Forces overpowered by Maoists: survey

The security establishment may boast about last year’s victories in the fight against Maoists but the statistics for 2017 convey a different story.

The number of security personnel killed in Maoist attacks rose this year while the number of Maoists deaths in the encounters decreased.

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), there is a decline in the number of Maoist incidents this year till March 31(250 incidents), as against 321 reported during the same period last year.

The number of encounters have also come down from 103 to 61. Similarly, the number of civilians killings have dropped to 48 from 70. So is the case with Maoists killings – 44 this year as against 70 in the first three months of 2016.

However, the number of security personnel killed has shot up to 32 from 25 during the same period last year.
The number of attacks on the police, including those in which landmines were used, rose by one – from 30 to 31 during the same period.

The number of arrests of Maoists has decreased to 421 in 2017 from 505 in 2016 and surrenders to 327 in 2017 from 397 and 2016. Inputs also suggest that the number of Maoist training camps rose from three in the first three months of 2016 to eight by 2017.