Naxalites

I'm not sure whether I'd heard of Naxalites before last fall. Here's the latest from The Economist about them: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13900099

My Fulbright orientation materials warned of traveling in certain areas in India. It looks like the continuing failures of state governments, especially in communist-ruled West Bengal, is leading to a militarized response to the latest Maoist-inspired Naxalite violence. Irony shouldn't blind us to reality: after all, the Maoists successfully dethroned the monarchy in Nepal, India's next-door neighbor.

Corruption in India seems endemic. We observed it in police stops for otherwise unenforced minor traffic violations and heard a credible account of a government loan officer demanding 25% kickbacks for home-construction loans. A local official with the revenue office described the lack of accountability by Indian NGOs for government funds and their resulting misuse.

The American conservative-libertarian emphasis on the virtues of the market ring hollow in the ears of those victimized by their own governments or by those who can co-opt the justice system. India's progress and stability depends in significant part on rooting out corruption.