Tale of two girls who impacted  lives of Maoists

BHUBANESWAR: Change comes through various agents. Far away from the Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-hit areas of eastern India, two students, both sisters, have quietly impacted the lives of Maoists who have shunned violence and returned to mainstream of the society.

Thanks to Kruti Jethwa (18), her research work at such young age helped the Union Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship modify a key eligibility criteria for admission into industrial training institutes (ITIs) which is now immensely helping Maoists who have surrendered and accepted the rehabilitation schemes in States like Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

As part of her project “Naxal Terrorism: Cause and Remedy”, Kruti, student of UWC Mahindra College at Pune, found out that minimum educational qualification for admission into ITIs for surrendered Naxal cadres was Class VIII. Enrolment into ITIs was necessary if they had to avail the monthly stipend of `6,000 for three years as envisaged in the Surrender-cum-Rehabilitation Scheme of LWE of the Centre.
During her interviews with surrendered Maoists in Odisha where she spent many years, Kruti found out that many of them did not study up to Class 8 since they had dropped out of school early and joined the folds of Naxalism.

Realising that she had to go beyond carrying out a study for the project, Kruti wrote to Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan seeking an amendment to the provision. An impressed Minister immediately took note of the limitation in the eligibility for the Craftsmen Training Scheme and directed Director General (Training) to carry out the modification.

As per the modification, States declared LWE-affected by Ministry of Home Affairs were allowed to change the entry qualification for admission to successful completion of one-year pre-ITI foundation course. Separate curriculum was also prescribed and district administrations were allowed to supervise the delivery of the programmes. Following the footsteps of Centre, recently Odisha Government also brought required changes to its skill development training norm for Maoists.

Kruti’s research took her to Koraput in Odisha as well as Bastar in Chhattisgarh where she not only met the former cadres, who had given themselves up, but also interacted with police officers to understand the dynamics.

Acknowledging Kruti’s work, Director General of Training Deepankar Mallick awarded a Certificate of Appreciation to her while she was also felicitated by Pradhan at a function in Delhi.

Kruti’s sister Mithi (15), an alumni of DPS Damanjodi in Koraput and currently studying at Mother International School in New Delhi, has come up with a concept ‘adoption of surrendered Maoists and their acceptance by the society.’ Kruti and Mithi are daughters of 1994 batch IPS officer of Odisha cadre YK Jethwa, who is currently posted with the Special Protection Group as IG.