THE ROLE OF REMOTE SENSING TECHNOLOGY IN COUNTERNAXALITE OPERATIONS: PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS

Abstract

The internal challenges to Indian security are growing serious day by day. India has long history of separatist and secessionist violence, be it in North-East, Punjab or Kashmir. The nation, presently, is facing not one but two wars within its own borders. The first, as we all know, is the rising threat of Islamic terrorism, but the second often overlooked dimension to this internal war, is that of the naxalite terrorists, who are bred and sustained by the Communists Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) CPI (ML). In April 2006, Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the naxalite threat the “biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country”