Page 328 - Failure to Triumph - Journey of A Student

The bill was widely viewed as a “pet project" of Indian National Congress President Sonia Gandhi.
Former National Advisory Council member and development economist Professor Jean Drèze,
reputedly one of the architects of the original, 2011 version of the bill, wrote, “…the Bill is a form of
investment in human capital. It will bring some security in people’s lives and make it easier for them
to meet their basic needs, protect their health, educate their children, and take risks." Minister of

Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution K.V. Thomas stated in an interview, “This is no
mean task, a task being accomplished in the second most populated country in the world. All the
while, it has been a satisfying journey. The responsibility is not just of the Central Government but
equally of the States/Union Territories. I am sure, together we can fulfill this dream. The day is not far
off, when India will be known the world over for this important step towards eradication of hunger,
malnutrition and resultant poverty…By providing food security to 75 percent of the rural and 50
percent of the urban population with focus on nutritional needs of children, pregnant and lactating

women, the National Food Security Bill will revolutionize food distribution system.”

NAXALISM IN INDIA

The term Naxalites comes from Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a section of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) led by Charu Majumdar, Kanu Sanyal and Jangal Santhal
initiated a violent uprising in 1967. On May 18, 1967, the Siliguri Kishan Sabha, of which Jangal was
the president, declared their readiness to adopt armed struggle to redistribute land to the landless.

The following week, a sharecropper near Naxalbari village was attacked by the landlord’s men over
a land dispute. On May 24, when a police team arrived to arrest the peasant leaders, it was ambushed
by a group of tribals led by Jangal Santhal, and a police inspector was killed in a hail of arrows. This
event encouraged many Santhal tribals and other poor people to join the movement and to start
attacking local landlords.

Mao Zedong, provided ideological leadership for the Naxalbari movement, advocating that Indian
peasants and lower class tribals overthrow the government and upper classes by force. A large
number of urban elites were also attracted to the ideology, which spread through Majumdar’s

writings, particularly the ‘Historic Eight Documents’ which formed the basis of Naxalite ideology. In
1967, Naxalites organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries
(AICCCR), and later broke away from CPM. Violent uprisings were organized in several parts of the
country. In 1969, the AICCCR gave birth to the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)
(CPI(ML)).

Practically all naxalite groups trace their origin to the CPI(ML). A separate offshoot from the

beginning was the Maoist Communist Centre, which evolved out of the Dakshin Desh group. The
MCC later fused with the People’s War Group to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). A third
offshoot was that of the Andhra revolutionary communists, mainly represented by the UCCRI(ML),
following the mass line legacy of T. Nagi Reddy, which broke with the AICCCR at an early stage.

During the 1970s, the movement was fragmented into disputing factions. By 1980, it was estimated
that around 30 Naxalite groups were active, with a combined membership of 30,000.