Operation Green Hunt Explained

Conflict:	Operation Green Hunt
Partof:	Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
Date:	September 2009 – present (Duration: years)
Place:	India's Red Corridor
Status:	Ongoing
Combatant1:	Government of India CRPF Indian Armed Forces Minister of Home Affairs Ministry of External Affairs
Combatant2:	Communist Party of India (Maoist) People's Liberation Guerrilla Army
Commander1:	Droupadi Murmu (President) Narendra Modi (Prime Minister) Amit Shah (Minister of Home Affairs) Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (Ministry of External Affairs) Dr.Sujoy Lal Thaosen (Director General) Anil Chauhan (Chief of Defence Staff) Manoj Pande (Chief of the Army Staff) R. Hari Kumar (Chief of the Naval Staff) Vivek Ram Chaudhari (Chief of the Air Staff) Rajnath Singh (Minister of Defence) Giridhar Aramane (Defence Secretary)
Commander2:	Ganapathy Anand Kosa Ankit Pandey Kishenji Charu Majumdar Kanu Sanyal Jangal Santhal Sabyasachi Panda Prashant Bose Ashutosh Tudu Yalavarthi Naveen Babu Narmada Akka Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee Deo Kumar Singh Milind Teltumbde Jagdish Mahto Subrata Dutta Mahendar Singh Anil Baruah Shankar Rao Vinod Gawde Lalitha^[1]
Strength1:	Paramilitary personnel: 100,000 + 10,000 + 10,000 Indian Reserve Battalions: Naga Battalions' 2,000 personnel State Armed Police Forces' personnel: 200,000 Greyhounds Special Operation Group^[2] Indian Air Force: MI-17 and MI-17V5 helicopters (and drones)
Strength2:	People's Liberation Guerrilla Army: 8,000 – 9,000 (September 2013) People's Militia (armed with bows, arrows, and machetes): 38,000^[3]
Casualties1:	1,435 Killed
Casualties2:	2,266 killed 9,714 surrendered 10,181 arrested^[4]
Casualties3:	2,319 civilians killed^[5]

Operation Green Hunt is the name used by the Indian media to describe the "all-out offensive by paramilitary forces and the states forces" against the Naxalites.^[6] The operation is believed to have begun in November 2009 along five states in the "Red Corridor."

The term was coined by the Chhattisgarh police officials to describe one successful drive against the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the state. It was erroneously used by the media to describe the wider anti-Naxalite operations; the government of India does not use the term "Operation Green Hunt" to describe its anti-Naxalite offensive.^[7]

Planning and implementation

In October 2009, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) announced that it was in the final stages of planning the offensive and had received approval from the Union-led government. The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) would take the lead in the operations against Maoist insurgents. But in September 2009, the media had already reported a "massive three day joint operation" by the CoBRA and Chhattisgarh police against the Maoists in Dantewada.^[6]

In November 2009, the first phase of the operation began in Gadchiroli district. As many as 18 companies of the central paramilitary forces were moved into the area in anticipation of the operation.^[8]

In April 2010, Mark Sofer had a conversation with Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and M. K. Narayanan on the subject of the "Maoist extremism" and West Bengal's internal security, and offered assistance by Israel in the state's battle against the Maoists.^[9]

In 2009, the government of India had decided to move 80,000 central paramilitary personnel to wage offensive against the Maoists, strengthened by a fleet of 10 armed helicopters from the Indian Air Force.^[10] On 3 January 2013, the government of India said it would deploy 10,000 more central paramilitary personnel in Bastar, Odisha and some parts of Jharkhand.^[11] By May 2013, about 84,000 troops from the CRPF had been stationed in the Red corridor.^[12]

Apart from the paramilitary personnel, the SAPF personnel deployed in operations against the Maoists are estimated to number around 200,000.^[13] In his analysis in March 2014, Gautam Navlakha has claimed that 286,200 CRPF personnel along with 100,000 personnel from other central paramilitary forces and the SAPF are now engaged in the offensive against the CPI (Maoist) in 10 states of India.^[14] On 8 June 2014, the Minister of Home Affairs officially approved the deployment of another 10,000 troops from the paramilitary forces to fight against the Maoists in Chhattisgarh.^[15]

In May 2013, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered an additional 10,000 aramilitary personal to move "towards a fight to finish war against Maoists in Red Zone."^[16]

The Indian Army has also been stationed in the Red corridor; however, the Army claims that it is present there to train the paramilitary personnel to fight against the Maoists and denies its direct role in the offensive operations.^[17] The Chief of the Army Staff and the 7 army commanders in mid-2011 had assessed that, if required, about 60,000-65,000 troops from the Indian Army would need to be induced in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and West Bengal to battle the Naxalites.^[18] On 30 May 2013, the Indian Air Force's Air Chief Marshal declared that apart from the currently operating MI-17 helicopters, the Indian Air Force is inducing a fleet of MI-17V5 helicopters to "provide full support to anti-Naxal operations."^[19]

In August 2014, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated that it is "sending" 2,000 personnel from the Naga Battalions of the Nagaland's Indian Reserve Battalions (IRB) in Chhattisgarh's Bastar to attack the Maoists, which according to The Economic Times, would make Bastar "the most–militarised zone in India." The Naga Battalion personnel are being send to fight the Maoists for a second time, with having battled the Maoists once before in West Bengal.^[20]

The Indian armed forces' personnel use satellite phones and they also have access to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).^[13] Security forces have been using UAVs in anti-Maoist operations for quite some time in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.^[21] Presently, the UAVs are being provided by the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) and Indian Air Force, but they have not been able to yield desired results for the armed forces. Hence, to further advance the offensive, the Defence Research and Development Organisation has taken an initiative to specially develop UAVs with "lower frequency radars" for the armed forces to "track down" the Maoists.^[22] The NTRO has specially imported 12 drones from Israel for aerial surveillance of Naxalites' activities in the forest region on Andhra Pradesh–Orissa–Chhattisgarh border.^[23]

See also

• Naxalites
• Timeline of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
• Operation Steeplechase
• Walking with the Comrades

External links

• Chidambaram says no, but troops believe ‘Green Hunt' exists, The Hindu
• "Deep Intelligence" in Bastar: Mapping The Maoists From The Skies
• India For Selective Assassination Of Its Own Citizens?
• Security forces launch "Operation Abujhmad" in Chhattisgarh
• Staring at Defeat – Even the security forces know that every starving Indian is a potential Maoist insurgent, OPEN

Notes and References

1. News: 3 'Senior Commanders' Among 29 Maoists Killed In Bastar. 2024-04-17. Times of India.
2. News: Operation Greenhunt starts in Orissa. 28 September 2013. The Indian Express. 1 April 2010.
3. News: Analysis: India's Maoist challenge . Kamal . Kumar . . August 2013 . 27 February 2014.
4. Web site: Datasheet-terrorist-attack-surrender.
5. Web site: Datasheet-terrorist-attack-surrender.
6. News: Green Hunt: the anatomy of an operation . Aman . Sethi . The Hindu . 6 February 2013 . 23 October 2013.
7. News: There is no 'Operation Green Hunt': Chidambaram . . 2010-04-07 . 2010-04-08.
8. News: Ali . Mazhar . First phase of Operation Green Hunt begins . 2009-11-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110811050717/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2009-11-02/nagpur/28083958_1_gadchiroli-cpmf-operation-green-hunt . dead . 2011-08-11 . . 2010-03-13.
9. News: Israel to help West Bengal tackle Maoists . Rediff . 12 April 2010 . 30 October 2013.
10. News: 10 IAF choppers for rebel combat . https://archive.today/20130923140518/http://www.telegraphindia.com/1091229/jsp/nation/story_11919512.jsp . dead . 23 September 2013 . The Telegraph . . New Delhi . 29 December 2009 . 23 September 2013.
11. Web site: Incidents and Statements involving CPI-Maoist: 2013 . SATP . New Delhi . 27 February 2014.
12. News: CRPF will launch fresh operations against Naxals in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand . https://web.archive.org/web/20131023133926/http://newindianexpress.com/nation/CRPF-will-launch-fresh-operations-against-Naxals-in-Chhattisgarh-Jharkhand/2013/05/30/article1612837.ece . dead . 23 October 2013 . Indo-Asian News Service . . New Delhi . 30 May 2013 . 15 October 2013.
13. News: Reds in retreat . R. . Krishna Das . Sahil . Makkar . Probal . Basak . Dillip . Satapathy . 27 September 2013 . 10 October 2013 . Business Standard.
14. Web site: Ambush amplifies a struggle . Gautam . Navlakha . Gautam Navlakha . Sanhati . 30 March 2014 . 17 May 2014.
15. News: Chhattisgarh gears for 'result-oriented' approach against Maoists . Pavan . Dahat . The Hindu . Raipur . 12 June 2014 . 13 June 2014.
16. News: Government to deploy 10,000 more personnel in four states to fight Maoists . https://web.archive.org/web/20130523023300/http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-05-08/india/39116026_1_paramilitary-forces-battalions-security-forces . dead . 23 May 2013 . Vishwa . Mohan . New Delhi . 8 May 2013 . . 23 September 2013.
17. Indian Army Raises the Stakes in Its War Against the Maoists . Jyoti . Thottam . . 27 June 2011 . 23 September 2013.
18. Web site: South Asia Intelligence Review: Weekly Assessments & Briefings . Volume 10 (Number 3) . Institute for Conflict Management . SATP . 25 July 2011 . 24 March 2014.
19. News: Air Force to lend support for anti-Naxal operations . The Hindu . The Hindu Group . 30 May 2013 . 17 February 2014.
20. News: Government to send 2,000 para-military men of Naga unit to fight Maoists in Bastar . Aman . Sharma . The Economic Times . 19 August 2014 . 19 August 2014.
21. Web site: Bihar Police using UAV Drones to track Maoists Movements. Indo-Asian News Service . Bihar Prabha. 18 February 2014.
22. News: DRDO's UAVs to track down Naxals . Gaurav Vivek . Bhatnagar . The Hindu . 7 February 2014 . 17 February 2014.
23. News: CRPF, State police ignored pinpoint warning on ambush . Praveen . Swami . The Hindu . 13 March 2014 . 13 March 2014 . India's super-secret National Technical Reconnaissance organisation, or NTRO, operates a fleet of 12 Israeli-made Searcher tactical drones for surveillance of the vast forest tracts on the Andhra Pradesh-Orissa-Chhattisgarh border, home to the largest Maoist formations in the country. The expensive investment in remotely piloted reconnaissance assets has not, however, led to success in detecting hundreds-strong Maoist units..