The month of May has been a month of fury! The Sun has been shining with full fury on the Indian subcontinent and the people are looking forward to some respite from the scorcher. Nature's fury was evident when a tornado hit Oklahoma city in the USA killing many and destroying property worth millions. Closer home, Cyclone Mahasen created havoc in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
These natural furies are, in a sense, Nature's way of getting back at Mankind for the indiscriminate destruction of natural resources in the name of development and economic progress. Trees have been cut and large swath of forested areas have been encroached upon. Use of pesticides and insecticides have contaminated soil and the produce from such soil is acting as a slow poison for the end users which is us. The mineral wealth is also getting depleted at an alarming pace. Emissions from automobiles and industries have created the "Green House Effect" and the overall temperature has been steadily rising over the years. The glaciers are melting and the sea water is claiming back land. The fragile ecosystem has been damaged beyond repair. The "Fury" that nature has unleashed can be best summed up through the idiom "You will always Reap as you Sow".
That brings me to another form of fury that saw the decimation of many in the tribal district of Bastar of Chhattisgarh in Central India. In a well coordinated move that amplified serious security lapses on part of the state government, a large convoy of vehicles carrying Indian National Congress leaders and workers was attacked by a group of well armed Naxalites. Two hours of frenzied fury left many dead including Mahendra Karma, a leading Congress leader and a staunch anti-Maoist, Nand Kumar Patel, the Congress party chief of the state of Chattisgarh and his son to name a few and scores injured including VC Shukla, a former central cabinet minister. More than the killings, the brutality of the killings gave rise to another round of "Fury" amongst the masses all across the country.
The menace of Naxalism termed as Red Terrorism is more of a class conflict than anything else. What started as an armed movement between the haves and have nots in Naxalbari, Bengal, has been to a certain extent hijacked by enemies of the state. The state of the art weapons that the extremists now possess are a tell tale sign of the same. Things have compounded as the Naxalites have been able to garner the support of the tribals as the states have failed miserably to stop their exploitation. The tribals have been forced out of their age old refuges in the jungles as these areas have been handed over to big corporations for mining activities. The corporates rake in profits at the expense of the locals.
With their natural habitat destroyed and the government showing apathy towards their plight, the tribal turned towards the Naxals and Maoists who were trying to establish themselves. The result, Naxal affected area today includes parts of Chattisgarh, Andra Pradesh (though the Grey Hounds elite corps have nearly wiped out the menace there), Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharasthra, Odisha and West Bengal to name a few.
If there had been an equitable distribution of wealth at the very outset and the administration had had more empathy, the peaceful tribals would have remained peaceful and the menace would have been curbed. That again brings me to the idiom that has already been quoted "You will always Reap as you Sow".
These natural furies are, in a sense, Nature's way of getting back at Mankind for the indiscriminate destruction of natural resources in the name of development and economic progress. Trees have been cut and large swath of forested areas have been encroached upon. Use of pesticides and insecticides have contaminated soil and the produce from such soil is acting as a slow poison for the end users which is us. The mineral wealth is also getting depleted at an alarming pace. Emissions from automobiles and industries have created the "Green House Effect" and the overall temperature has been steadily rising over the years. The glaciers are melting and the sea water is claiming back land. The fragile ecosystem has been damaged beyond repair. The "Fury" that nature has unleashed can be best summed up through the idiom "You will always Reap as you Sow".
That brings me to another form of fury that saw the decimation of many in the tribal district of Bastar of Chhattisgarh in Central India. In a well coordinated move that amplified serious security lapses on part of the state government, a large convoy of vehicles carrying Indian National Congress leaders and workers was attacked by a group of well armed Naxalites. Two hours of frenzied fury left many dead including Mahendra Karma, a leading Congress leader and a staunch anti-Maoist, Nand Kumar Patel, the Congress party chief of the state of Chattisgarh and his son to name a few and scores injured including VC Shukla, a former central cabinet minister. More than the killings, the brutality of the killings gave rise to another round of "Fury" amongst the masses all across the country.
The menace of Naxalism termed as Red Terrorism is more of a class conflict than anything else. What started as an armed movement between the haves and have nots in Naxalbari, Bengal, has been to a certain extent hijacked by enemies of the state. The state of the art weapons that the extremists now possess are a tell tale sign of the same. Things have compounded as the Naxalites have been able to garner the support of the tribals as the states have failed miserably to stop their exploitation. The tribals have been forced out of their age old refuges in the jungles as these areas have been handed over to big corporations for mining activities. The corporates rake in profits at the expense of the locals.
With their natural habitat destroyed and the government showing apathy towards their plight, the tribal turned towards the Naxals and Maoists who were trying to establish themselves. The result, Naxal affected area today includes parts of Chattisgarh, Andra Pradesh (though the Grey Hounds elite corps have nearly wiped out the menace there), Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharasthra, Odisha and West Bengal to name a few.
If there had been an equitable distribution of wealth at the very outset and the administration had had more empathy, the peaceful tribals would have remained peaceful and the menace would have been curbed. That again brings me to the idiom that has already been quoted "You will always Reap as you Sow".
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