Adivasi Insurrections

In the article “Contextualising Five Decades of Naxalbari” (EPW, 28 October 2017) by Debatra K Dey on the Naxalbari uprising and its implications for the current Maoist movement in central India, the author has correctly identified a critical question with respect to the role of government policies in the agricultural sector, leading to displacement of rural masses, especially the Adivasi population. Dey also raised questions about the legitimacy of the agrarian revolution as conceived by the Communist Party of India (Maoist)—CPI (Maoist).

The author has explored two pertinent issues, that is, the current state of Adivasis and agriculture. The dominant discourse on insurrection has not focused adequately on these issues. However, the article contains some small factual mistakes. The author writes “Of the nine states considered to be seriously affected by LWE [Left Wing Extremism], six are states with scheduled districts.” Rather, these should be 10 states and seven states, respectively.