2010: Maoists continue to unleash terror in Jharkhand

Team India captain M S Dhoni’s wedding with Shakshi Singh Rawat in June also made headlines. Deciding that his celebrity status should not intrude into his private life,Dhoni surprised even his childhood icon Sachin Tendulkar by not inviting him as he married Shakshi at a ceremony attended by only close family members and friends.

On the political front,the state witnessed instability for a good part of the year. Arjun Munda was sworn-in as chief minister on September 11,ending President’s rule,which was imposed in the state for the second time on June one after JMM president Shibu Soren quit following BJP’s withdrawal of support on May 24. Soren had taken charge on December 30 last year as seventh chief minister,and it was his third stint.

Besides controlling extremism,the biggest challenge before the regime,as the new year rings in,will be keeping his alliance partners together for Jharkhand has seen a change in government every year since 2003,except 2004.

As the Munda government completed 100 days in office,his significant achievement has been the successful completion of panchayat elections which were held after 32 years. “The panchayat election is the biggest achievement of the year being held after 32 years. This will strengthen the grassroots democracy and speed up development work,” Chief Secretary Ashok Kumar Singh had said.

But it depends on how the state deals with Maoists,who imposed about a dozen 48-hour statewide shutdowns,destroying government property worth crores of rupees.

According to police records,till September,as many as 53 Naxalites,103 civilians and 21 policemen lost their lives in Naxal-related violence at different places. The Maoists also killed at least two persons at their kangaroo courts,which they held 13 times in different villages.

The police and the paramilitary forces carried out a series of anti-Naxal raids across the state and kept the Maoists on the run. They busted eight Maoist bunkers,destroyed nine training camps,recovered over 250 regular and country-made guns,111 landmines,2,200 kg explosive power,10,441 detonators,and seized Rs 25 lakh which the Maoists collected as levy from different sources,the police records show.

Continuing the violence,Maoists destroyed 13 government structures while targeting railway property during the shutdown.

The police also introduced ‘Operation Nai Disha’ under which several Naxalites surrendered and availed government’s surrender package.

Former chief minister Madhu Koda and his ex-cabinet colleagues Kamlesh Singh,Enos Ekka and Harinarain Rai,completed over one year in judicial custody in connection with money laundering,illegal investments and DA cases.

If the Koda scam rocked the state in 2009,19 government officials were dismissed during the President’s rule for allegedly having benefitted from ‘corrupt practices’ during the 2008 civil service examination conducted by the Jharkhand Public Service Commission.

Prashant Layek,who was a block development officer when the Maoists had abducted him in January from Dalbhumgarh in Singhbhum,was one of the dismissed officials. Layek was released after the then Soren government agreed to the Maoists’ demand to swap him with a couple of arrested persons,whom the guerrillas claimed were innocent villagers.

The CBI concluded 29 of the 40-odd fodder scam cases with a special CBI court convicting about 200 fodder accused this year.

The silver lining for the state was archer Deepika Kumari’s double-gold medal winning performance at the Commonwealth Games. The government duely acknowledged her performance by giving her Rs ten lakh.