Development Programs and the Maoist Insurgency in Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh: A Comparative Analysis

This thesis compares development programs in two states -- Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh -- that have been affected by the Maoist insurgency in India, also known as Naxalism. It provides a history of Naxalism as well as an examination of the various attempts to combat Naxalites in both states. While the law and order approach has long been preferred to counter the Naxal threat, recently there has been a shift in favor of the hearts and minds approach, embodied by the development programs under the Integrated Action Plan IAP. The thesis assesses these programs across the two states in terms of how effective they have been in reaching their objective of reducing Naxalite violence. The results show that, while the IAP schemes are still new and thus difficult to evaluate, there are many projects underway in both states despite continued Naxal activity and lack of governance in those states. The presence of good governance may help make the IAP programs more successful, but that does not mean that the programs will fail where governance is lacking. Violence associated with Naxalism has declined in both states recently this seems to correspond with the increase in governance that these programs bring to adivasi communities.