New Delhi, Sep 14: Admitting “trust deficit” in naxal-affected areas, government today said the hearts of people living in such regions needed to be won, with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh emphasising the need for “zero tolerance” for corruption in schemes in such places.
Reviewing development in the 60 Left Wing Extremism-hit districts here at a day-long workshop, Singh underlined that the inhabitants of such areas should get “equitable share” in the country's progress through honest implementation of schemes which should be “sensitive” to their needs.
Noting that lack of security is the biggest constraint in development of the LWE areas, he said “practical and pragmatic” steps need to be taken to meet this challenge.
“As an administrator, we must have zero tolerance for corruption. We must demolish the invisible wall between them (people of naxalism-affected areas) and us,” Singh told collectors of 60 naxal-hit districts gathered at the meet.
Coining a new slogan—‘people's development in the hands of people --, he said, the sense of alienation is to be converted into a sense of belongingness.”
He emphasised the need for winning the “trust of people” in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas.
His remarks came after Home Minister P Chidambaram said, “The villagers are not yet on our side...the government side or at least not all villagers are on our side because of trust deficit, governance deficit and development deficit”. Though he described Left Wing Extremism as the “most violent movement”, Chidambaram said the fight against Naxalism cannot be won unless villagers are on the side of the authorities.
“Lack of devlopment often leads to a sense of alienation among the inhabitants of these areas. If the sense of alienation is to be converted into a sense of belongingness, our programes and policies must ensure that the people of these areas have equitable share in the prosperity that a rapidly growing economy like ours is bound to bring in,” the Prime Minister said.
Coining a new slogan—‘people's development in the hands of people, he said the government's programmes and policies must ensure that people of these areas have “equitable share in the prosperity” of the country whose economy is rapidly growing.
“If we can find a way to ensure that development programmes are delivered with complete honesty and the right intention, I do not see why these will not be accepted,” Singh said.
Addressing the meet, Minister for Road and Highways C P Joshi said there is a deficit in trust, governance and development in tribal areas and said a police officer and his uniform are still very much feared in a tribal village.
Chidambaram, while acknowledging the need to engage with the Naxals, said efforts to maintain law and order and development have to go hand in hand in these areas.
Noting that priorities between whether development should precede maintenance of law and order or vice versa depends on situations adding the focus shifts to more development when there is more peace.
Citing the example of eruption of Maoist violence in South Bihar, where the programme of brining government to the doorstep of the people took precedence some time ago, Chidambaram said “perhaps the focus has to shift to restoring law and order before we could bring governance to the people's door step.” PTI
