New Delhi: The incumbent union government in the past few years has taken several measures to contain the Maoists insurgency across several states which is yielding positive outcomes, informed Minister of State for Home Affairs, Nityanand Rai on Tuesday, August 6.
In a written reply tabled in Lok Sabha, Rai informed that to tackle the Maoist menace holistically, the union government approved “National Policy and Action Plan” in 2015. The Policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc.
The resolute implementation of the policy has resulted in consistent decline in violence and constriction of geographical spread. The violent incidents pertaining to the Maoist insurgency have reduced by 73 per cent from all-time high of 2010.
Similarly, the resultant deaths of Security Forces and Civilians have also reduced by 86% from all time high of 1005 in 2010 to 138 in 2023. Further there has been a sharp reduction of over 30% in incidents perpetrated by the Maoists and 17% in the resultant deaths of Civilians and Security Force Personnel till June this year in comparison to the figures of corresponding period of last year.
An official statement issued by the ministry further informed that the geographical spread of violence linked to the Maoist has also constricted substantially with reduction of Maoist affected districts from 126 across 10 states in 2013 to only 38 districts in 2024.
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The number of Police Stations reporting Maoist related violence has significantly reduced from 465 Police Stations of 96 districts in 2010 to 171 Police Stations across 42 districts in the year 2023, read the statement further.
Chhattisgarh on top of the list followed by Odisha and Jharkhand
According to the figures released by the ministry, the state of Chhattisgarh is on the top of the list of the states marred by the Maoist violence as a total of 15 districts of the Central-Indian state is infested by Maoist insurgency.
This includes districts like Dhamtari, Gariyaband and Mahasamund all adjacent to the capital district of Raipur. The other districts of the state affected by the Maoist violence includes of Khairagarh-Chhuikhadan-Gandai, Mohala-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Rajnandgaon, Kabirdham, Mungeli and entire Bastar division of the state, a hotbed of Maoist insurgency encompassing Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Bastar, Kanker, Bijapur and Sukma districts.
Seven districts of the state of Odisha which is apparently number two on the list have been cateogrised as the Maoist affected district in the latest release. The region of the state marred by Maoist terror encompasses Kalahandi, Nuwapada, Navrangpur and Malkangiri districts, all adjacent to Chhattisgarh border. The other districts infested by the insurgency are Bolangir, Rayagada and Kandhmal which shares its border with the aforementioned districts of the state.
The release further informed that as many as five districts of the state of Jharkhand namely Giridih, Lohardaga, Gumla, West Singhbhum and Latehar also has a significance presence of Maoists.
Three districts of Madhya Pradesh, two of Maharashtra infested by Maoist terror
The list of Maoist affected districts released by the union government also includes of as many as three districts of Madhya Pradesh namely Dindori, Balaghat and Mandala all adjacent to Chhattisgarh border along Gondia and Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, a stronghold of the outlaws since long.
Notably all these aforesaid districts fall under the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) zone of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist) which was created with an aim to spread the footprints of the Maoist insurgency in the central regions of the country.
The release further enlists as many as eight other districts of separate states falling under the category of insurgency-hit districts, this includes Bhadradi-Kothgudem and Murgum districts of Telangana, Waynaad and Kannur districts of Kerala, Alluri Sitaramraju district of Andhra Pradesh and Jhargram district of West Bengal.
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