The east is red

摘要

For almost 40 years, increasingly large areas of India's remote rural hinterland have been disrupted by Maoist-inspired rebel armies, known as Naxalites, who oppose conventional government. In the early years they were periodically crushed in the states of West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh (AP). But over the past four years inadequate policing and lethargic governments have enabled them to increase. Last year, about 900 people were killed in Nax-alite-inspired clashes. The number for the first three months of this year is nearly 40% up on the same period last year.