Cannabis funding Naxals: Govt

The home ministry today made a startling disclosure that that Naxalites have discovered a novel source of finance for their operations "" cultivating Cannabis.

Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal in reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha said: "Cannabis cultivation and its trade have become a source of finance for the CPI (Maoist) in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa."

According to the data provided by the home ministry, 1,565 incidents of Naxalite violence were reported from 13 states in 2007, whereas 1,509 incidents were reported from 11 states in the preceding year.