Raipur: In a significant announcement, the Union Home Minister, Amit Shah has said that “the time has come to deal a decisive and ruthless blow to the Maoist insurgency with a robust strategy.” The Home Minister made the above remarks after chairing a security meeting on the status of Maoist insurgency on Saturday, August 24 during his three-day visit to the state of Chhattisgarh.
Addressing a press conference after the meeting which witnessed participation of all the Director Generals (DGs) of Central Armed Police Forces, the Union Home Minister said, “We all are convinced that the Maoist insurgency poses the biggest challenge for our democracy and around 17000 people have already lost their lives due to this grave issue.”
“Since the formation of the incumbent union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi we have accepted this grave issue as a challenge for us. We tried to either disarm or engage those who have been fighting alongside focusing on three-way development i.e. the development of individuals, villages and the development of the region. We are committed for the development, from Bastar to Bijapur, Dantewada to Dhamtari while freeing the masses from the menace of Maoist insurgency at the same time,” said the Union Home Minister.
The year 2022 was remarkable for us where causalities linked to the Maoist insurgency was under 100 for the first time in four decades. The incumbent government has tried installing the rule of the law in the Maoist infested areas along with the development of the region which was halted due to insurgency and as a result many of the states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and even Maharashtra barring a single district has become free from the Maoist menace. we have been successful in installing the believe of development than the ideology of the Maoist, he added.
Providing the statistics related to the Maoist insurgency the minister informed, that over 16000 incidents linked to the Naxal issue had occurred between 2004 to 2014 while the figure for the corresponding period of 2014 to 2024 is around 7000. It shows a 53 per cent reduction in the Maoist related incident. In terms of civilian and security forces causalities, 6617 cases were reported between the first 10 years while we have managed to reduced it by 70 per cent in the last 10 years. I believe that our battle has reached the final stage and we will be able to free the country from Maoist’s menace by March 2026.
हमारी लड़ाई अंतिम चरण पर पहुंची है और हम देश को 2026 मार्च तक पूर्णतः नक्सल समस्या से मुक्त कर पाएंगे।
श्री @AmitShah जी, माननीय गृह एवं सहकारिता मंत्री
#NaxalFreeBharat pic.twitter.com/47tJe3bslE
— BJP Chhattisgarh (@BJP4CGState) August 24, 2024
We have tried filling up the security vacuum by opening up a total of 277 security camps since 2019. A dedicated vertical has been established in National Investigation Agency (NIA) under which 64 chargesheets have been filed. The Home Minister further while praising the achievement of the incumbent Chhattisgarh government quoted that 179 Maoists have been so far neutralized after the current government took charge while 559 arrests and 540 surrender of Maoists were reported in the corresponding time period.
The state government has also filled the security vacuum by opening up 47 security camps. Moreover, when the state’s home minister interacts with the villagers and provide them with Aadhar and Ayushman cards in Hidma’s (The most dreaded Maoist commander) village, it gives an immense satisfaction, many villages have voted for the first time since independence in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma and MP, this is the victory of democracy, he remarked.
The Home Minister further informed that the Union Government has sanctioned a whopping Rs 21400 for installing over 15300 mobile towers to improve connectivity in the regions hit by Maoist insurgency alongside sanctioning another 21000 crores for 17500 kilometers of roads out of which 11500 kilometers have already been completed.
The government has also worked towards financial inclusion of the 25 most Maoist affected districts by opening up 2796 bank branches and installing 2061 ATMs. Further 30294 banking correspondent have also come up along with 4903 post offices, he said.
46 out of 48 approved ITIs have already been come up while 61 Kuashal Vikas Kendra already opened up out of the total 61 approved by the government. In terms of education the government has opened up 165 Eklavya Vidyalaya in the last 5 years while only 38 such schools were opened up in the last four decades. The government has also opened up 11 Kendriya Vidyalaya (Central schools) and 4 Navodya schools. Moreover the Chhattisgarh government will be running a special campaign to educate those who were deprived from attending schools due to Maoist terror, he added.
The state government has decided to strengthen the State Investigation Agency (SIA) on lines of NIA and will soon announce a new comprehensive surrender and rehabilitation policy. I would like to appeal to all those youths who have been associated with the Maoist insurgency in any form that the Indian government is committed to the development of the youth, their families and the region hence they should leave arms and join the wheels of development, concluded the Union Minister.
