Sunday, October 10, 2010

India's Hidden War

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/16/fire_in_the_hole

India has been fighting a war against communist insurgents for about the past 10 years but violence, and the death toll is continuing to rise. India is the world's largest democracy in terms of population but the mammoth size of the bureaucracy has been almost unmanageable . Corruption is rampant and regional differences make national consensus on issues very difficult. The communists (Maoists) in India are upset that economic liberalization has not brought the lowest classes out of severe poverty (200 million people, roughly 2/3rds of the US). Since 2009, Operation Green Hunt has been led by government forces to combat the Maoist insurgents, and the fighting has continued into 2010. The region of Chhattisgarh is particularly plagued by violence with several bombings of buses and railroads this year. In 2006 the Maoists raided a well defended mine and made away with all the explosives in the mine. They have used these explosives to build bombs, and it is believed they have enough explosives from just the mine raid alone to supply their insurgency for another 10 years.

--Ray Treonis

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