The Maoists in Achham and Doti districts have been campaigning to force many youths to accept portfolios in the village people's government. Their campaign was most active last dasain and tihar. Since then a large number of the youth have left their villages to settle in India. "Many who want to live have left their homes. We are still here because we are ready to face death," says a young man in Chaukhute on the borders of Doti and Accham. Only a handful of young men like him remain, the rest are only elderly citizens, women and children. "We could die any minute, whether in the hands of the rebels or the security forces," says the youth. The situation grew worse when young men who had returned home to celebrate festivals with their families were forcefully nominated as candidates for the village people's government elections. Their worst fear was that they would be easy targets for the army who could arrest and torture them without realising they had been forced to join. One student of Patal VDC, Doti studying at Kailali Multiple Campus was forcefully appointed the Maoist village chief. He fled the village and vowed never to return. As soon as the security force finds new Maoist committees in the villages, the search for new members starts.