APRIL 3, 2021. It was that time of the year when the foliage was dry and sparse, and there was no rain or slush to hamper the movement of guerrillas in their favourite playground—the killing fields of Chhattisgarh. The sun was directly overhead but the ultras were not chasing shadows under trees. Armed with grenades, rocket launchers, light-machine guns, rifles and country-made pistols, more than 300 men and women of the banned CPI (Maoist) surrounded 450 security personnel in the open fields in Tarem near the Sukma-Bijapur border. They killed 22 securitymen and took one hostage.
The terror script has not changed since the massacre of 76 CRPF personnel near Chintalnar village in Dantewada on April 6, 2010. That attack almost wiped out the entire battalion of CRPF.
In subsequent years, the dance of death has continued in Bijapur, Darbha Valley, Dantewada, Sukma and Bastar, where battalion number one of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) has claimed more than 100 lives in the last decade.
On April 5, Union Home Minister Amit Shah flew down to the Basaguda camp of the CRPF, to find out what went wrong. The problems are one too many and the buck does not stop with just one person, one department or one government.
When security personnel are inducted in counter-insurgency forces like the CRPF’s CoBRA commando unit or the state police’s Special Task Force (STF) or District Reserve Guard (DRG) battalions, they undergo a basic compulsory training for at least three months and are then deployed on the field. While there is no dearth of commando training centres today, holding regular courses and updating the syllabus and trends to learn new skills and tactics for intelligence gathering and strategical planning of operations still remain a far cry.
この記事は THE WEEK の April 18, 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は THE WEEK の April 18, 2021 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、9,000 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Trump And The Crisis Of Liberalism
Although Donald Trump's election to a non-consecutive second term to the US presidency is not unprecedented—Grover Cleveland had done it in 1893—it is nevertheless a watershed moment.
What Will It Take To Clean Up Delhi Air?
IT IS ASKED, year after year, why Delhi’s air remains unbreathable despite several interventions to reduce pollution.
Men eye the woman's purse
A couple of months ago, I chanced upon a young 20-something man at my gym walking out with a women’s sling bag.
When trees hold hands
A filmmaker explores the human-nature connect through the living root bridges
Ms Gee & Gen Z
The vibrant Anuja Chauhan and her daughter Nayantara on the generational gap in romance writing
Vikram Seth-a suitable man
Our golden boy of literature was the star attraction at the recent Shillong Literary Festival in mysterious Meghalaya.
Superman bites the dust
When my granddaughter Kim was about three, I often took her to play in a nearby park.
OLD MAN AND THE SEA
Meet G. Govinda Menon, the 102-year-old engineer who had a key role in surveying the Vizhinjam coast in the 1940s, assessing its potential for an international port
Managing volatility: smarter equity choices in uncertain markets
THE INDIAN STOCK MARKET has delivered a strong 11 per cent CAGR over the past decade, with positive returns for eight straight years.
Investing in actively managed low-volatility portfolios keeps risks at bay
AFTER A ROARING bull market over the past year, equity markets in the recent months have gone into a correction mode as FIIs go on a selling spree. Volatility has risen and investment returns are hurt.
