LWE eliminated from Bihar and Jharkhand

 

In 2010,  nearly 100 districts in the country were under total domination of Maoists. Today, only 39 districts have a presence of Maoists, and they are nowhere as powerful in their areas as even eight years ago.

 

Incidents of violence involving Maoists are down from 2,258 in 2009 to 509 in 2021.

 

Death rate is down by 85 per cent: the death toll in Maoist-related violence was 1,005 in 2010; it was down to 147 in 2021.

 

Of 32 Maoist-linked incidents in 2022, two were incidents of killing, which resulted in four fatalities, all Maoists (data until 25 September 2022)

The arc of violence has been considerably restricted with just 30 districts accounting 88% of the LWE violence. The Communist Party of India (CPI) (Maoist) continues to be the most potent among the various LWE outfits in the country and accounted for more than 86% of total LWE violent incidents and 96% of resultant deaths.

While the success of eliminating LWE from Bihar and Jharkhand is to be lauded still the core is intact in Chhattisgarh.Following needs to be done:-

Strengthening and upgrading security forces, strengthening intelligence gathering, cutting off funds for Maoists, cracking down on overground sympathisers and workers, and ‘urban Naxals’and confining them to the jungles will have to be done. An all out assault will then have to be launched.

 

New I&B Ministry guidelines-TV channels obliged to promote ‘national interest’

 

The Union Government’s revised guidelines for uplinking and downlinking of satellite TV channels, aimed at making India a ‘teleport hub for other countries’, include one new section ,the clause that states TV channels must devote at least 30 minutes every day to content designed to promote ‘public service and national interest’. The Cabinet has given its approval to guidelines that have made it obligatory for TV channels to telecast such content on eight themes — education and spread of literacy; agriculture and rural development; health and family welfare; science and technology; welfare of women; welfare of the weaker sections of society; protection of environment and of cultural heritage; and national integration. The rationale for the move, according to the policy document, lies in the fact that ‘airwaves/frequencies are public property and need to be used in the best interest of the society’.

 

Though the guidelines came into effect on November 9, the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting has said that TV channels would be given time to conceptualise and create content on the eight themes. The guidelines are binding on all channels except foreign ones and those devoted to wildlife and live telecast of sports. According to the ministry, in case any channel is found to be non-compliant, an explanation will be sought from it.

 

The newspapers and TV channels today are full of negative news in the country, while the fact is lot of positive things are also taking place in the country and they must be brought to the notice of common people. The media should not create an atmosphere of despondency that this country has no future. Bad news is good news for media for increasing their TRP, however in the interest of the country positive news also should be given due importance. Most of the  bad news in the International Media is written by Indians who are who are have a very negative opinion about their own country. This must stop.

On the face of it, there seems little to fault in the choice of the eight themes or even the advisory — after all, the idea of promoting ‘national interest’ is good. However, the real problem lies in the interpretation of the term ‘national interest’.On the flip side, more pliable channels could turn this 30-minute programming into advertorials. The ministry, thus, must display flexibility and let it be just an advisory with no punitive action attached.