Perturbed by the audacious attack by the Maoists that killed 14 central reserve police force (CRPF) personnel, including two middle rank officials, the Centre is making a renewed push to implement the national policy to effectively combat left wing extremism.
Departing from the UPA government's monitoring mechanisms, in the draft national policy the Centre has proposed four new oversight mechanisms – three at central level and one at level of the state governments for fast track monitoring and implementation of schemes and action plans.
The new oversight mechanisms, the Centre has proposed are – Core group of ministers (CGM) at the centre led by the union home minister; inter-ministerial group of officers (IGO) under the cabinet secretary; coordination committee of centre and states (CCCS) chaired by union home secretary and committees for integration and coordination (CIC) at the state government level headed by chief ministers.
The draft policy, sources said, is all set to go in for the cabinet approval after securing "in principle" nod from the chief secretaries and director generals of police of 10 LWE affected states in a meeting chaired by the union home secretary Anil Goswami on Tuesday.
"This is being done to set up a robust institutional mechanism in place so that the effort to defeat Maoists remains focussed and concerted and not lackadaisical," said sources.
Chaired by the union home minister, the CGM will have ministers of finance, tribal affairs, rural development, panchayati raj, road and transport, environment and forests as members and chief ministers of all the 10 LWE affected states as special invitees. It shall meet every six months to monitor the entire LWE situation and review the implementation of all security and development measures.
The IGO to be headed by the cabinet secretary and having secretaries of home, tribal affairs, panchayati raj, road transport and highways and additional secretary (home) as members will be responsible for reviewing and modifying the existing norms and guidelines, inter-ministerial coordination and will monitor important schemes of the central government in LWE affected states. It will meet every three months and will hold interactions with states through video conferencing.
The most important cog in the mechanism, the CCCS, will review and monitor all security and development measures, coordinate between central and state forces and oversee inter-state border coordination. Headed by the union home secretary and having direct IB, DGs of all central armed police forces (CAPFs) and all 10 Naxal affected states as members, the committee will meet every quarter.
The CIC at the state governments will be headed directly by the respective chief ministers and will be assisted by top officials from every concerned department and security force such as chief secretary, secretaries of home, finance, PWD, information, development commissioner, state DGP, senior-most officers of CAPFs and IB in the state, chief conservator of forests. It will meet every two months and will be responsible for monitoring LWE situation, reviewing security and development measures and coordination between central and state agencies.
In addition, the national policy lays emphasis on perception management of Adivasis to wean them away from Maoists fold by recognising tribal icons and leaders by celebrating their anniversaries, naming airports and buildings after them, radio broadcasts to emotionally integrate tribals in mainstream, counter propaganda on social media platforms to counter Maoist propaganda, bringing out posters, banners and pamphlets to highlight Maoist atrocities.
"A separate budget will be kept for the purpose of perception management," sources said.
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