SC notice to Centre, states on policy for handling naxalism

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre and nine naxal-affected states on a PIL seeking direction to governments to formulate a central policy for handling the menace.
A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivan sought response from the Centre, states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Utter Pradesh governments.
The court passed the order on a plea filed by ex-MLA of Samajwadi Party, saying a central regulation is needed to handle naxalite activities which is causing a serious threat to the security to the country.
"The absence of any central regulation over the Naxalites/Maoists have infact helped increas their strength to spread terror and to disturb the national integrity and peace," the petition said.

The petition said that despite conceptualization of the Integrated Action Plan for dealing with naxal issues there is a strong divergence between the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) over its implementation and it needed to be sorted out.