The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) recovered 14 IEDs planted by Maoists with total weight of 82 kgs during its anti-insurgency operations in various districts of Bastar during the month of November this year, the latest CRPF monthly action data has informed.
Chhattisgarh is among other insurgency infested states where highest 38 CRPF troopers were martyred in 15 incidents of Maoist attacks during the past six months as on June, 30, 2017, the Central Government has informed.
During the period , incidents of Maoists attacks in other insurgency infested states are as follows- Andhra Pradesh (1), Bihar (3), Jharkhand (4), Maharashtra (8) and Odisha (1).
The Central Government has a comprehensive National Policy and a multi-pronged action plan to deal with left Wing Extremism comprising of security related measures, developmental interventions and ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities etc, it informed.
Notably, on the other hand, the final list of tribals selected from Sukma district for the newly raised Bastar Battalion raised by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for counter-insurgency operations had been released, an official statement issued in March this year had informed.
It may be recalled that the recruitment process for all districts of insurgency infested Bastar region had been held earlier.
The newly being raised ‘Bastar Battalion’ by CRPF will have one-third women representation, officials informed.
Notably, the Bastar Battalion of CRPF is being raised by recruiting 744 Scheduled Tribe (ST) youths from four insurgency infested districts of Bastar in Chhattisgarh, the Central government has informed.
The districts from where the tribal youths would be recruited for the new Battalion are -- Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Sukma.
The decision to set up a Tribal Battalion has been taken with a view to give more employment to the tribal youth keeping in mind their unique characteristics. Earlier, the Union Cabinet under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also approved raising of four 'India Reserve Battalions' (IR Bns) for Chhattisgarh State to be deployed in lWE pockets of the State. The Union Cabinet had announced to raise a total of 17 India Reserve Battalions (IR Bns) for Jammu & Kashmir and left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected States, officials stated. It includes five IR Bns in the State of J&K, three IR Bns in Jharkhand, three IR Bns in Odisha and two IR Bns in Maharashtra including four for Chhattisgarh.
Notably, Chhattisgarh stands fourth in the country in terms of the number of districts affected by left Wing Extremism (lWE).
A total of 106 districts in the country are considered as left Wing Extremism (lWE) affected. Of these, Bihar State has maximum 22 districts, followed by Jharkhand (21), Odisha(19), Chhattisgarh (16), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,- both 8 each, West Bengal and Maharashtra,- both 4 each, Uttar Pradesh,- 3 and Madhya Pradesh, one, the Central Government had informed last year.
Apart from the above, it is worth mentioning that the numbers of incidents of lWE violence and resultant deaths have although significantly declined during the last four years from 2011 to 2014, officials stated.
Maoist activities decreased in all the states except Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh with number of incidents rising to 42 per cent, observes the annual report of the Union Ministry of Home for 2015-16.