Bijapur (Chhattisgarh): Authorities in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur District have given cash incentives to seventeen Maoists rebels who surrendered before the police from 2009-2014 under a state rehabilitation policy.
Cash of 150,000 rupees has been deposited in their fixed deposit bank accounts, which could be availed after three years, said district civil and police officials. “Seventeen Maoists have been facilitated with 150,000 rupees each, and these people will get the amount after three years from their respective fixed deposit accounts,” said Bijapur Collector Yashwant Kumar. The Maoists, also known as ‘Naxals’ in India, seek the violent overthrow of the Indian state and have fought authorities for decades, particularly in rural areas of central and eastern India where they enjoy some support. Maoists say they are fighting to give poor farmers and landless labourers control over their land and a greater claim on mineral wealth exploited by mining companies. They have killed police personnel and politicians and targeted government buildings and railway tracks in insurgent acts, killing thousands since the 1960s.
