and cohesiveness, the army’s institutionalised operational experience and ethos and its high standards of junior leadership, qualities that are mandatory if the Naxalites have to be defeated on their own turf. The SOPs must be refined and strictly followed.

Calling in the Army to tackle the rising tide of Maoist violence will be a grave mistake for a number of reasons. The Army is already deployed on the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan and on parts of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with Tibet. It is also deployed in large numbers for counter-insurgency and internal security duties in J&K and the north-eastern states. These prolonged commitments are hampering the Army’s preparedness for conventional conflict, gradually but perceptibly affecting morale and wearing down its equipment and transport fleet.

What the Army can do, and has been doing for some time now, is to provide advanced training to the state police forces and the CAPFs to enable them to acquire the necessary skills. The Army can “train the trainers” of the CAPFs at its training establishments so that they go back and train their respective forces. The Army can also send its instructors on deputation to the training academies of the state police forces and the CAPFs to train their personnel. Some police personnel could be trained by utilising the spare capacity of the Regimental Training Centres of the army such as the Punjab Regiment Centre, Ramgarh, the Bihar Regiment Centre, Danapur and the Grenadiers Regiment Centre, Jabalpur.

In addition to the support that it can extend for training, the Army, and the Air Force, can provide technical equipment to improve reconnaissance and surveillance. One UAV detachment has reportedly been deployed in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. The Centre also provides “air support essentially for transport of security forces, evacuation and air dropping of food and medicines”. he Besides, the Army can help state governments establish training academies for anti-insurgency and jungle warfare.

The Maoist threat presents a clear and present danger. The country needs a well-deliberated and finely calibrated response strategy with matching operational doctrines and necessary resources. Above all else, a comprehensive socio-economic strategy must be evolved to treat the root causes of this malaise that is gnawing away at the nation’s innards, along with a skilfully drawn up plan for perception management.

The writer is Distinguished Fellow, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA), New Delhi.