Govt may rejig development model in Naxal belt
With recent incidents showing that Maoists are getting significant support from local tribals to attack security forces, the Centre is mulling rejigging its development model in the Left-wing extremism (LWE) heartland by ensuring the rights and entitlements of local communities.
Besides focusing on the security aspect during Monday’s mega meeting with the Chief Ministers of 10 LWE-affected states, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh would be paying special attention to the development aspect. The review meeting has lined up a full session on this aspect, which will be attended by the Ministries of Rural Development, Road Transport and Highways, Railways, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Civil Aviation and Telecom.
Of late, the Centre has been criticised severely by experts such as former Union Minister P Chidambaram for making the security approach the fulcrum of its agenda to deal with Maoists and putting development on the back-burner and, in the process, alienating local tribals.
The meeting is expected to be attended by the District Magistrates (DM) of the 35 worst LWE-affected districts along with the chief secretaries of those states that were identified during the UPA’s regime for faster local development to help assimilate the local population with the mainstream.
CRPF’s anti-Naxal HQ now in Chhattisgarh
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