According to a redrawn map of the Maoist insurgency by the ministry of home affairs, the number of districts affected by left-wing extremism (LWE) has dropped sharply to 70 in ten states for the first time in over three decades, with Bihar, Odisha, and Jharkhand showing the most improvement.
“Overall, the incidents of LWE violence have reduced by 70% from an all-time high of 2,258 in 2009 to 665 in 2020. Similarly, the deaths of security forces and civilians have come down by 80% from all time high of 1,005 in 2010 to 183 in 2020,” said an officer, requesting anonymity.
After considering the improved security situation, decreased violence, and development work, the home ministry decided to revise the list as of July 1. Only 70 districts in ten states are affected, according to the list, and are covered by the SRE scheme. SRE provides assistance to districts affected by left-wing extremism for the purpose of reimbursing security-related expenses such as transportation, communication, vehicle hiring, stipends to surrendered Maoists, and the construction of infrastructure for the forces, among other things.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the geographic spread of LWE influence has shrunk in the last six years (from 2015 to 2020), with 47 percent fewer incidents than the previous six years (from 2009 to 2014).
As a result, security forces have established multiple camps inside the jungles, which used to be the Maoists’ stronghold, preventing insurgents from carrying out frequent attacks; over 2,300 mobile towers have been installed; nearly 5,000 kilometres of roads have been built; and other infrastructure work is underway.
Former director general of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) K Durga Prasad said: “The recruitment of Maoists have come down, their leadership is old, and the party ideology is missing among the young cadres due to which the pockets of their activities have been restricted enormously over the years. There is also better intelligence sharing between agencies, disruption of logistics chains like weapons, money and food items and they are not able to recruit cadres from any state other than Chhattisgarh.”
According to the revised list, Bihar, where the Maoists once had widespread support among the poor, has lost the most districts (six) in the latest list, with only ten districts now affected by LWE, down from 16 in June. Maoism no longer affects Arwal, East Champaran, Jehanabad, Muzzafarpur, Nalanda, and Vaishali.
