Grapples for response

Title : India grapples for response as Maoists grow bolder

India's struggle to find an effective strategy against an increasingly violent Maoist insurgency has taken on an air of desperation as the rebels ramp up the scale and potency of their operations.
Maoist saboteurs were blamed for Friday's derailing of a high-speed passenger train in West Bengal that collided with an oncoming goods train, killing 138 people.
Coming after a landmine attack earlier this month that killed 35 people, including 24 civilians, it suggested the rebels' strategy has changed from one that in the past had almost exclusively targeted the security forces.
The rising civilian death tolls have intensified public and political scrutiny of India's counter-insurgency policy, which until now has placed the operational onus on individual states rather than the central government.
An offensive launched in November in the worst-affected areas with nearly 60,000 paramilitary and state police was coordinated by New Delhi, but it has produced little in the way of tangible results and Maoist attacks have continued unabated.

Please explain to me what "grapples for" means in this context.
Though I know in general it means "grasp" or "deal with a difficult situation".

Source : http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-grapples-for-response-as-Maoists-grow-bolder/H1-Article1-550566.aspx