Response of the central government of India

Naxalism is the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country...the movement has gained in strength and has now spread to over 160 districts all over the country...the extremists are trying to establish ‘liberation zones' in core areas where they are dispensing basic state functions of administration, policing and justice,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted in his address to the 2nd meeting of Standing Committee of Chief Ministers on Naxalism on 13 April 2006.

In the second meeting of the Standing Committee of Chief Ministers to chalk out strategies to counter Naxalism, Prime Minister suggested two-prong strategy of effective police response and socio-economic development of the Naxal- affected areas. The government proposed a joint unified command backed by a liberal surrender and rehabilitation policy.

The responses of the Central government and State governments are summarised below:

Union Home Ministry and the common refrain:

The Central government set up a separate division in the Ministry of Home Affairs to tackle the Naxalite crisis.

It has been supporting “Salwa Judum” type campaign and urged the States to take the experiences of Andhra police to train their police forces in the Naxalite affected areas.

The demand for more forces has been a common refrain. The Naxalite affected states want 100 central paramilitary battalions (with over 1 lakh ready-to-fight personnel) to go after the roughly 9,000 to 12,000 Naxalites. Eight states that have witnessed Naxalites' attacks presently have 29 such battalions.

On 27 April 2006, the Centre sanctioned raising of 9 more India Reserve Battalions (IRB) comprising 9,000 police personnel for Naxalite-affected states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana (one each) and two for worst-hit Chhattisgarh. It is also reportedly been considering sanctioning one India Reserve Battalion (IRB) each for Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The Centre will spend around Rs 20 crore on each battalion, which is higher than the earlier allocation of Rs 13 crore.

The Union Home Ministry is considering to set up three or four specialised anti-Maoist centres at strategic locations - mainly at inter-state borders - each equipped with about five helicopters.  The centres would be manned mainly by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the pilots would be from the army or BSF.  The MHA has also been considering to set up an elite commadno force exclusively dealing with the Naxalite insurgents.

In April 2006, Army Chief General JJ Singh suggested setting up an auxiliary force of ex-servicemen drawn from the Naxalite-affected States to carry out duties like detecting mines and explosive devices laid by Naxalites to attack the police and para-military forces.