Union Minister of Home Affairs chairs review meeting in New Delhi on Left Wing Extremism

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Home Affairs chaired a review meeting on Left Wing Extremism in New Delhi.

What is Left Wing Extremism?

LWE organizations are the groups that try to bring change through violent revolution. They are against democratic institutions and use violence to subvert the democratic processes at the ground level.

These groups prevent the developmental processes in the least developed regions of the country & try to misguide the people by keeping them ignorant of current happenings.

Incidents of Left Wing Extremism at present

The incidents of Left Wing Extremism has come down by 70% from an all-time high of 2258 in 2009 to 665 in 2020. 

The resultant deaths have also come down by 82% from an all-time high of 1005 in 2010 to 183 in 2020. 

The area under Maoist’s influence was also restricted with the geographical spread shrunk from 96 in 2010 to just 53 districts in 2020. 

What are the government initiatives taken to curb Left Wing Extremism?

The National Policy and Action Plan was launched in 2015 to address the Left Wing Extremism (LWE). The significant features of the policy are zero tolerance towards violence coupled with a big push to developmental activities, so that benefits of development reach the poor and vulnerable in the affected areas.

Operation ‘SAMADHAN’: It is the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)’s initiative to deal with the Naxal problem. The acronym SAMADHAN stands for Smart leadership, Aggressive strategy, Motivation and training, Actionable Intelligence, Dashboard Based KPIs (key performance indicators) and KRAs (key result areas), harnessing technology, action plan for each theater, and No access to financing.

Development Initiatives in Left Wing Extremism Areas

Special Central Assistance (SCA): for filling critical gaps in public infrastructure and services of emergent nature.

Road Connectivity Project for construction of 5,412 km roads.

New Mobile Towers have been installed, and 2542 additional towers will be installed in the next 18 months

Opening of Schools: For imparting quality education to the youth in areas affected by LWE, special focus is given to the opening of Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS). 

Financial inclusion- for ensuring the presence of banking facilities within 5 km to all citizens residing in LWE affected areas

Source: This post is based on the article “Union Minister of Home Affairs chairs review meeting in New Delhi on Left Wing Extremism” published in PIB on 26th Sep 2021.