>Monkbot at 01:35, 14 January 2021

2021-01-14T01:35:33Z

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{{Use Indian English|date=October 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2015}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = Chetna Natya Manch {{lang|hi|चेतना नाट्य मञ्च}}
| abbreviation = '''CNM'''
| formation = 1997
| purpose = To inspire people to embrace [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism]]
| founder = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War]]
| headquarters =
| location = [[Chhattisgarh]], [[Orissa, India|Orissa]], [[Andhra Pradesh]]
| region_served = [[India]]
| membership =
| language =
| extinction =
| parent_organization = [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)]]
| type = [[Voluntary association]], Cultural organisation
| status = Banned in [[Chhattisgarh]] by the [[Andra Pradesh]] government
| num_volunteers = 10,000
}}
'''Chetna Natya Manch''' ('''CNM'''; English: ''Awakening and Dramatic Arts Front'')<ref name="Dilip">{{cite book |title=Indians in a Globalizing World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HxQDBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT199 |first1=Dilip |last1=Hiro |date = July 2014|publisher=Harper Collins (India) |page=199 |isbn=978-93-5136-267-8}}</ref> is the "[[Culture|Cultural]] Troupe" of the [[Communist Party of India (Maoist)]].<ref>{{cite news |title=In Pictures: India's Maoist heartland |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2014/10/pictures-india-maoist-heartlan-2014105104030403635.html |work=[[Al Jazeera]] |access-date=28 October 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IZ83V3JLXFMC&pg=PA122 |title=Hello, Bastar : The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement |first1=Rahul |last1=Pandita |publisher=Westland (Tranquebar Press) |page=122 |year=2011 |location=Chennai |isbn=978-93-80658-34-6 |oclc=754482226}}</ref><ref name="AR">{{cite web |title=Walking with the Comrades |url=http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?264738-0 |publisher=[[Outlook (Indian magazine)|Outlook]] |date=29 March 2010 |access-date=28 October 2014 |first1=Arundhati |last1=Roy |author-link=Arundhati Roy}}</ref> Chetna Natya Manch is headed by Leng (who is from Andhra Pradesh),<ref>{{cite book |title=Broken Republic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bMXB6sGPk2kC&q=Comrade+Leng |first1=Arundhati |last1=Roy |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |year=2013 |isbn=978-81-8475-484-1}}</ref> and has more than 10,000 members.<ref name="Gautam">{{cite book |title=Days and Nights in the Heartland of Rebellion |chapter=A Hurried and Much Too Short a Meeting |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tw_Mo1dF1WgC&pg=PT125 |first1=Gautam |last1=Navlakha |author-link=Gautam Navlakha |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-81-8475-654-8}}</ref>

==Background and activities==
{{Quote box|width=15em|align=right|quote="Gearing the fallows, Ploughing the fields, With our sweat as streams, We harvested the crops. Whose was the grain? Whose was the gruel?"|salign=right|source=— Cherabandaraju's song, oftentimes performed by the CNM<ref name="Dilip"/>}}
The CNM is the "propaganda unit"<ref name="Satanama">{{cite book |title=Jangalnama : Inside the Maoist Guerrilla Zone |chapter=Walking through the jungle |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OKDcCDlEZ0EC&pg=PA85 |author=Satanāma |page=85 |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |location=New Delhi |orig-year=2003 |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-14-341445-2 |oclc=634661617 |others=Translated from Punjabi by Vishav Bharti}}</ref> and "cultural wing" of the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People's War]] (PWG), and "conducted dance, drama, poetry and musical workshops" in the villages, "inspiring young people to join the PWG."<ref name="Dilip"/> According to them, they are a "cultural team", and they "don't fight" but only "sing".<ref name="Satanama"/> They also focus on literature and plastic arts. They have raised their music cassettes by themselves and also have a "mobile editing unit."<ref name="Gautam"/>

The CNM attracts "huge crowds" to their presentations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Bastar, Maoism and Salwa Judum |url=http://indiandemocracy08.berkeley.edu/docs/Sundar-BastarMaoismAndSalwa%20.pdf |last1=Sundar |first1=Nandini |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |year=2006 |access-date=28 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140213112043/http://indiandemocracy08.berkeley.edu/docs/Sundar-BastarMaoismAndSalwa%20.pdf |archive-date=13 February 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Publication==
The CNM, in August 1994, began publishing a bimonthly magazine named "Jhankar" in Bengali, Gondi, Hindi, Marathi and Telugu.<ref name="Dilip"/> It is still published.<ref name="Gautam"/>

==Opposition==
The [[government of India]]'s [[Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (India)|ministry of Information and Broadcasting]] has "activated its own cultural wing" to "counter" the CNM, which they believe is "instigating the [[adivasi|tribal]]s against the Indian [[State (polity)|state]] through songs and cultural programmes."<ref>{{cite book |title=India's National Security: Annual Review 2009 |chapter=Internal Security Developments |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x-esAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA95 |first1=Satish |last1=Kumar |publisher=Routledge |page=95 |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-136-70491-8}}</ref>

The CNM was banned by the [[government of Chhattisgarh]] on 16 August 2013 under the [[Chhattisgarh Special Public Security Act]] for its alleged participation in the "[[insurgency]] activities" in the [[Red corridor]] region of [[Chhattisgarh]], and recently, the ban has been extended till 30 August 2015.<ref>{{cite news |title=Chhattisgarh govt extends ban on CNM |url=http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20140901/2451185.html |publisher=Web India 123 |location=Raipur |date=1 September 2014|access-date=30 October 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==See also==
* [[Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sangathan]]
* [[Nari Mukti Sangh]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Maoist)]]
[[Category:Maoist organisations in India]]
[[Category:Volunteer organisations in India]]

Chetna Natya Manch - Revision history

>Monkbot at 01:35, 14 January 2021