Shinde claims Left-wing extremism is on decline since 2010

says number of incidents has declined from in 2010 to 1415 incidents in 2012

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Thursday declared that left wing extremism has been on the decline since 2010, and said that the past year has seen a 28.48 percent reduction in violent incidents of Naxalism.

"On 25th September, 2013, I reviewed the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) situation with the Chief Secretaries; the Directors General of Police of the nine LWE-affected states and the representatives of the CAPFs. The LWE violence level has been declining since 2010," Shinde said.

"The number of incidents has declined from 2213 (with 1005 resultant deaths) in 2010 to 1415 incidents (with 415 resultant deaths) in 2012. In the current year (upto 30.08.2013), there has been a 27.48percent reduction in number of incidents (with 14.10percent reduction in resultant deaths) in comparison to the corresponding period of 2012," he added.

Earlier, in September, The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre and nine naxal-affected states on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking direction to governments to formulate a central policy for handling the naxal danger.

The Maoists, who are considered to be India's greatest internal security threat, have off-late intensified their operations in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Bihar and some areas of West Bengal.