NEW DELHI: The number of Maoists giving up arms has shot up since the Narendra Modi government took over earlier this year, mainly in the Maoist backyard of Bastar in the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh, which has reported a 20-fold increase in surrenders since the end of May.Home Minister Rajnath Singh is said to be highly enthused by these high figures of desertion among the insurgent ranks in Bastar as this could pave the way for his plan to go after the top leadership of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which is holed up deep inside the district.According to a report with the Ministry of Home Affairs, which was accessed by ET, 395 Maoists have surrendered across the country till September 30 this year, almost double the 206 who laid down arms in the corresponding period last year.The home ministry is highly optimistic about the way ahead, especially because of a report from the Chhattisgarh police, which shows that the number of Maoists who surrendered in the worst-affected Bastar range surged to 221 as of October 8, a 20-fold jump from only 11 at the end of May, when the Modi government came to power.The highest number of surrenders was in the worst-affected districts of Sukma (50) and Kondagaon (67), which fall in the Bastar range, as per the state police report to the home ministry. The report shows 73 Maoists surrendered in Bastar last month.According to the home ministry, only 24 Maoists gave up their arms in the January-September period last year in all of Chhattisgarh, where Chief Minister Raman Singh has been at the helm for more than a decade.“Intelligence agencies are excited over the record desertions in Maoist ranks in Bastar. There seems to be panic among the Maoists in their den,” a home ministry official said.However, the number of surrenders in other affected states, except Andhra Pradesh, leaves a lot to be desired. While Andhra Pradesh has reported 76 surrenders this year against 44 last year, there have been only four surrenders in Bihar and 17 in Jharkhand this year, similar to their respective figures for last year.“Both Bihar and Jharkhand have been unable to cash in on the attractive surrender and rerehabilitation policy floated by the Centre,” a ministry official said. Bastar has performed well on other parameters too. There have been 143 police-Maoist encounters there this year, leading to the killing of 29 insurgents, and 459 of them have been arrested, leading to the seizure of 121 weapons, 115 improvised explosive devices, 269 detonators and 753 rounds of ammunition, as per Bastar police.