The Red Corridor and Maoism: Issues and
Challenges, August 18-20, 2016.
A
national seminar on the “The Red Corridor and Maoism: Issues and Challenges”
was held at ECC during August 18-20, 2016. The keynote address was given by Prof. Fr. Dr. Mathew Chandrankunnel.
The resource persons were Dr. Moses P.
Manohar, Executive Director of ICSA, who is also a human right activist; Dr.
Bibhu Prasad Routray, Deputy Director,
National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Prime Minister's Office, New
Delhi; Fr. Jerry Kurien, teaching faculty and acting chairperson of the Department
of Communication at UTC; Dr. Nalini Arles, retired professor
from UTC; Mr. TSS Mani, a social
activist and Dr. Mervin Sinoj Boas, teaching faculty in the department of
Theology at UTC.
People are ignorant about the issues related to
Maoism. This seminar was an eye opener for many of the participants. Fr.
Chandrankunnel in his keynote address shared his experiences of working with the
maoists and highlighted the issues and challenges that we are facing in the red
corridor region of India. In line with the keynote address, Dr. Moses speak on The Grievances of the People in the Red
Corridor Region of India: A call to voice for the voiceless. Dr. Moses highlighted
the purpose of Indian nation that is
democratic to ensure life, liberty and property to all citizens. He concluded his talk by suggesting strategies
to help the people at the margins on how to access human rights. Dr. Routray
who serves as the Deputy Director in
the National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), Prime Minister's Office, New
Delhi gave
a detail on the emergence of Maoism in India and discussed the three stages of
Maoism- the surge stage, the decline stage and the revival stage. According to
him internal squabbles led to the
movement splitting repeatedly, particularly during the first two decades of its
existence. Fr. Jerry highlighted the media and its usage by the Maoists.
He concluded his talk by stating
the emerging trends of Naxal movement is moving towards young and urban crowd
from Rural region through the influence of media. In the next session, Dr. Nalini shared her experiences of
working with the terroists involved in the Bangalore blast. She talked about
the psychological causes of antisocial behaviour. She has rightly pointed out
that, “one person’s terrorist is
another person’s freedom fighter.” It is probable that Maoist struggle in India
is also based on that principle. The next session was with Mr. TSS Mani, a
social activist. The talk was very informative in spreading light on various
dimensions of the red corridor issues such as economical, political and
historical aspect of Maoism. He focussed the neo-liberalization, globalization
and semi-colonialization that has brought both positive and negative effects on
the Indian society. In the final session
Dr. Boas gave a theological reflection. He concluded his reflection by saying, “spiritual
satisfaction can be attained only by responding to the real problem.” The
seminar ends with the presentation of the draft by drafting committee (Mr.
Newton, Ms. Ida Jenefa, Rev. Iniyan and Ms. Bhawani) and with the concluding remarks from the Director, Very
Rev. Cherian Thomas.
