- India
- Apr 18
India’s battle against Left Wing Extremism
• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed state governments that there are no Naxal violence-affected districts in the country after more than five decades of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) having originated in India.
• The declaration followed a high-level security review held early this month under the mandated ‘National Policy and Action Plan to Address Left Wing Extremism (LWE)’ formulated in 2015.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed Parliament on March 30 that India was free from Naxalites.
• The high-level security review meeting was necessitated as the deadline set by the central government to end LWE in India ended on March 31.
Naxalite movement in India
• Left Wing Extremism (LWE), often referred to as Naxalism, is one of India's most serious internal security challenges.
• Rooted in socio-economic inequalities and fueled by Maoist ideology, LWE has historically affected some of the most remote, underdeveloped, and tribal-dominated regions of the country.
• The movement aimed to undermine the Indian State through armed rebellion and parallel governance structures, particularly targeting security forces, public infrastructure, and democratic institutions.
• Originating from the Naxalbari movement of 1967 in West Bengal, it spread primarily across the “Red Corridor”, affecting states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Maharashtra, Kerala, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, and parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• The Maoist insurgents claim to fight for the rights of the marginalised, particularly tribal communities, but their methods include armed violence, extortion, destruction of infrastructure, and recruitment of children and civilians.
• However, in recent years, India’s multidimensional counter-LWE strategy — combining security enforcement, inclusive development, and community engagement — has delivered significant success.
• The movement has been systematically weakened, violence has drastically declined, and many LWE-affected districts are being reintegrated into the national mainstream.
• According to official records, LWE violence claimed more than 17,000 lives including those of civilians and security forces personnel.
Multi-pronged strategy to address Left Wing Extremism
• The government of India adopted a zero-tolerance approach towards left-wing extremism.
• The government had laid down two rules of law to fight left wing extremism. First, to establish the rule of law in Naxalism-affected areas and completely stop illegal violent activities. Second, to quickly compensate for the loss in those areas which were deprived of development due to the long Naxalite movement.
• To address the LWE menace holistically, a National Policy and Action Plan to Address Left Wing Extremism (LWE) was approved in 2015.
• It envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities etc.
Development Interventions
On the development side, apart from flagship schemes, the government of India has taken several specific initiatives in LWE-affected states, with special thrust on expansion of road network, improving telecommunication connectivity, skilling and financial inclusion.
1) Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme: This Scheme is being implemented as a sub-scheme of the umbrella scheme ‘Modernisation of Police Forces’. Under the SRE Scheme, the central government reimburses security related expenditure for LWE-affected districts and districts earmarked for monitoring. The reimbursement includes the expenditure relating to training and operational needs of security forces, ex-gratia payment to the family of civilians/security forces killed/injured in LWE violence, rehabilitation of surrendered LWE cadres, community policing, village defence committees and publicity materials. The SRE Scheme aims at strengthening the capacity of the LWE-affected states to fight the LWE menace effectively. During 2014-15 to 2024-25, Rs 3,260.37 crore was released under this scheme.
2) Special Central Assistance (SCA) for most LWE affected districts: This scheme was approved in 2017 and is being implemented as a sub-scheme of the umbrella scheme ‘Modernisation of Police Forces’. The main objective of the scheme is to fill the critical gaps in public infrastructure and services in most LWE-affected districts, which are of emergent nature. Till now, Rs 3,563 crore have been released since the inception of the scheme in 2017.
3) Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS): This scheme is being implemented as a sub-scheme of the umbrella scheme ‘Modernisation of Police Forces’. Under the Special Infrastructure Scheme, funds are provided for strengthening of State Intelligence Branches (SIBs), Special Forces, District Polices and Fortified Police Stations (FPSs). Under the SIS, Rs 1,741 crore have been sanctioned.
4) Scheme of Fortified Police Stations: Under the scheme 400 Fortified Police Stations have been constructed in 10 LWE-affected States. Put together 612 Fortified Police Stations have been constructed in LWE affected areas in the last 10 years.
5) Assistance to Central Agencies for LWE management Scheme: This scheme is being implemented as a sub-scheme of the umbrella scheme ‘Modernisation of Police Forces’. Under the scheme, assistance is provided to central agencies (CAPFs/IAF etc.) for strengthening of infrastructure and hiring charges for helicopters. About Rs 1,120.32 crore have been given to central agencies during the period 2014-15 to 2024-25.
6) Civic Action Programme (CAP): This scheme is being implemented as a sub-scheme of the umbrella scheme ‘Modernisation of Police Forces’ to bridge the gaps between security forces and local people through personal interaction. Under the scheme, funds are released to the CAPFs, deployed in LWE affected areas, for conducting various civic activities for the welfare of the local people. About Rs 196.23 crore has been released to CAPFs since 2014-15.
7) Road Requirement Plan-I (RRP-I) for LWE affected areas and Road Connectivity Project for LWE-affected areas (RCPLWE): The RRP-I scheme is being implemented by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways for improving road connectivity in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. The RCPLWE scheme was launched in the year 2016 to improve the road connectivity in 44 worst affected LWE districts and some adjoining districts in nine states — Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh. The scheme has twin objectives of enabling smooth and seamless anti-LWE operations by the security forces and also ensuring socio-economic development of the area. About 17,589 km of roads have been sanctioned under these two schemes. Of these, 14,618 km have been constructed.
8) Telecom Connectivity: Three telecom projects, namely, Mobile Connectivity Project Phase-I & Phase-II, Provision of 4G mobile services in uncovered villages of Aspirational Districts and saturation of 4G mobile services, are being implemented in LWE affected areas to improve telecom connectivity. A total of 10,505 mobile towers have been planned, of which 7,768 towers have been commissioned.
9) Aspirational District: The Ministry of Home Affairs has been tasked with the monitoring of Aspirational districts programme in 35 LWE-affected districts.
10) Financial Inclusion: For financial inclusion of the local populace in these areas, 1,007 bank branches and 937 ATMs in 30 most LWE-affected districts and 5,731 new post offices have been opened in LWE-affected districts since April 2015.
11) Skill Development and Education: For skill development 48 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 61 Skill Development Centres (SDCs) have been made functional in LWE-affected districts. For quality education in tribal blocks of LWE-affected districts 178 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) have been made functional in LWE affected districts. The Skill Development Scheme reached all 48 districts, and a strong vertical of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was created. As many as 1,143 tribal youths were recruited into the security forces.