The Central Reserve Police Force has launched a civic action programme in the Maoist hotbed of Latehar in Jharkhand.
The programme was launched with the objective of effectively combatting and countering left-wing extremism, and to bridge the gap between villagers and security personnel.
CRPF personnel distributed blankets, medicines and various other essential commodities to villagers of the Latehar district.
Building people-to-people contact and establishing trust with authorities was the objective behind the programme.
Maoist rebels in India are rapidly expanding their insurgency and could move from remote rural areas to cities.
The civic action programme aimed to inculcate a sense of security by developing cordial relations and harnessing co-operation with villagers living in rural areas.
"The people of the village are lending their support. Through our programmes we are trying to interact with the villagers," said a CRPF officer.
Equipped with automatic weapons, shoulder rocket launchers, mines and explosives, the Maoists want to cripple economic activity.
Last year, they carried out at least 1,000 attacks, but most of these were in remote jungles and villages.
The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of the poor and landless, control some of India's mineral-rich areas and operate in large swathes of the eastern, central and southern countryside.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist rebellion as one of the gravest security threats to India.
The Maoists have killed police and politicians, and targeted government buildings and railway tracks in an insurgency that has killed thousands since the 1960s.
