Maharashtra CM Shinde To Attend Review Meet On Naxal Terror To Be Chaired By Amit Shah

New Delhi [India] : Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will be attending the meeting chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah on Left-wing extremism (LWE) in the national capital on Friday.

The meeting is likely to be attended by chief ministers, Home ministers or their representatives from Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Kerala.

Union Home Secretary, top officials of Central Armed Police Forces, and many senior officers of the central and state governments will also attend the meeting.

The meeting, which is held at regular intervals, aims at fulfilling the Central government’s commitment to the development of the Naxal-affected states.

A number of Left-wing extremist (LWE) outfits have been operating in certain remote and poorly connected pockets of the country for the last few decades, according to officials.

As per the Ministry of Home Affairs, the CPI(Maoist), which is responsible for a majority of incidents of violence and killing of civilians and security forces, has been included in the Schedule of Terrorist Organizations along with all its formations and front organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967.

To address issues around Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and the threat to national security that it poses holistically, a National Policy and Action Plan to address Left Wing Extremism (LWE) was approved in 2015. The significant features of the policy are zero tolerance towards violence coupled with a big push to developmental activities so that benefits of development reach the poor and vulnerable in areas affected by Naxal terror.

Gadchiroli in Maharashtra remains one of the few districts ‘severely affected’ by Left-wing extremism in India.

The ‘Left Wing Extremism’ Division, which comes under the Ministry of Homes Affairs in India, became operational on October 19, 2006 to effectively address Naxal insurgency in a holistic manner.