New Delhi, Aug 19 (IANS) Dealing with the ‘Naxalite challenge’ would call for ‘fundamental innovations’ in how mineral resources were utilised and forests managed, Congress president Sonia Gandhi said here Thursday.
Addressing the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting here, she said illegal mining had emerged as a serious menace in a number of states with profound political, economic and social implications.
‘What is most worrying is the high degree of convergence between areas that are mineral and forest-rich and areas that are the arenas for tribal deprivation and for Left-wing extremist violence,’ she said.
Gandhi said that protecting the rights of the tribals and ensuring their livelihood were central to bringing about an end to their exploitation and sense of alienation.
‘Dealing with the Naxalite challenge, which the prime minister has described as our single biggest internal security challenge, will call for fundamental innovations in the manner in which our mineral resources are exploited and our forests are managed,’ she said.
The Congress president said the government has taken a number of initiatives like the setting up of a commission of inquiry and a mining regulatory authority to check illegal mining.
