K Balagopal What has given operational seriousness to the decade-old demand for arming 'villages' against naxalites is a combination of better organised strength of the naxalites and a certain generalisation of the problem. While the kind of arms and organisation the naxalite groups have built up in recent years puts them beyond the range of private armies, landlords will now form themselves into village self-protection committees and inflict violence upon ordinary peasants and labourers.