Govt plans to compensate kin of ‘informers’ killed by Maoists
This is the first time the Union government is planning a nationwide system to compensate “informers”.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh
The Centre has decided to compensate families of “informers” who are killed by Maoists for helping security forces. This is the first time that the government is planning to compensate “police informers”, whose deaths are now considered civilian deaths.
A senior government official said that the compensation package was on the cards and they were also planning to give jobs to the kin of such “informers”.
According to Home Ministry data, 2,039 civilians have been killed in the past five years. Of these, 901 were killed by rebels who accused them of being police informers.
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While state police forces are known to maintain funds to pay “informers” and compensate their families if they die, this is the first time the Union government is planning a nationwide system to compensate them.
“We are working on a policy on how to reward families of people killed by Maoists after being branded as informers. It is a serious issue as local people often don’t share information about Maoists’ movement for the fear of being killed,” said the official.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had been briefed about the issue during his recent visit to Sukma in Chhattisgarh.
In October 2014, the government had enhanced the compensation to civilian victims of communal, terrorist or Naxal violence from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. This was the first time the compensation amount was revised after it was introduced by then UPA government in 2008.
“There are several instances when villagers who live in Maoist-affected areas are killed for simply transporting essential supplies to police or central forces camps. They might not be passing on any local intelligence but in the eyes of the Maoists, they are the ones informing security forces of their movement,” said an official involved in anti-Maoist operations.
“If a policy is announced for such victims, it will boost villagers’ morale. The loss of a human life cannot be compensated, but at least their families could get a job or monetary compensation,” the official said.
The official added that the government’s new anti-Maoist policy will be unveiled soon. “After framing the policy, we had sent it to the concerned states. We have received their comments and all of them are on board. It will soon be sent to the Cabinet for approval,” said the official. As per the proposed policy, the one-time payment to Maoists who surrender will be raised from Rs 2.5 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Also, the monthly stipend for such Maoists is proposed to be increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6,000. The proposed policy also calls for strict monitoring of Maoists who surrender.
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