BIG STRIKE: A damaged granite factory in Medak (top); and PWG cadre in Bihar (below)

For a nation that has embraced violence with such fervour as India, the increased imperviousness to daily doses of death and destruction seems almost inevitable. So when militants of the outlawed People's War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) decided to unleash yet another round of savagery in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand beginning October this year, the incidents shouldn't have raised eyebrows. Only, they did. For two reasons.

One, in a significant shift in strategy, the PWG attacked industry in Andhra Pradesh, raising fears about a fall in investments in the state. Secondly, not only do the extremists appear better equipped in terms of ammunition and manpower but also seem to have enhanced organisational skills-in Bihar and Jharkhand, the PWG has joined hands with the MCC-proving that they can strike at will.

Taking a serious note of the alarming trend, the Home Ministry invoked the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) last week, banning both the PWG and MCC. Describing the attacks "as acts of cowardice", a worried Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu asked the police to rework their strategy to meet the challenge. "Investments to the state are not likely to be affected because we will put them down with a firm hand," says Naidu. He may have wanted to avoid sending wrong signals to potential investors, but the damage was already done.

In the first wave of violence, the PWG blasted a milk processing plant of Heritage Foods owned by Naidu's family at Piler in Chittoor, destroyed Gopikrishna India Granites partly owned by Union Minister of State for Defence U.V. Krishnam Raju at Ramanathapur, Medak, and a processing plant of Tata Coffee in Toopran, also in Medak, less than 100 km from Hyderabad. Initial estimates of loss at the coffee plant are about Rs 5 crore and it is likely to be two months before production can resume.

While retreating, the militants forced former Indian Air Force chief Air Chief Marshal Dennis La Fontaine to part with his Russian Makorov 9-MM pistol at his farmhouse. "The confidence of the teenagers this time was much higher because they were better armed," says Fontaine, who had had another pistol snatched from him when a group accosted him at home in 1989. "That seemed a ragtag bunch while this one came in jungle fatigues, boots and caps," he adds.

Any such operation involves a reliable local network, and the armed squads are able to draw from a large reservoir of school dropouts belonging to poorer families. The police may have gleaned shreds of information on the militants after intensive interrogation and in some cases, torture, but they still cannot predict militant strikes despite having a special wing.

The situation is worse in Jharkhand where the police stumbled upon a unique recruitment scheme in the Parasnath Hill range of Dhanbad district where the PWG and the MCC force tribal parents to send at least two children to makeshift schools for training, and recruit girls, Dalits and tribal youth. This was revealed after the MCC attack on a Jharkhand Armed Police outpost in Dhanbad, where a large number of women and children were part of the mob that killed all 12 constables, looted 16 SLRs and ammunition on October 31.

MINDLESS MUTILATION: A policeman killed in a PWG blast near Patna in Bihar

Ironically, it is the Ranbir Sena, floated by the Bhumihar landlords in Bhojpur, that is more effective and ruthless than the police in checking the PWG-MCC onslaught, and which compelled the two Naxalite groups to join forces. The police are virtually sidelined and it has affected the morale. At least one of every four police stations out of some 810 in Bihar does not even have a boundary wall, while some 150 police stations are housed in thatched huts. "We cannot be expected to fight day after day without the government providing the necessary inputs," says Bihar Police Association General Secretary K.K. Jha.

The Nation TWIN TERROR PWG: Believes power is gained only through the gun and eliminates those opposing it. Has a strong underground network. Collects donations, slaps taxes and extorts money to raise resources. M.L. Rao has emerged leader after displacing K. Seetharamaiah. MCC: Originated in an obscure schism over Lin Biao. Has teamed up with the PWG in some areas of Bihar. Practises medieval system of punishment using sickles and knives to slit throats.

The Andhra Police are better off. They do have the Greyhounds, an elite commando force, and a counter-intelligence network, but fighting the extremists with weapons alone is not enough. There is need for a campaign to check the free flow of recruits to militant cadres. Naidu has relied on a multi-pronged strategy to contain the violence by using a mix of police action, empowering rural self-help groups and even rehabilitation of extremists. Now, the police involved in anti-extremist operations will be given fresh incentives, like out of turn promotions.

"We need more profitable jobs in the countryside," says Fontaine. If not, the government will remain locked in a long-drawn battle that can ruin the economy. More attacks on economic targets can indeed lead to a fall in investments and cripple the weak Andhra economy where a cash-strapped Government has not paid bills for six months. "The impact on investments will be directly proportional to the extent of attacks," says B.V.R. Mohan Reddy, vice-president, Andhra Pradesh chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry.

These are warnings that the state Government can ill-afford to ignore.