'The number of Naxal cadres killed in 2016 had been the highest ever in six years'

The Home Ministry flagged the operational efficiency of security forces in the Maoist-affected areas as one of its biggest achievements during a presentation before Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week.

The Ministry informed Mr. Modi that since the NDA government came to power in May 2014, there had been a 45 per cent increase in the efficiency of Central forces in operations against the Maoists. Mr. Modi has been conducting review meetings of 10 groups of secretaries as the NDA government completed two-and-a-half years in office.

In a presentation made by Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi, Mr. Modi and other officials were informed that the number of Naxal cadres killed in 2016 had been the highest ever in six years. Eighty-four Maoist cadres were killed in 2015 and in 2016, the number swelled to 218, which was an increase of 160 per cent. There was also an increase in the number of police encounters, from 237 in 2015 to 316 in 2016.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh told a press conference earlier this week that demonetisation had increased the problems of Maoists and that they had weakened.

Violence down

He also said that Maoist-related violence was down by 40-50 per cent and the Ministry expected the situation to be normal in the next two-three years.

After the NDA government came to power, the Home Ministry sent an additional 14 battalions of Central police forces to the Maoist-affected districts. In all, 104 battalions (each battalion has approximately 1,000 men) of Central forces are currently deployed in the affected areas, besides a large number of State police personnel.

“We consider the progress made in the Maoist-affected areas as one of the biggest achievements of the Ministry and that is why it was showcased in front of the Prime Minister. There are other areas also where the Home Ministry has performed well but we consider this as the most noteworthy,” said a senior Home Ministry official.

The Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) has already given the go-ahead for an ambitious road project in the 44 worst-affected districts. Under this project, the government proposes to construct 5,412 km of roads and 126 bridges and it would cost ₹11,725 crore.

Redrawing ‘Red Corridor’

The government is redrawing the ‘Red Corridor’ — the area affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) — and may soon take off 20 districts from the list of Maoist-affected areas. The 106 districts which span 10 States — Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh — constitute the Red Corridor. Of these, 44 districts are said to be the worst affected. India has a total of 683 districts.