Incidents of Naxal violence reduced by 55% over 8 years: MHA report

The Union Home Ministry has said resolute implementation of the national policy and action plan led to a 55 per cent reduction in violent incidents perpetrated by the Naxals and 63 per cent in deaths over a period of eight years.

According to the annual report 2021-22 of the Ministry of Home Affairs, there has been an overall 55 per cent reduction in violent incidents (from 1,136 to 509) and 63 per cent reduction (397 to 147) in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) related deaths in 2021 as compared to 2013.

In comparison to 2020, the year 2021 saw a decline of 24 per cent (665 to 509) in incidents of violence and 20 per cent (183 to 147) in the resultant deaths, the report said.

 

"Resolute implementation of the national policy and action plan by the government has resulted in unprecedented improvement in the Left Wing Extremism scenario across the country," the report said.

The last seven years have seen a significant decline in LWE violence as well as its geographical spread. The declining trend which started in 2011 continues in 2021 as well, the report said.

At the same time, the developmental outreach by the government of India has seen an increasingly large number of LWE cadres shunning the path of violence and returning to the mainstream.

Owing to the improved LWE scenario, the list of LWE affected districts has been revised twice in the last three years. The number of LWE affected districts was reduced to 90 in April 2018 and then to 70 in July 2021.

In 2021, Chhattisgarh (255 incidents and 101 deaths) remains the worst affected state followed by Jharkhand (130 incidents and 26 deaths), Odisha (32 incidents and three deaths), Maharashtra (31 incidents and six deaths) and Bihar (26 incidents and seven deaths).

The overall improvement in LWE scenario can be attributed to greater presence and increased capacity of the security forces across the LWE affected states, better operational strategy and better monitoring of development schemes in affected areas.

According to the report, the geographical spread of LWE violence has also been shrinking considerably. In 2021, LWE violence was reported from areas under 191 police stations in 46 districts spread across eight states as compared to 330 police stations in 76 districts spread over 10 states in 2013.

The arc of violence has been considerably restricted with just 25 districts accounting for 90 per cent of the LWE violence, the report said.

The CPI (Maoist) continues to be the most potent among the various LWE outfits in the country and accounted for more than 90 per cent of total LWE violent incidents and 95 per cent of resultant deaths.

Amid increasing reverses, the CPI (Maoist) has been making efforts to expand to new areas along inter-state borders without any significant success, it said.