Left-wing extremism is on the decline across most parts of the country except three states — Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana — which continue to report a heightened presence of Maoist activity. The three states recorded a spike in violent incidents in the recent past in contrast to the national trend of steadily falling numbers. According to data shared in the Rajya Sabha on March 26, Chhattisgarh reported 267 incidents of Maoist violence in 2024, marginally down from 305 the previous year, making it the worst-affected state in the country. In 2022, 246 cases were recorded in the state. Telangana, which had reported just three incidents in 2023 saw eight incidents in 2024. The number of incidents in Madhya Pradesh rose from 7 in 2023 to 11 in 2024.
The information was shared in response to a question by MP M. Thambidurai, who asked if Naxal activity had declined and what steps were being taken to counter it. Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai replied in the Upper House sharing both statistics and strategy related to the subject.
While Chhattisgarh and Telangana saw an uptick, most other Maoist-affected states showed a clear downward trend. Jharkhand came down from 166 incidents in 2019 to just 69 in 2024. Bihar, which had 48 incidents in 2019, reported just two last year. Andhra Pradesh, which was once a Maoist hotbed with zones like the Andhra Orissa Border (AOB) and Agency area, recorded just a single case of violence in 2024, significantly down from 13 in 2019.
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The central government attributed the rise in the number of incidents in a few states to intensified operations in Maoist strongholds. “The rise in violence in 2022 and 2023 was on account of increased counter LWE (Left Wing Extremism) operations as the Security Forces commenced entering the core areas of CPI (Maoist),” according to the written reply from the government.
In 2010, India recorded 1,936 incidents of Maoist-related violence. That figure dropped by 81% to 374 in 2024. Deaths, too, have come down from 1005 in 2010 to 150 last year.
The centre has invested in arms, equipment and infrastructure to tackle Maoists. The government said that security forces have been given helicopters, modern arms, and fortified bases in remote areas. The Centre also released over Rs 3,200 crore for recurring costs like training, intelligence operations and rehabilitation of surrendered Maoists.
