Centre committed to progressive reforms, says Shinde

Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, who visited Jharkhand's Latehar District on Tuesday, assured the locals that the Central Government is determined to institute progressive reforms.

Shinde, who was accompanied by Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh, interacted with the locals, and assured them that the Centre is determined to institute progressive reforms in their region.

He also held discussions with the top brass of the state police and the paramilitary outfits deployed by the Centre to counter the Maoists movement.

On this score, he lauded the services of the paramilitary personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Border Security Force (BSF).

"Our paramilitary force in Latehar region has been functioning very effectively and today I have come here to meet them. I also regularly visit the Pakistan border and Bangladesh border quite often. As for here, I thought that as soon as the Parliament session is over I will have to go to Latehar for a nice interaction with the paramilitary personnel. The courage with which they are fighting to eliminate the menace of Maoists here, I really appreciate it," said Shinde.

Reckoning the problems such as lack of education and employment among the poor in the rural areas, he highlighted on the developmental projects mooted by the government.

"Similar to the manner in which our paramilitary force is fighting the ultras, we are also fighting the same for the good of the poor especially for the 'have nots' in rural and isolated interior areas. Whatever we have planned as of now we will construct the roads, educate people and we have also given orders to recruit more of locals in the paramilitary outfits, of course for which they need to be given proper academic education and enable them to render their services," added Shinde.

Maoists have significantly increased their presence in tribal and rural regions in the states of Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha as well as certain parts of Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.

The government, which has termed the Maoists to be India's biggest internal security threat and an obstacle to growth, had earlier last year renewed the offer for peace talks with the ultras if they abjure violence.