ABSTRACT
Military counterinsurgencies can intensify wars by exacerbating the very violence and attacks upon civilian populations that they are meant to temper. Chhattisgarh's limited efforts to banish the Maoists proved ineffective, particularly after operations in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh during 2004-05 drove many Maoist fighters to Chhattisgarh as a safe haven. The conflict's epicentre is the heavily forested and poverty-stricken district of Dantewara. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is the primary official military operation in Chhattisgarh, and was extensively deployed in the region to combat the Maoists. Salwa Judum is the brainchild of Mahendra Karma. In Dantewara, iron helps generate the funding needed to enlarge personnel, arms and territory on all sides of the conflict. Iron ore processing plants dot the district, mining roughly eighty billion dollars of mineral. Salwa Judum is in many ways a complete success, operating exactly as its founders intended, as a land and power grab masquerading as local uprising.
