BANGALORE: Advocating a shift to area-specific plans for dealing with naxal threats, Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, P V Ramana, on Tuesday, said that area-wise implementation of development action plans would help reduce the naxal menace in the next 7 to 10 years. He was delivering a lecture on naxal menace at a programme organised by the National Institute of Advanced Studies. Ramana suggested working towards a solution based on simultaneous approaches, including bringing about a political consensus on the issue and also a strong security response to threats coupled with socio-economic development. He stated that the naxal movement in the country is stalling development and their leaders are at a loss to draw recruits. “Their strategies of focusing on urban areas for volunteers has failed,” he observed. Ramana also advocated that the government must adopt a strict ‘no-negotiation’ procedure in cases of abduction which are increasing. “If the naxals kill the hostages, there will be a public outcry against the movement and they will lose support. Negotiating just lowers troop morale,” he said, citing the example of Andhra Pradesh where there is a gradual fall in support to the naxal movement after a spate of abductions of prominent government officers and political leaders in the 1990s.
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