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Sunday, July 1, 2007

One in every six Indians lives under insurgency

In the remote village of Singhpura in East Singhbhum, Jharkhand, Dinesh Mahato stands among the ruins of a primary health centre inaugurated 15 years ago. No doctor has ever visited it. “Are we even part of this country?” says Mahato, a college graduate. “I tried so hard to find a job; then I realised there is no ladies’ tailor here. So I became one. The Naxalites are right, at least they understand our problems.”

Here is India’s spiralling crisis of governance: one in six Indians is living under insurgency, their lives shaped by militants, violence and fear.

As armed groups spread their influence across the country’s sprawling triangle of rebellion — from J&K to Manipur to Andhra Pradesh — more than 17 crore people in militancy-affected areas live with almost no access to functioning schools, decent roads or other development work. It is this despair that feeds insurgencies.

And yet, as a Hindustan Times investigation reveals, over Rs 2,700 crore in development funds meant for extremist-affected districts were not spent in the past financial year.

Crores were allocated to states for schools, homes, roads and jobs — measures that could have eased the seething discontent. But the money was not utilised and the central government did little to monitor implementation.

Certainly, many crores — of the Rs 5,858 crore allocated last year — were spent in these troubled regions. But, as HT found in travels across seven states and hundreds of kilometres, there are hardly any basic amenities, from drinking water to electricity to functional schools, to be found.

Yumnam Joykumar, the police chief of Manipur, says, “Whatever money the Underground is getting, is out of money provided by the central government.”

Gouri Shankar Rath, the additional director-general of police in Jharkhand, said, “On the conservative side, the Naxalites are raising up to Rs 60 crore a year from Jharkhand in levies – from the sectors of iron ore, coal, forest goods, transportation, MP and MLA funds, and development work.” In all, about 152 districts in 12 states, more than one-fourth of all the 600-plus districts in India, are now officially described as “extremism-affected”, according to the Ministry of Rural Development records accessed by HT. Intelligence officials say scores of other districts are not listed although they are under the insurgents’ shadow. And there is little accountability when it comes to that blank cheque called ‘security-related expenditure’.

One of the worst examples is J&K. Money meant for security was spent on developing lawns, renovating kitchens and toilets, digging a bore well, buying tents, tyres, furniture, lawnmowers, police uniforms, building police homes — and, in prisons, on feeding prisoners, paying electricity bills and buying water coolers — according to the Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG).

Despite this, the Ministry of Home Affairs said of Kashmir’s security expenditure: “No irregularity in the spending (of) money has been brought to the notice of the Centre by the CAG.” In Jharkhand, huge generators were installed at 450 police stations but no sheds, diesel or mechanics were provided — so a machine sits like a rusting trophy in every police station. About 1,250 central government-backed schemes are being implemented in different insurgency-hit areas through 39 ministries or departments.

The worst affected is Manipur, the site of India’s most complex web of insurgency. The government has little control, and over a dozen insurgent groups from different tribes and ethnic groups run the affairs directly or indirectly, taking “taxes” from almost all businesses, traders and government employees. The state’s top officials privately admit that the Underground also decides who will get government contracts. Across the Naxalite-affected states, the rebels are known to take commissions from businesses and contractors implementing government projects.

But the central government says it has received no complaints of corruption — though it admits they are charging their own “taxes”. In a written response, the ministry said, “There is no written complaint received in the Ministry of Home Affairs in respect of central sector schemes not being implemented in any part of the country due to Naxal threats. There is no written information from any corner also in respect of Naxals siphoning off developmental money or charging commissions. It is believed that Naxals are raising money through levy, taxes, cess, extortion, etc.”

And the Rural Development Ministry declared: “There is no district in the country where rural development programmes are not monitored.” But many — including senior officials — do not agree. Khurshid Ahmad Ganai, principal secretary, general administration department, J&K, said, “So much money is coming in from the Government of India but our capacity to spend, and spend well, is still not very good.” J&K got Rs 119 crore from the Centre last year to provide the poor with homes and employment and for the food-for-work scheme. The government spent only Rs 58 crore. Across other states, similar examples abound. It is an enduring mystery for citizens. Standing in Bemina village on the fringes of Srinagar, Ali Mohammed Butt, 75, said: “We often wonder: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sent such big funds to our state; did the earth eat them up or did the sky swallow them?”

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