Why we fail to quell insurgency

Defying worldwide trends, India continues to be home to some of the world's oldest insurgencies.

Sixty four years ago Jawaharlal Nehru had made a frantic effort to clear the corridors of government offices of chaprasis. He even sent a senior diplomat to London to study how the British government managed without them. A detailed report was submitted. And then nothing happened. India's effort to deal with armed rebellion within its borders is almost as old as Nehru's failed clean-up. The Maoist attack last Saturday in Chhattisgarh's jungles which claimed the lives of Congress leaders and ordinary people show how lethargy and myopia have helped establish India's reputation as home to some of the world's oldest insurgencies. 

Saturday's massacre is neither the last assault of a dying movement nor the resurgence of an old one.