Naxals Scout for Techies

This story was given to me by Rituraj Mate who met Govindan Kutty the spokeperson for the Naxals a week before his arrest and asked me if I was interested in speaking to him too. I did a telephone interview with him and asked him to supply the document the naxals had prepared during their annual congress at an undisclosed location. After receiving the full document from Kutty, I asked my co-worker Niranjan Kaggere (who was very interested in doing this story with me), to read the document fully. After he had finished he was planning to do another angle for which I advised him to write that the Naxals are on the look for techies so that they could strengthen their hands and also get world attention on the click of a computer button. This story was discussed with K R Sreenivas the Resident Editor of Bangalore Mirror and then the final text was put to print on December 12, 2007.

Bangalore is one of the cities being targeted by naxals as a recruiting ground for tech-savvy urban comrades

Silicon city had better watch out. Its high tech an glitzy reputation of the country’s own home-grown terror movement. And it won’t be long before the red corridor along eastern India beats a path to Bangalore. Sources within the naxal movement said that a ‘tech’ overhaul of guerilla squads, with a focus on urban areas, is on the anvil.
It is not only techies whom the naxals aspire to rope in; they have ‘plans’ even for the medical fraternity. They party plans to grow networks of sympathizing doctors and hospitals where comrades can be treated. Speaking to Bangalore Mirror Govindan Kutty, a spokesman of the Communist Party (Maoists), said that despite recent setbacks, the movement would be reorganized and intensified.
Buttressing his remark are the ‘guidelines to guerrillas’ adopted at the party’s congress held recently at an undisclosed place, which talk of urban network in cities like Bangalore as a ‘back-up’ for guerrilla squads fighting in remote forest areas across the country.

Govindan Kutty with a friend during his service to the people in these pictures provided by him.

The pictures of the naxal carders during training with sophisticated weapons at undisclosed locations provided to me by Govindan Kutty.

Admitting that there has been a considerable setback in the party’s urbanization plans, Kutty philosophized, ‘setbacks, victories, defeats, up and downs have to be faced by any revolutionary movement.’
Almost echoing his statement the draft guidelines of the party mailed to this newspaper leaves one in no doubt about its urban agenda. ‘In the past 30 years, there has been a disregard towards the tasks of the urban movement. As per the ‘Policies of the Revolutionists’ findings of the ninth congress, the urban areas, with over 60 per cent of the gross domestic product and a huge population, have a growing role to play in the economy as well as in the revolution. It is, therefore, absolutely necessary to quickly correct the imbalance.’
The CPI (Maoists) guidelines focus on urban areas with a large working class. The guidelines urge naxal activists to reorient and reorganize urban outfits, and call for urban and working-class ‘specialization’ (read, representation) in high level party committees. Cities in the party’s cross hairs are Bangalore, Ahmedabad-Pune corridor, Delhi, Chennai and the Coimbatore-Erode belt.
In a detailed e-mail, Kutty said, ‘There is a perception that Maoists are against developmental activities. If we were against development. People would not have supported us. Without development, the country cannot progress. But the question is: development for whom? ‘For MNC’s or a handful of traitors who mortgage out country for a song, or for the majority of common people?’
According to the guidelines, ‘Technical help from the cities will in the form of repairs and maintenance of fighting, communication and other equipment of the guerrillas of the PLA, and preparing comrades with technical, electrical, electronic and other engineering skills to take up the challenges in forest and rural areas.’
In other words, the common man’s perception that the naxal movement is restricted to rural and forest areas of the country may no more be relevant. Cities like Bangalore will increasingly be beach-heads for the comrades’ power through the gun’ Agenda.

GUNS AND BRAINS
Urban comrades with good technical skills are the essence of the party and the revolution, according to the guidelines. The idea is to provide working-class leadership an technical support for the people’s war in rural areas and remote places. Unorganized sectors like textile and small scale units – labouring under poor working conditions – are seen as potential recruiting grounds. As the guidelines put it, ‘We must distribute ourselves very well in key industries and set up a strong base.”

VIRTUAL WAR
Naxals are furthering their agenda in cyber space too. They are banking on urban sympathizers with whose assistance they can track, counter and attack the ‘enemy’(read, the state) via the internet.

Quick Gun Ramanna

From the Asiad to school championship's his steady trigger finger has launched a thousand races. As one of the nation's oldest and most respected starters at athletic events, Ramanna has devised his own unique pistol for the purpose.

This story so happened when I went to cove the Inter School athletic meet at the Kanteerva stadium when I saw an old friend Ramanna sir, (as he was known to us in 1980 - 85 when I used to take part in the Inter school Athletic meets), to my surprise Ramanna sir was there after a gap of more than 23 years, still firing away his pistol at the starting point. This time he had a modernized pistol which he had designed himself which he does always. So I quickly walked up to him wished him and he at once recognized me to my luck. I quickly asked him if I could write about him and his passion for making pistol used for starting any race, to which he obliged and below is the story which was published in the Bangalore Mirror edition on July 3rd, 2008.

GET SET, READY, GO RAMANNA
His is a life as an aperitif. Unobtrusive, not quite the main course but the mandatory shot required to set things into motion. That about sums up A Ramanna’s life, as a starter at athletic events across the country. A vocation requiring a split second of work, but a critical second at that.
For, can any of the athletes sprint across without Ramanna’s boom. A starter is the person who sounds the gun-shot at athletic events, the boom sounding the go-ahead for runners poised in their on-your-mark positions. And Ramanna has been doing this for a livelihood for decades now, since 1978.

70 year old Ramanna the Race Starter fires to start yet another race in the Inter school meet in Bangalore on Wednesday 2nd July 2008. Ramanna fires from his own patented pistol which has two triggers, one for starting the race and the other to recall the runner in case of a foul start. He also trains youngesters who are intrested in becoming starters.

The septuagenarian has grown so fond of his job of 30 years, that he has now designed his own pistol or starting gun. “I have collected sulphur from crackers, made pellets of them and designed a contraption that holds this in place, like a pistol. But this can be used only for sports, it only makes the right sound and emits some smoke but is not dangerous at all” explains Ramanna.

LABOUR OF LOVE
Surprisingly, the man, who has been with the Karnataka State Athletic Association, has thus far not received a single gun for this rather important shot. This prompted him to design his own pistols and distribute them free to sundry starters across the country. “I have not received any encouragement from the Association but I’m doing this for myself because I love this job. When there is an athletic meet, I just get some remuneration “says Ramanna, who according to the rolls of the Association is called a Technical Official.
Name any major athletic meet in any part of the country and he’s been there, right from the Asiad at New Delhi in 1982 to the recent Inter National athletic meet in Bangalore. He has stepped out of India once to Sri Lanka for a sporting event. The 70-year old has designed some 15 pistols or starter guns so far, all with his own money.

A PERFECTIONIST
When he’s not attending athletic meets, he meticulously collects information on the right kind of starter pistol that can go off without any hitch. As some other officials at the Kantreeva stadium recall, there have been days when a gong or some other gun had to be used for the purpose when athletes would literally be waiting with bated breath. “The latest one I have designed has two triggers, one for the actual shot and another for recalling, if an anxious runner starts before the signal is sounded,” says Ramanna.
Smoking barrels, doesn’t the Athletic Association really think he doesn’t deserve a thing for wielding a megaphone and sounding a start?
Says Satyanarayana, secretary of the KSAA, “Ramanna retired from HAL and whenever he is the starter at a meet, he gets Rs 1000 a day. There are lots of people like him who work as starters simply for the work enjoyment ad the sense of involvement.

Brunei Sultan's love for Arms!

Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah the Sultan of Brunei visited the garden city of Bangalore on 23rd of May, 2008. his purpose of visit though kept a secret was out in the open the moment he landed into the city. His aim was to strike a arms deal with the Indian Army and also strike a deal with the erstwhile Mysore Maharaja Srikanta Datta Narasimharaja Wadiyar for setting up an resort at his Bangalore Palace and also purchase a few hundred acres of land from the King.
But since I was able to visit only the Army area I have posted some pictures of the Sultan trying his hand some of the pistols and arms on display which the Indian Defense wanted to sell to him. Here are some of his pictures taken by me during his two hour stay at the Parachute Regiment Training Center in Bangalore.

Sultan of Brunei His Majesty Hazi Hassanal Bolkiah comes out of bunker(left) and hops on to his waiting open air jeep (right) after checking it during his visit to the Parachute Regiment Training Center in Bangalore on Friday 23rd May 2008.

Sultan of Brunei His Majesty Hazi Hassanal Bolkiah interacts with officers of the Parachute Regiment (left) and looks at an Multi Media presentation (right) during his visit to the Parachute Regiment Training Center in Bangalore on Friday 23rd May 2008.

Sultan of Brunei His Majesty Hazi Hassanal Bolkiah checks out the latest and modern Weapons for during his visit to the Parachute Regiment Training Center in Bangalore on Friday 23rd May 2008.

Bull Eye: The Sultan of Brunei His Majesty Hazi Hassanal Bolkiah checks out the latest and modern Weapons of Warfare (left) and hits the bulls eye during his visit while trying the latest light combat guns at the Parachute Regiment Training Center in Bangalore on Friday 23rd May 2008.