Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said there is a decline of 53 per cent in the number of incidents of Naxal violence and 72 percent in resultant deaths.
He said the central government has been doing proper monitoring with the necessary assistance of the States by empowering them with financial assistance and security forces with proper training, technology and latest equipment. Singh was addressing Consultative Committee meeting of Parliamentarians on "left Wing Extremism (lWE) related issues".
"Rajnath Singh informed the members that the left Wing Extremism (lWE) scenario, while remaining an area of concern for internal security of the country, exhibits significant improvement over the years and the declining trend continued in the last three years. As compared to data of 2010, 2016 reflected a decline of 53% in number of violent incidents and 72% in resultant deaths and the trend continued in 2017, the Home Minister added.
“Rajnath Singh further informed the members that this year overall situation so far also indicates a declining trend and the number of violent incidents has declined by 25.6% as compared to corresponding period of 2016,” a Home Ministry statement maintained.
Singh said the Maoist scenario remains an area of concern for internal security of the country even though it has exhibited a significant improvement over the years. He said 106 districts in 10 states were affected by lWE and 35 districts were identified as most affected in seven States. The Home Minister said the Maoist scenario has been showing a declining trend in the last three years.
The Home Minister apprised the MPs of security-related measures which include the deployment of Central armed police forces battalions in the lWE-affected States, use of 56 specialised India Reserve Battalions mainly to strengthen the security apparatus, construction of about 400 fortified police stations and various training initiatives.
Singh said other security measures were deployment of UAVs, helicopters, unified command and joint command and control centers at Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh) and Gaya (Bihar).
He said the joint operations of the Central armed police forces and the state police have given good results in the recent past and hoped that the situation would improve further in the near future.
The MPs participated in a detailed discussion on the subject and appreciated the work of the ministry in controlling the situation in lWE affected States, the statement said.