Context:
A day after the encounter between central paramilitary forces and Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma, bodies of 22 personnel were recovered, 31 were injured and one commando was still missing, according to Chattisgarh police.
Relevance:
GS-III: Internal Security Challenges (Linkages of Organized Crime with Terrorism, Left-Wing Extremism)
Dimensions of the Article:
- Background to the recent attacks
- Road Requirement Plan for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas
- Left Wing Extremism (LWE)
- What is Naxalism in India?
- Government Initiatives to fight LWE
Background to the recent attacks
- With critical road projects to provide connectivity in Left Wing Extremism-affected areas often coming to a halt due to security reasons, Chhattisgarh has proposed a new plan to the Centre, suggesting that it divide the remaining contracts into small packets so that local contractors can take up the jobs.
- 90% of the Road Requirement Plan — for connectivity in hotspots of 34 districts worst-affected by Maoist insurgency in eight states — stands completed, but progress remains a problem in Chhattisgarh.
- A team of security forces was attacked by a People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) unit in the Tarrem area near the Sukma-Bijapur district border, Chhattisgarh. Several security personnel were killed and many were injured.
- PLGA was founded in 2000. It has been declared as a terrorist organisation and banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act-1967 (UAPA).
- Sukma District located in the southern tip of the state of Chhattisgarh is covered with the semi-tropical forest and is a mainland of tribal community Gond.
- One major river that flows through the district is Sabari (a tributary of Godavari river).
- Over a few decades, this region has become a fostering ground for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) activities and the uneven terrains and the tricky geographic locations made this region a safer hideout for the LWE activists.
Road Requirement Plan for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas
- Road Requirement Plan for Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Affected Areas Scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways for improving road connectivity in 34 LWE affected districts of 8 States.
- 8 States are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.
- This scheme envisaged construction of 5,422 km roads lengths in LWE affected States.
Left Wing Extremism (LWE)
- 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 ground level.
- These groups prevent the developmental processes in the least developed regions of the country and try to misguide the people by keeping them ignorant of current happenings.
- Left Wing Extremists are popularly known as Maoists worldwide and as Naxalites in India.
-Source: The Hindu
