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    ISAS Working Papers

    Long-term studies on trends and issues in South Asia

    109 : The Naxalite/Maoist Movement in India: A Review of Recent Literature

    John Harriss

    8 July 2010

    This paper reviews recent writing by and about India's Maoists, much of it from the pages of the Economic and Political Weekly, which has been the most important forum for informed reporting and commentary. An account is given of the recent history of the Naxalite/Maoist Movement, and of the ideology and tactics of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Particular attention is paid to the findings, both of the few social scientists who have undertaken field studies and human rights activists who have had direct contact both with party cadres and village people amongst whom they move. These illuminate the relationships between the revolutionary movement and the people of those areas in which the Maoists have a strong presence