Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that the number of Maoist-affected districts has gone down from 70 in 2014 to 46 in 2021.
In a written reply, the Minister also informed that incidents of Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Maoist violence have also significantly reduced from 1,091 in 2014 to 509 incidents in 2021.
Since 2014, Mr Rai said, there has been a substantial increase in the magnitude of assistance provided to Maoist-affected states by the government of India under various schemes of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and specific schemes for Maoist areas of the other line ministries.
Approximately Rs 6,578 crore was released under various MHA schemes from Financial Year 2014-15 to Financial Year 2021-22 as compared to Rs 2,181 crore released from Financial Year 2006-07 to Financial Year 2013-14 for LWE management, said the Minister while giving an answer to a query raised by BJP MPs Sushil Kumar Singh and Sudarshan Bhagat.
Giving details of assistance through specific schemes for Maoist-affected areas, the Minister said the government of India provides assistance for capacity building of such states through various schemes like Security Related Expenditure Scheme, Special Infrastructure Scheme, Special Central Assistance Scheme for the most Maoist affected districts, Road Requirement Plan-l, Road Connectivity Project for Affected areas, Skill Development Scheme in 47 affected areas, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Jawahar Nava Vidyalaya, Eklavaya Model Residential School, Mobile Connectivity Project in Maoist affected districts, and Financial Inclusion.
Under the Security Related Expenditure Scheme, Rs 2,302 crore has been provided to the state governments since 2014-15.
Under the Special Infrastructure Scheme, projects worth Rs 991.04 crore have been approved from 2017-21 for upgradation and strengthening of Special Forces, Special Intelligence Branches and for the construction of 250 Fortified Police Stations (FPSs) in Maoist- affected areas.
Under Special Central Assistance Scheme for the most Maoist affected districts, Rs 3,085.74 crore has been released to the states.
Under Road Requirement Plan-l (RRP-I) scheme, 2,134 km have been completed post-May 2014. In Gaya, 205 km road and in Aurangabad, 116 km road has been completed under this scheme.
Under Road Connectivity Project for Maoist affected Areas, 12,082 km with an estimated cost of Rs 11,780 Crore has been sanctioned. 6,274 km has been completed. 196 km in Gaya and 237 km in Aurangabad districts of Bihar have been completed.
Under Skill Development Scheme in 47 Maoist Affected Districts, 30 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and 61 Skill Development Centers (SDCs) have been completed. Post-May 2014, 08 ITIs and six SDCs have been completed. For Gaya and Aurangabad, one ITI and two SDCs each have been made under this scheme.
A total of 32 Kendriya Vidyala (KV) and nine Jawahar Nava Vidyalaya (JNVs) have been opened in Maoist-affected districts. Construction of two JNVs and two KVs for Gaya and one JNV and two KVs for Aurangabad district in Bihar has also been completed.
A total of 207 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) have been sanctioned for Maoist-affected areas.
Meanwhile, 1,258 bank branches and 1,348 ATMs have been installed in Most of the Maoist-affected districts. Further, 4,903 new Post Offices were opened in Maoist-affected districts. 26 Post Offices were opened in Aurangabad and 31 in Gaya. Alongside 38 bank branches and eight ATMs were started in Aurangabad and 66 Bank Branches and 32 ATMs were opened in Gaya.
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