SECURITY VACUUM IN LEFT WING EXTREMISM (LWE) AFFECTED AREAS

As per the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution of India, subjects of 'Police and Public Order' are with the State Governments. However, to address the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) menace holistically, Government of India (GoI) launched National Policy and Action Plan in 2015 to address LWE.

The Policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security related measures, development interventions, ensuring rights and entitlements of local communities, etc. Steadfast implementation of this policy has resulted in consistent and sharp decline in LWE violence and vast improvement in the security scenario.

Among the major contributors towards improvement in security situation have been filling up of the security vacuum in LWE affected areas by setting up of new camps by security forces, building of roads in core areas of LWE influence, provision for critical infrastructure, building Fortified Police Stations (FPS), augmenting capacity of state police forces etc.

704 FPSs have been sanctioned for LWE affected states with an estimated cost of Rs. 1554 crore (approx.), of which 603 have been constructed. Under Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS), works of Rs. 969.80 crore have been sanctioned for Strengthening of the Special Forces (SFs)/ Special Intelligence Branches (SIBs) and District Police in LWE affected states since 2017-18. Further, critical infrastructure gaps in most LWE affected districts are being filled through the Special Central Assistance (SCA) scheme for which an amount of Rs. 3249.78 crore has been released since 2018-19. Under SRE scheme Rs. 2606 crore has been released to states as reimbursement of expenditure incurred for operational requirements of Security Forces during the period 2014-15 to 2022-23.

With a view to ensure reach of security, governance and development to the interior parts of the LWE affected areas, 10476 km roads have been constructed in LWE specific schemes since May-2014.

As part of well-planned strategy, a large number of forward operating bases have been opened since 2019 in core areas of LWE influence to fill the security vacuum. Consequently, Security vacuum has been completely filled in strongholds of left wing extremists such as Burha Pahad, tri- junction of Khunti - Saraikela Kahrsawan - West Sinhbhum, Kolhan forest area in Jharkhand, Bheem Bandh and Chakarbandha in Bihar, cutoff area of Malkangiri in Odisha.

Due to resolute implementation of the National Policy and Action Plan to address LWE security and resultant drastic reduction in security vacuum, the number of LWE related violent incidents have come down by 76% in 2022 in comparison of high of 2010. The number of resultant deaths (Security Forces + Civilians) have also reduced by 90 % from all time high of 1005 in 2010 to 98 in 2022. Geographical spread of violence has also reduced significantly. Only 176 Police Stations of 45 districts reported LWE violence in 2022 as compared to high of 465 Police Stations of 96 districts in 2010. Decline in geographical spread is also reflected in the fact that of the total 45 districts reporting LWE violence in 2022, only 10 districts reported 72% of the total violence. Similarly, of the 176 Police Stations reporting LWE violence, 30 Police Stations reported 50% of the total violence.

This was stated by the Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Nityanand Rai in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha.

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RK/AY/ASH/AKS/RR//PR/1187