Lesson still needs to be learned from classical economic doctrine

“It does in districts like Karimnagar of Andhra Pradesh for instance, where the state government has developed a unique set of employment plans for the village youth. The district has been the hotbed of Naxalite recruitment and to match those offers, the state has tied up with private sector companies as far afield as Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore to recruit security guards for them or even to work as counter clerks at fast food joints. Those initiatives have paid off.

The same economic logic has worked in another way in the Sarguja district of Chhattisgarh. The northernmost district of the state has seen a sharp fall in numbers and a ruinous split within the Naxal ranks in the last few years. The brutal answer is the coal and transport mafia. The groups have been co-opted into the under belly of the coal business, competing and often cooperating with the local business for the same prize. This is, of course, an unstable peace. But it has created an avenue for the district administration to move into areas where there was no scope even a couple of years ago. Obviously the Andhra Pradesh model is replicable, the Sarguja one is not. But both have done the trick.”

Read the full article here