One of the Best Analysis about Maoist Movement in Nepal I have read so far. *********************************************************** Analysis: "The Maoist Insurgency in Nepal: A Review" By Chudamani Basnet The Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M) launched its "people's war" on February 13, 1996. One Maoist's official publication says that "the people's war is aimed at creating a New Democratic state, then marching towards socialism and then finally towards communism through a continuous series of cultural revolutions under the dictatorship of the proletariat." Inspired by Mao's philosophy that the Marxist-Leninist model of urban revolution is inappropriate for an overwhelmingly rural population, which is both conservative and parochial in outlook and attitude, Nepal's Maoists plan to join the vast peasantry to surround and finally dispose Nepal's urban ruling elites. The insurgency began nearly 6 years after the restoration of "democracy" in Nepal. It has now spread to the whole of the country. Whatever Nepal's government claims, the reality is that Nepal's vast rural areas currently experience either outright Maoist control or a dual government. Latest figures put the total death toll well over 8000. There have been scores of incidences of gross human rights violation from both sides and thousands have been orphaned, widowed and displaced. The confusion is deep as both the Maoists and the security forces do not allow independent researchers to enter conflict zones. Based on six factors (the environment, organization, cohesion, popular support, external support, and the government role) as suggested by various insurgency experts, I will try to explore the emergence, sustenance and the future of the insurgency in Nepal in this article. Environment (state, society and geography) A review of the most recent Human Development Report commissioned by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) helps understand the spatial and social inequality prevalent in Nepal. The report puts the country's Human Development Index (HDI) value at 0.466 with a life expectancy of 59.5 years and an adult literacy rate of 50.7 per cent. The report notes that the HDI for urban areas is much higher than that for rural areas. Human development in the mountains is far below that in the hills. Except for the central mountains, which benefit from their relative proximity to Kathmandu and from tourism, the mountains have low human development than the Tarai. Among the development regions, the human development index for the mid-western region and for the far western region is lowest among Nepal's 5 "development regions." The human development report also shows that Nepal's "ethnic" and "indigenous" groups such as the Limbus, Tamangs, Magars, Tharus, and Musahars suffer a severe deprivation of opportunities in all aspects of life. The condition of the so-called "untouchables" is still worse. The human development report further notes that the level of human development correlates directly with investments in the country's development regions. The report convincingly poses that both human and income poverty persists largely because of the historic neglect of successive governments in Kathmandu. Nepal in the 1990s increasingly witnessed ethnic cleavages. These cleavages were evident at the time of the drafting of the Constitution of Nepal 1990. Nepal's new constitution for the first time in Nepal's history accepted Nepal as a "multiethnic", "multilingual" and "democratic" country. But the demands of various ethnic groups to declare Nepal a secular state was refused by the constitution drafting committee. Similarly, the new constitution created a cleavage between the "official" Nepali language and the "language of nationalities." Ethnic leaders and activists took these instances as "exclusionary practices" of the Nepali state. Nepal's current Maoist insurgency should be analyzed against these backgrounds. It is no coincidence that the emergence of the insurgency corresponds to the human development index of the county. The Maoist insurgency is strong in Nepal's rural areas than urban areas. It is strong in mid-western and far-western hills where the human development index is the lowest in the country. Similarly, the Maoist movement first originated in the mid-western hills where the Nepal's one of the most deprived ethnic groups, the Kham Magars, is predominant. Scattered studies and newspaper reports suggest that a large number of the Maoist cadres come from the deprived ethnic groups and the so called "untouchables." It seems obvious that the Maoists drew their support from those groups which were historically neglected by the Nepali state. Nepal's geography is yet another factor that is conducive to guerilla warfare. More than two third of Nepal's total area is mountainous. Lack of transportation and communication facilities contribute greatly to the absence of the Nepali state in rural hinterlands. Like the Andes in Peru for the Shining Path guerrillas, Nepal's hills offer safe sanctuaries for the Maoists. The unfenced and unguarded boarder between Nepal and India further offer safe-hideouts to the Maoists. In short, a favorable geography, a sizable mass of people marginalized by Nepali state and vast rural areas neglected by the Nepali state all offer an ideal environment for the rise and sustenance of the insurgency.