UAVs fail to penetrate forest cover of Naxals
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) used successfully by the US in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda have, however, failed to make any impact in the dense forests of the country to monitor movement of Naxals.
The security forces which are trying various UAVs over the terrain dotted by thick foliage in Maoist-affected states to track the movement of the ultras have not found a machine which could penetrate the forest cover and give them the desired intelligence.
“We have not been able to acquire any such equipment... surveillance equipment... Which would tell the movement of people from air borne vehicles... UAVs... from under the cover of thick foliage,” additional director-general of the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPRD), P.C. Sabarwal, said at an internal security conference here.
The BPRD is the national agency under the Central government which looks after modernisation of police forces and takes up new areas of research in subjects related to policing.
Mr Sabarwal also said no service provider offering security gadgets have been able to come up with a solution to defuse and detect Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and landmines buried 15 feet or deeper in areas of combat including Naxal zones.
—PTI
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50% Census success in Naxal areas
AGE CORRESPONDENT
NEW DELHI
July 28: The worst-affected Naxal districts in the country have shown nearly 50 per cent success in conducting the Census 2011 exercise so far. Government sources said that the response to the Census exercise in Maoist stronghold regions like Chhattisgarh’s Abujhmad area has been 50 percent. Apart from persons living in the Maoist-dominated regions, who are giving a skip to the Census exercise, nearly two per cent of the population is usually “missing” during the conduct of the Census for varying reasons such as travelling abroad or not being available when Census officials undertake the house to house enumeration. Such persons will have to provide relevant documents to explain their lack of presence for being added to the government database at a later stage.
The government is hopeful that the completion of the census exercise in September will finally set the tone for the rolling out of the unique identity numbers.
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