Naxal-hit districts reduced to 38 from 46 after MHA review

The Ministry of Home Affairs’ latest review shows Naxal-affected districts have reduced from 46 to 38, with only 11 now classified as Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected. Officials attribute the decline to coordinated security operations and developmental focus in key States

New Delhi: The latest review of categorisation of Naxal violence-affected districts in the country saw their number come down to 38 in nine states from 46 in April, with only four ‘districts of concern’ and three ‘most affected districts’ remaining.

The evaluation is undertaken as part of the ‘National Policy and Action Plan to Address Left Wing Extremism (LWE) 2015’, in which the central and State governments work together to tackle the menace.

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The latest categorisation was notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on October 15. Official records and sources in the security establishment told PTI that a “marked improvement” was recorded in the insurgency theatre. Hence, the number of districts covered under the Security-Related Expenditure (SRE) has decreased to 38 from 46 as of April 1.

The SRE is a top-level LWE policy scheme under which the Centre provides financial assistance to States to fight the internal security problem. The SRE districts are further categorised into ‘LWE-affected districts’ and ‘Legacy and Thrust Districts’. The Naxal violence and influence graph has seen a dip under all these heads following aggressive action by security forces as part of the Union government’s declaration to end Naxalism by March 2026, according to the sources.

The number of LWE-affected districts has dropped to 11 from 18 in April, and they are sub-categorised as ‘most affected districts’, ‘districts of concern’, and ‘other LWE-affected districts’.

According to the latest categorisation, only three ‘most affected districts’ remain, down from six on April 1. These three districts are Bijapur, Narayanpur, and Sukma — all in Chhattisgarh. This sub-category under the LWE-affected districts was created in 2015 with 35 districts to ensure “focused” deployment of resources. The four ‘districts of concern’ are Kanker in Chhattisgarh, West Singhbhum in Jharkhand, Balaghat in Madhya Pradesh, and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.

Districts put under this head are those where Naxal influence is waning, but focused development of resources is still required. In April, four out of the six districts were removed from this category, and two were added after the review, the sources said.

According to the latest review, there are four ‘other LWE-affected districts’ — Dantewada, Gariyaband, and Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki in Chhattisgarh and Kandhamal in Odisha.

The districts that require “consolidation” of the security situation, as well as development, and are neither included in the ‘most affected districts’ nor ‘districts of concern’ categories are put under ‘other LWE-affected districts’, according to the official records.

There were six districts in this category in April. The latest review puts 27 districts under ‘Legacy and Thrust Districts’. These include eight from Odisha, six from Chhattisgarh, four from Bihar, three from Jharkhand, two from Telangana, and one each from Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and West Bengal.

These are the districts that have seen the end of Naxalism but are “prospective sites” for LWE expansion, and therefore, continued government support is required for capacity-building of the states, according to the records. In April, there were 28 districts under this category. After the latest review, eight districts were excluded and seven were included, the sources said.