Maoist violence was reported in only 60 districts in 2018, Union Minister G Kishan Reddy said

Maoist violence has come down by 43 per cent in the last five years in comparison to the five-year period before that, Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy said today.

Mr Reddy, in reply to a written question in Rajya Sabha, said the steadfast government policy has resulted in consistent decline in violence and shrinkage in geographical spread of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) .

As a result, LWE-related violence was reported in only 60 districts in 2018, he said.

"Of these, only 10 districts account for 2/3rd of LWE violence. The LWE-related incidents of violence between April 2014 to May 2019 have been 43 per cent lesser when comparing with the preceding five-year period," he said.

The National Policy and Action Plan, approved in 2015 to address LWE, envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security-related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, the minister said.

Mr Reddy also said the government has approved a special central assistance for most LWE-affected districts with an annual outlay of Rs 1,000 crore to fill the critical gaps in public infrastructure and services.