With Maoists’ core capabilities remaining intact and State Governments remaining non-responsive to its earlier proposal to appoint serving Army officers as advisors for anti-Naxal operations, the Centre has now proposed putting retired Major-General rank officers of the Army to the task in the four worst-hit States.
The four Naxal-affected States include Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal in which retired Army officials are proposed to be appointed. The Army has so far trained 78,000 men, officers of the Naxal-affected States and the Central paramilitary forces.
The appointment of the retired Army officials will strengthen the operational planning and tactical deployment of components of anti-Naxal operations in the States, sources said.
Earlier, the Centre had proposed to appoint serving Major General with experience of commanding an Infantry Brigade as advisor to anti-Naxal operations in these States. The Government had also forwarded the names of such Army officials but the States did not show interest.
The Centre, on its part, has appointed an Inspector General rank IPS officer in these States with a view to restructure the command and control set up of the central paramilitary forces deployed in the Naxal-affected areas. The IG (Operations) of the CRPF works in close coordination with the IG/ADG (anti-Naxal operation) in the respective States.
A Unified Command has been set up in these States affected by Naxalism in a major way. The Unified Command consists of officers from the security establishment besides civilian officers representing the civil administration. However, meetings of the Unified Commands are not held regularly, Union Home Ministry sources said, adding reminders have been sent to the States to hold regular meetings to sharpen the anti-Naxal operations.
As part of the multi-pronged strategy to deal with Naxalism, the Centre is also spending about Rs 10 crore every year for effective psychological operations to convey the Government’s viewpoint. The Centre has also urged the States to formulate their own psy-op tactics.