Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday (October 6) reviewed the security situation in the Naxal-affected states and said that the government is committed to uprooting the menace.
Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand attended the review meeting while Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present at the meeting. States like Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh were represented by state ministers.
"Naxalism is a curse to humanity and we are resolved to uproot it in all its forms," Home Minister Shah said.
According to the officials, there has been a significant improvement in the Left Wing Extremism security situation in the country in the last five years.
The Centre had approved the 'National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE' in 2015, which aims at forming a multi-pronged strategy involving security-related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc, the officials said.
There has been a consistent decline in the LWE violence across the country due to the steadfast implementation of the policy, they added.
“The number of LWE-related violent incidents have come down by 77 per cent in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010,” they said.
The casualties of security forces and civilians have also come down by 90 per cent in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010.
According to the Ministry of Home Affairs data, between 2004 to 2014, there were 17,679 LWE-related incidents and 6,984 deaths.
In contrast, from 2014 to 2023 (till 15 June 23), there have been 7,649 LWE-related incidents and 2,020 deaths.
(With PTI inputs)
