Forest Cover

What could be better for the blossoming of Naxalism than a 600 sq km national park and angry, displaced tribals? A recent encounter in Karnataka’s Kudremukh, which left two women guerrillas dead, set the cops on a trail of discovery. Naxal literature recovered signalled a wide penetration of the People’s War, whose activities were earlier confined to districts bordering Andhra. S.M. Krishna’s government reacted with a Rs 60-crore package for the tribals. An IG-rank officer has been named for the region; arms too may be distributed to villagers.