Union Home Minister Amit Shah is holding a meeting with the chief ministers and Director General of Police (DGPs) of ten states over the issue of Naxal menace in the country. According to reports, the day-long deliberation on Monday pertains to issues related to security and development in Naxal-infested areas. The Home Secretary is also present at the meeting.
Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, Jharkhand CM Raghubar Das, Madhya Pradesh Kamal Nath, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath are present at the meeting. However, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee isn't present at the meeting. She will be in Burdwan to hold the administrative meeting on Monday and on Tuesday in Hooghly district. The state has only one Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) district, Jhargram.
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao are also absent from the meeting.
Notably, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led NDA government at the Centre has raised concerns over the issue of Naxalism on several occasions. In a written reply to Lok Sabha in July, Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy had said that Naxals were inducting children in their ranks and imparting them military training.
"There have been some reports of CPI (Maoist) inducting children in their outfit in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, using them for cooking, carrying daily use materials and collecting information regarding movement of security forces. They are also imparted military training," the minister had said in his written reply.
In January 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led central government had formulated a National Policy and Action Plan to tackle the Naxal menace in a holistic manner. According to the government, the new plan envisages a multi-pronged approach comprising security measures, development measures, ensuring Rights and Entitlements of local communities etc.
The Home Ministry has also been providing all kinds of necessary support to the state governments by way of deployment of CAPF Battalions, provision of helicopter and UAVs and sanction of India Reserve Bns (IRBs)/Special India Reserve Bns (SIRBs) etc. The states affected by Naxalism are also provided funds under Modernisation of Police Force (MPF), Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme and Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) for capacity building of State Police, intelligence agencies and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs).
