India’s energy needs and industry’s hunger for raw materials linked the angry killers in the jungle to coal, steel, and power production, welding the Naxalites to some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country—the AdivasisRather than becoming an anomaly from the past, the Naxalite insurgency—fueled by intimidation, extortion, and violence—has come to symbolize a conflict prophetic of the future...Rather than reduce the imbalance between rich and poor, mineral wealth has exacerbated the divide, adding pollution, violence, and displacement to the daily struggle of those whose livelihood is locked up in the land...Like any insurgency, theirs needed funds, and the potential levy on mining—alongside the protection rackets, kickbacks, and access to industrial explosives that came with it—far exceeded anything the Maoists’ annual tax on tendu leaves..or rice could come up with.