Eight new districts added to MHA's Naxal-affected list

Eight new districts have been added to the list of Naxal-affected areas while 44 others have been removed, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has said.

The inclusion of new districts is described as a "pre-emptive measure" to address "potential areas of expansion" by the Maoists. This was revealed in Parliament recently.

The new districts that have been included in the list are West Godavari (Andhra Pradesh), Kabirdham (Chhattisgarh), Mandla (Madhya Pradesh), Angul and Boudh (Odisha), Malappuram, Palakkad and Wayanad (Kerala).

After the review, 90 districts in 11 states are now covered under the Security Related Expenditure scheme.

"In view of the improving security situation in LWE affected states, a review of districts covered under the Security Related Expenditure Scheme was undertaken by the government. Accordingly, 44 districts were excluded and eight new districts were included under the scheme with effect from 1 April 2018," the MHA said.

Telangana (19) had the highest number of districts removed from the list of Naxal-affected areas. These Karimnagar, Nizamabad, Medak, Mahboobnagar, Nalgonda, Jagtiyal, Nagarkurnool, Siddipet, Yadadri-Bhongir and Kamareddy.

Six districts in Bihar and Odisha and three each from Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal were excluded from the list.

Of the 90 districts in the list, 30 are considered worst-affected. These 30 districts contributed to 88% of violent incidents and 94% of deaths in 2017.

Overall, the MHA said, the resolute implementation of the National Policy and Action Plan by the central and state governments has resulted in considerable improvement of the situation, both in term of reduction of violence and the geographical spread. "The number of violent incidents has come down to 908 in 2017 from a high of 2258 in 2009. The geographical spread of violence has also shrunk considerably," the MHA told the Parliament.