Government today said, there has been a substantial improvement in the Left Wing Extremism scenario over the last four years. Incidents of violence have seen a 20 percent decline with a 34 percent reduction in related deaths in 2017 as compared to 2013. In a release, the Home Ministry said, it has been implementing the National Policy and Action Plan since 2015 to combat the issue which has been paying dividends.

The policy envisages a multi-pronged strategy involving security and development related measures. The significant features of the new policy were zero tolerance towards violence coupled with a big push to developmental activities so that benefits of development reached the poor and vulnerable in the affected areas.

The Ministry had categorized 106 districts in ten states as Left Wing Extremism affected. Out of these, 35 districts which accounted for 80-90 percent of country-wide LWE violence were categorized as ‘Most Affected Districts’.