Context:
With Left Wing Extremism (LWE) witnessing a sharp decline, especially in the Dandakaranya (DK) region, the State has intensified its focus on development-led security, tribal welfare, and rehabilitation of surrendered cadres to ensure that vacated spaces are not reoccupied by insurgent networks.
Key Highlights:
- Security Situation & Organisational Decline
- Mass surrenders of Maoist cadres have been reported across Dandakaranya and adjoining regions since October 2025.
- Top leaders of CPI (Maoist), including Nambala Keshava Rao (Basavaraju) and Madvi Hidma, were neutralised, while others such as Venugopal alias Sonu surrendered.
- As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, only seven districts remain affected by LWE as of October 2025, indicating a historic contraction.
- Strategic & Organisational Factors
- In August 2024, the CPI (Maoist) Polit Bureau fragmented its units into smaller formations to evade security forces.
- This tactic resulted in internal splits, weakened command structures, and erosion of cadre morale, accelerating surrenders.
- Rehabilitation & Development Push
- Surrendered cadres are being integrated under the Surrender and Rehabilitation (S&R) Policy, offering financial assistance, housing, skill training, and employment avenues.
- The Niyad Nellanar scheme is being extended to previously affected villages to improve access to government welfare schemes.
- Focus areas include:
- Healthcare: Tackling anaemia, cerebral malaria, and dysentery through expanded medical outreach.
- Agriculture: Supply of quality seeds, check dams for irrigation, and forest produce processing units.
- Education: Expansion of residential ashram schools to counter Maoist indoctrination via parallel schooling structures.
- Rehabilitation measures also address social reintegration, including healthcare support for surrendered male and female cadres.
Relevant Prelims Points:
- Left Wing Extremism (LWE): Armed movements seeking to overthrow the state through violence.
- S&R Policy: Incentive-based framework to encourage surrender and reintegration of extremists.
- Dandakaranya Region: Tribal-dominated forest belt spanning parts of Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Odisha, and Maharashtra.
- Niyad Nellanar Scheme: Development initiative targeting remote and previously LWE-affected villages.
Relevant Mains Points:
- Internal Security: Success reflects a shift from purely kinetic operations to population-centric security.
- Social Justice: Addressing tribal deprivation reduces the structural drivers of insurgency.
- Post-Independence India: Marks a significant phase in the long-running Maoist challenge since the 1960s.
- Governance Lens: Filling the “governance vacuum” is critical to preventing relapse.
- Way Forward:
- Ensure sustained delivery of public services in reclaimed areas.
- Strengthen local self-governance and tribal rights implementation.
- Monitor rehabilitation outcomes to prevent recidivism.
- Integrate development initiatives with community participation and accountability.
UPSC Relevance:
- GS 3: Internal security, LWE
- GS 2: Social justice, tribal welfare
- GS 1: Post-Independence internal challenges