Chhattisgarh ‘Naxal surrenders’: screening cleared just 3% in 2016

A SCREENING and rehabilitation committee set up by the Chhattisgarh government held that 97 per cent of the Naxal surrenders it reviewed in 2016 from the affected districts in the state did not adhere to the definition of “Naxal cadre” and were not eligible for benefits under the Centre or state government’s rehabilitation policy.

The committee — comprising senior government, police and paramilitary officers and headed by the Special DG, Anti Naxal Operations and State Intelligence Bureau — receives applications from districts of surrenders made to them, and vets each case on the basis of guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Over the past three years, surrender numbers have shot up in Bastar, with 1,210 listed in 2016. The committee met on two occasions in 2016. At the first, on May 5, it looked at 135 proposals of Naxal “surrenders” between December 2015 and March 2016. Of these, 126 were sent back to the district superintendents of police, asking them to reassess if they qualified as cadre to be rehabilitated under the scheme, with only nine being kept for “further consideration”. At the second meeting, on August 12, 2016, it was found that district police heads in Bastar had sent