Untold Stories

India: Guerillas in the Mountains

To smooth over a nerve-wracking encounter with their village militia, the Naxalite cadres went on a hospitality offensive. An additional four hours’ trek into the dense mountain jungle ended at one of their many camps situated on a high plateau where we were welcomed as their “honored guests”. Ploughed fields and a vegetable garden were tended by a tribal family living on site, who welcomed our group with a mashed corn drink served in hollow gourds. Their faces bore none of the resignation common to the displaced I had met in the roadside camps. I asked the patriarch, Ram, how he felt about the Naxals’ presence. He said he didn’t mind them so long as their war never touched his home.

India: Point of No Return

If our reception by the village militia the previous night was less than warm, the next morning was chilling. Already, Chandan, Arvind and I had been told that while we'd come by choice, there was no guarantee they would arrange a meeting with the guerillas. And either way, leaving was not up to us. So we really fell on the side of prisoners rather than guests, though no one wanted to acknowledge this openly.

We were to receive a verdict at 7:30 am. We stepped outside into the dirt square at the appointed time, and waited. The air felt wrong. No one was out and about working the fields as they'd been before; the dozen-odd children that stuck around and stared at us when we arrived were nowhere to be found. Even the pigs and roosters had fled. Just heavy silence. Chandan nervously started singing to himself, Arvind tapped his feet and I scanned the barren hillsides for a sign of something.

India: Into the Wild

No story on the Naxalite conflict would be complete without meeting the insurgents themselves. From Delhi to Dantewada I’d been alternately told they were: a) champions of the powerless, ready to talk b) scheming profiteers who would take me hostage for ransom if given the chance c) thugs sure to slit my throat.

But only a handful of journalists in recent years have actually met any Naxalites face-to-face. The Indian media has for the most part kept its distance, prone as ever to sensationalism. And even fewer stories have appeared overseas. It’s little wonder. Getting to South Bastar is difficult enough, establishing contact far more tricky.

India: Camping by the Road

Dantewada lies at the axis of three roads. Today each of these roads are lined with government-run refugee camps, home to at least 50,000 villagers -- mostly tribals -- that have been relocated since Salwa Judum began. Far from a sign of state control, the camps exist because authorities have defaulted control of vast swathes of the backcountry where Naxalites roam.

Of the 22 official camps throughout the south Bastar region, Dornapal is by far the largest. Row upon row of mud and sheet metal barracks shelter more than 17,000 people, though there are surely many more.

India: New slideshows posted!

Click on the image to view more photographs of the Naxalites, police and militia, and the tribal villagers in the region.

India: Trouble in Paradise

The bus ride from Hyderabad to Dantewada, the main town of Chhattisgarh’s southern Bastar region, took about 16 hours. As the suburbs fell away, the smooth pavement on the road disappeared as well, but the lush beauty of the countryside that seemed to intensify with each mile made up for it.

When I awoke to a pale morning, I had the sensation of hurtling deeper into vortex of green.

India: Voice of a Revolution

After a lifetime of spouting anti-govern ment vitriol, Varavara Rao has an easy smile. But when the silver-haired revolutionary poet greeted me at his Hyderabad apartment, his eyes burned like those of a man with plenty more in his tank.

The 67-year-old Rao has been the voice of India’s Maoist movement since it began four decades ago. His advocacy of armed struggle against the government -- a view that stands in tact today -- moved him to found the Revolutionary Writers’ Association in 1970 in support of the Naxalbari uprising.

India: The Trailhead

Hyderabad goes by the nickname “Cyberabad” for its thriving info-tech sector. Along with Bangalore, the two cities comprise the heart of India’s software empire thanks to high levels of education, job growth, and investment.

It seemed an unlikely place to start reporting on the murky Naxalite movement. But a veteran Indian journalist friend in Delhi insisted that to understand the roots of the insurgency, this is where I needed to go first.

India: A Deadly Year

The Naxals are getting more lethal. So the Asian Center for Human Rights (ACHR), a Delhi-based think tank, concludes in its latest report. According to their estimate, at least 384 people were killed in the Naxalite conflict from January to September of this year.

A series of high profile attacks in recent months bear testimony. A massive landmine blast a month ago nearly killed former Andra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Janardhan Reddy and his wife near a rural village; three members of his escort didn’t make it back. In the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh, the epicenter of Naxalite activity, 24 police officers were killed in July. Fifteen more security personnel (including Special Police Officers) also died in an August 29 ambush close to a district police station.

India: When the Rains Don't Stop

It seems mother nature has no remorse. As water levels were finally beginning to recede, another round of flash floods has undercut millions across eastern India and Bangladesh who had taken first steps in the long recovery.

Overall, the United Nations’ says more than 66 million people have been affected in South Asia since the monsoon season began in June, a number larger than the population of France. Incidences of drowning and the collapse of homes triggered by incessant rains in recent weeks have pushed the death toll past 4,000, while aid agencies warn the humanitarian crisis could worsen as waterborne diseases spread.