JOIN USMaoists collect about Rs 140 crore annually from a variety of sources, stash the money in ‘dumps’ or keep with overground sympathisers, and regularly audit expenditure on workforce, procurement of firepower and so on, reveals a maiden study by the government on the Red economy.
The preliminary study through interaction with various stakeholders in some of the nine Maoist affected states, points out that Maoists source their illegal earnings by taking cuts from various government development schemes, milking timber and Tendu leaf contractors and traders in minor forest produce, from mining industry, besides extorting government officials and politicians, said security officials aware of the study.
A part of the funding also comes from membership fees and donations sympathisers volunteer.
The report is expected to give a fair idea to security mandarins on ways of choking finances of Maoists, which security experts believe is necessary to cripple their dominance in 82 districts of nine affected states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Interestingly, the Maoists had adopted a financial policy at their 9th Unity Congress in January 2007. The policy document, besides giving a blue print of earning, also warned against wasteful expenditure, akin to the do’s and don’ts any structured organisation would follow.
The Central Committee of Maoists fixes a target that has to be met by zonal committees. The area committees, which are the last leg of the Maoist architecture, task ground members to collect money.
Names of these people and the front organisations could differ - for instance, revolutionary farmers committee or revolutionary female committee could collect money but armed militia do not get involved in the exercise for the sake of keeping the link to Maoists secret.
At every strata of the hierarchy, the responsible leaders are allowed to carry cash to meet daily expenses and contingency requirements, as they do not have the liberty to rush to an ATM or bank to draw money.
Sharing a break up of the collection and expenditure, government sources said that the North Telangana Special Zone’s three-year expenditure beginning 2001 was more than Rs 4 crore. The income, on the contrary, was more than Rs 6 crore, indicating a surplus budget.
There have been stray instances of money being parked in benami bank accounts. For the collected money to multiply, security forces have found instances of commanders lending the money to supporters to buy vehicles to run as taxis; sometimes, they also convert into gold biscuits or invest in real estate.
Large bundles of cash are also rolled in polythene sheets and “dumped” at safe places – beneath the earth or in tanks.