Insurgency in the North-East India

No other insurgency-linked killing has been reported from the State in 2018 so far . Manipur was the second most violent state in the country behind Jammu and Kashmir. Still, neither Manipur, nor the northeast, has figured prominently in the policymaking of the national leaders. For instance, fencing the 4,095 kilometer long Indo-Bangladesh border, pitted as the solution to the problems of cross-border militancy as well as illegal migration, has progressed at a tardy pace. In the oil-rich Assam, militants have periodically targeted oil and gas pipelines for sabotage, alleging that India is exploiting the natural resources of the state. In Tripura, national projects — such as the extension of the rail lines — have either been stalled or have moved with a tardy pace after militants attacked the construction sites and abducted workers.

Due to government measures like AFSPA and various reports of human rights violation due excesses by security forces adds fuel to fire. North East India comprises of eight states namely- Sikkim, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya. It is bounded by Tibet Autonomous Region , Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Thus it has strategic, political and economic significance for India.Even after seven decades of Indian independence, the regions are still remained under developed. Among other reasons like geographical isolation, insurgency in the northeast India has been a major cause for underdevelopment.
Authorities routinely granted permission, although in some cases the approval process was lengthy. Some human rights groups claimed this  practice provided the government with tacit control over the work of NGOs and constituted a restriction on freedoms of assembly and association. According to HRW from January to June, the government temporarily shut the internet 20 times in different locations across the country. There were some government restrictions on access to the internet, disruptions of access to the internet, and censorship of online content. There were also reports the government occasionally monitored users of digital media, such as chat rooms and person-to-person communications.

Compared to 2014, there has been an 80 per cent reduction in insurgency incidents in 2020. Similarly, in this period, casualties of security force personnel have come down by 75 per cent and civilian deaths by 99 per cent,” the MHA said. "The year 2019 and 2020 witnessed the lowest number of insurgency incidents and casualties of civilians and security forces during the last two decades. In comparison to the year 2014, there has been a reduction of 80 per cent in the incidents of insurgency in the year 2020," it said. The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday stated that tough steps taken against insurgency in the Northeast resulted in the surrender of 6,000 insurgents and an 80 per cent reduction in militancy-related incidents since 2014 when the Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre. However, floating of such smaller ethnic insurgent groups serves two broad purposes for NSCN (I-M).
Our troops and junior leadership were so well trained that it is a matter of pride, while we raided many hostile camps, captured large numbers of arms, ammunition and hostiles, not even once hostiles could target us. Many a times we would be dropped by choppers in the thick remote jungles with old quarter inch scale maps disoriented, not knowing our bearings and where to go for quite some time, as all the hills in the thick landmarks deprived jungles with no habitation around for miles looked alike. There was constant threat of hostile ambushes or straying into East Pakistan or Burma and troops, especially the column commanders remained at tenterhooks. The Indian Air Force MI-4 helicopters with fighter escorts were unable to reinforce troops to besieged 1 AR Aizawl location due to heavy and accurate fire of the MNF insurgents.

Mining, construction activity and business attracts a large number of immigrants, who stay there for long periods. A development strategy in which the locals lose out both in numbers and positions of economic power is clearly ruled out. Sadly, of the two foremost stalwarts of the HNLC – Cheristerfield Thangkhiew and Julius Dorphang, one died in an encounter last year and another is serving jail time for raping a minor girl. It would be a good learning curve for those in government to hear from the surrendered militants as to why they chose the path that is fraught with risks.
At this time, there was a small movement of Jaintia nationalism as well, claiming a separate state on the basis of a historical kingdom calledJaintia Rajya. In most of the northeastern states, where indigenous groups constituted the majority of the states’ populations, the law provides for tribal rights, although some local authorities disregarded these provisions. The law prohibits any nontribal person, including citizens from other states, from crossing a government-established inner boundary without a valid permit. No one may remove rubber, wax, ivory, or other forest products from protected areas without authorization. Although the law protects Dalits, there were numerous reports of violence and significant discrimination in access to services, such as health care, education, temple attendance, and marriage.
The Grantee's deliverables to IFA with the Final Report will be the film, a music video, final script, scanned soft copies of story boards, rush footage, productions stills and publicity material. Grant funds will pay for costs towards an honorarium, post-production, professional fees, sound mixing,  publicity and material, studio hire, and an accountant’s fee. Earlier this week, Meghalaya director general of police S B Singh had said, "There are credible leads that are being obtained about the involvement of the group in Sunday night's carnage (Sangma's killing)." He said the encounter took place around 11 am in Achakpek village near Dobu, in which Sohan was killed. Following Sangma's death, counter-insurgency operations had been stepped up in poll-bound South and East Garo Hills districts. The governments of Assam and Meghalaya had come up with a draft resolution to resolve their border disputes in six of the 12 “areas of difference” along the 884-km boundary.

There are a lot of projects and frameworks in the country but there is no proper implementation,” Amstrong Pamei said, appealing NGOs and civil societies to make people aware of things they don’t know. Manipur is located in a border area and trafficking in the North- East is rampant so the NGOs and police personnel should protect them. People should benefit from schemes such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and other educational schemes. “Poverty is high since 1950 but after development it has reduced but hasn’t properly brought upliftment in the state. Vulnerable groups were considered in the 12th Plan and as a result SCs, STs, OBCs, differently able people, people living with HIV, single women, widows and many others benefitted,” Padmaja said, appealing civil society organisations to help and give awareness about the scheme to many others. But then the way the underground organisations ignored the invitation does not come as a complete surprise.
Bonded labor, particularly in brick kilns, continued to be a concern in several states. In March, Uttar Pradesh authorities, with assistance from an NGO, rescued 149 bonded laborers from two brick kilns in the state. The law prohibits all forms of forced or compulsory labor, but this problem, including bonded child labor (see section 7.c.), remained widespread. In May the Kerala government hired 21 transgender citizens in Kochi, but several weeks later many of the transgender workers quit their jobs, reportedly because of difficulty finding rental accommodation in Kochi due to their gender identities. HRW reported that children of manual scavengers faced discrimination, humiliation, and segregation at village schools.

I think of the bandh in October, the shutdown of the American government not for a day, but for three weeks. I think of the frustration, the havoc, the needless fear that such intimidation fosters. I think that while Americans still believe that we are so special, the death toll from our insurgency, our bandh, our distinctive forces of intimidation, is much higher in the United States than it is India.
Stringent law and fast criminal justice system for quick disposal of insurgents attack cases. Due the porous border, the insurgents can easily flee to neighbouring countries such as Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh and also establish their underground insurgent bases. The party is going to launch the poll bugle in the state where it came to power for the first time in 2018 by ending the 25-year rule of CPI-led Left Front.

The sustained operation (in 2015 alone there were 301 counterinsurgency operations) spearheaded by the Police forces resulted in significantly hampering the capabilities as well as the support infrastructure of the GNLA militants in the Garo Hills region. This view is further bolstered by the systematic rise in number of surrendered militants between 2014–16. The central and governments in all the northeastern states accelerated efforts towards economic, industrial and infrastructural development, education, health care and preserving and protecting tribal culture and way of living. Focus is on integration of different schemes like sanitation, panchayati raj, forest departments, minor irrigation an ideal ‘Gram Swaraj’ as advocated by Mahatma Gandhi. With economic and political stability, terrorists will get isolated and either perish or surrender and gradually, AFPSA will be removed and region fully integrates with the mainstream.
In the four day long meet in which members of Assembly Committees of north Eastern state are to participate, Speaker of Lok Sabha, Meira Kumar and general secretary PDT Acharya will take part as observers, opposition leader Radhabinod Koijam informed  today. “It will be expected from the authorities concerned under the government of India and the state government concerned that all the measures needed to be taken to ensure that justice is done in the right perspective,” he said. Meanwhile, the AITC leader also urged all the authorities concerned that include the state government of Nagaland and government of India to ensure justice to the victims. “I think this is something which must be taken cognizance of by Government of India and look at all the possibilities of dealing with insurgency and other problems related to terrorism in the right perspective without having to resort to this draconian law,” he further asserted.