Home Page of Dr. Saumitra Mohan

The Refugee Problem: Need for a Coordinated Response *Saumitra Mohan From a population displacement perspective, South Asian region has a unique history. Here, people have been pushed beyond their borders as a result of war or they have left their country of origin on ethnic, racial, ideological or religious grounds. Subsequently, migrations have taken place for environmental or developmental reasons as well. The States of India and Pakistan witnessed massive refugee movements from the time of independence itself. After the 1947 partition, 7.5 million Hindu and Sikh refugees from Pakistan crossed over to India and 7.2 million Muslim refugees from India crossed to Pakistan. It was the largest recorded refugee movement in history. There was little international assistance in this massive humanitarian crisis. Later, in 1971, 10 million refugees crossed over to India during the war of independence of Bangladesh. I...

Creating Newer States: How Desirable? *Saumitra Mohan Given the way demands for creation of newer states keep cropping up from time to time, it seems that the reconfiguration and reorganization of the Indian State could go on for ever. One felt that no such political demands centring around creation of a separate state would be put forward after the last such exercise was undertaken in the year 2000. The same resulted in the birth of three new states namely Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal. The country has witnessed many such demands in recent times as also borne out by the fact that as many as ten such demands are now pending with the Central Home Ministry. These inter alia include demands for a separate Mithilanchal in Bihar, Saurashtra in Gujarat, Coorg in Karnataka, a Harit Pradesh in UP, Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Bundelkhand comprising areas from UP and MP and a Bhojpur carved out of Eastern UP, Bihar and Chattisgarh. The demands have ...

Belling the Naxal Cat *Saumitra Mohan After making a tactical retreat from Lalgarh in West Bengal following the state offensive, the Maoists were waiting for an opportunity to strike back to make their sinister presence felt. The recent outrage resulting in the killing of 36 policemen including an SP in Chattisgarh was an example of what the Naxals are capable of. This takes the casualty toll to 148 this year in that hapless state falling in the so-called Red Corridor. Indeed, the three almost simultaneous attacks were the deadliest of the extremist violence Chattisgarh has seen in recent times. The Maoists seem to have struck with lot of precision and planning. The modality and dynamics of the strike are said to be somewhat reminiscent of the early seventies in West Bengal. The worst strike took place in Rajnandgaon, barely 70 km from the state capital of Raipur. This points to the audacity which informs the functioning of the Maoists these days. They appear intent on moving closer to...