Zero voting in Chhattisgarh Maoist bastion by poll: what a contrast with Bihar! Pamed, Chhatisgarh: according to a very insightful and painstaking report in the English press, seven polling booths in Chhattisgarh reported zero voting in the Bastar Lok Sabha constituency bypoll. By itself, this may not be very startling news if one were to focus on the remoteness of the site alone. But place it along side our earlier report ‘Around 200 supporters, sympathisers and members of banned outfit CPI (Maoist) in fray for panchayat elections’ [http://wp.me/p14ArU-38Y]and you begin to see a new... 

Naxalism gets corporatized: 5,000 crore budget target, revenue from opium farming too! Patna: according to a report in the Hindi press, the Central Committee of the Maoists in India met in the Saranda forests at the Jharkhand border and took some vital decisions for the year 2010-2011. Very much in the manner of a state government, the core body set the target of Rs 5,000 as the revenue target to be met through collection of levies from the different states, to be collected through its district units from businesses, small and big industries, mines as well as governments servants. The committee...