Red Soldiers: Photographs by Sami Siva. www.samisiva.com

After years of hiding in the India’s sprawling countryside, Maoist rebels have now established their presence in 22 of India’s 28 states. Indian government declared that the Maoist insurgency is the number one internal security threat. Thousands have been killed during the maoist insurgency. The maoists claim that they are fighting for the rights of the impoverished. The government is ramping up its campaign against the rebels under code name - operation green hunt; it 's sending around 70,000 troops to rebel controlled areas to clear them out.

These photographs are from a rebel jungle hideout in Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh, the heart of the Maoist insurgency.

BIO:

Sami Siva photographs the difficulties of life in the underbelly of society. Where ever he is, what does life there look like; what makes people there tick.

His recent work Hollywood Street, portrayed HIV patients, sex workers, and heroin users living in the midst of a little-reported tribal conflict in Manipur, India. Where as the feature Wall Street, was a look of the people on the street as the bottom falls out of the financial market on Wall Street, New York; Free Tibet and Mandapam Camp are about people living in exile.

Presently, he is working on a long-term project about the socio-political set up in India, where he was born and raised.

His work has been published in The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Report on Business Magazine, Macleans, Medecins Sans Frontiers and various other publications. He is currently represented by Redux pictures. For more information visit: www.samisiva.com