Home Minister Amit Shah reviews security situation in Naxal-hit states

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday reviewed the security situation in Naxal-affected states where violent incidents have come down by 77 per cent in 2022 in comparison to the high of 2010, officials said.

The review meeting was attended by the chief ministers of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand. Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis also attended the meeting where 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. Officials said there has been significant improvement in the Left Wing Extremism security situation in the country over the last five years. The central government had approved the 'National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE' in 2015.

The policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security-related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc, officials said.

Steadfast implementation of this policy has resulted in consistent decline in LWE violence across the nation, they said.

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 number of resultant deaths of security forces and civilians has also reduced by 90 per cent in 2022 as compared to the high of 2010.

According to the data prepared by the Ministry of Home Affairs, from 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.