India now Naxal-free: HM

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has officially communicated to nine state governments that no district in India is now classified as Left Wing Extremism (...

What Happened

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has officially communicated to nine state governments that no district in India is now classified as Left Wing Extremism (LWE) violence-affected — ending a classification system that, at its peak, covered 126 districts across 10 states.
The MHA communication, issued in April 2026, followed a comprehensive security review establishing that 37 districts are now categorised as "Legacy and Thrust districts" (where insurgency has been eliminated but vigilance is required to prevent resurgence) and one district — West Singhbhum in Jharkhand — as a "District of Concern."
The declaration follows the killing in May 2025 of the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), the outfit's top ideological and operational leader, during a multi-agency security operation in Chhattisgarh.
Operation Kagar — meaning "Final Mission" — was the principal security operation driving this outcome, involving approximately 20,000 security personnel from the CRPF and Chhattisgarh Police across the Bastar division.
The nine states informed by MHA are: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, and West Bengal.

Static Topic Bridges

Left Wing Extremism (LWE) in India: Origins and Trajectory

Left Wing Extremism in India — also called Naxalism or the Maoist insurgency — refers to the armed revolutionary movement inspired by the ideology of Mao Zedong and the 1967 Naxalbari peasant uprising in West Bengal.

The Naxalbari uprising (1967) in Darjeeling district gave the movement its name; it was led by peasants demanding land redistribution under the leadership of Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was founded in 1969 from this movement; subsequent splits produced multiple organisations, eventually consolidating into CPI (Maoist) in 2004.
At its peak (2009–2010), the LWE movement operated across 126 districts in 10 states — the "Red Corridor" — spanning Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, and Karnataka.
The movement exploited tribal land alienation, displacement by development projects, lack of governance penetration, and adivasi grievances in forested areas.
LWE-related violence peaked around 2010 with over 1,000 incidents and more than 1,000 fatalities annually; by 2025, incidents had declined to historically low levels.

Connection to this news: The MHA's declaration that no district remains LWE-affected marks the culmination of a sustained 15-year counter-insurgency and development campaign — but the creation of "Legacy and Thrust" and "District of Concern" categories signals that the threat is suppressed, not eliminated.

SAMADHAN Strategy: India's Counter-LWE Framework

SAMADHAN is the MHA's comprehensive strategic framework for combating Left Wing Extremism, enunciated in 2017 as a multi-dimensional policy covering security, development, and governance.

SAMADHAN is an acronym: Smart Leadership, Aggressive Strategy, Motivation and Training, Actionable Intelligence, Dashboard-Based Key Result Areas and Key Performance Indicators, Harnessing Technology, Action Plan for Each Theatre, No Access to Financing.
Security components: Intelligence-based operations coordinated between CRPF and state police; forward operating bases (FOBs) in previously inaccessible areas; drone and satellite surveillance; and a generous surrender and rehabilitation policy.
Development components: Special Central Assistance (SCA) for LWE-affected districts; road connectivity under the Road Connectivity Project for LWE Areas (RCPLWEA); mobile tower installation; banking penetration; Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT); Eklavya Model Residential Schools; and health sub-centres.
The strategy integrates the Aspirational Districts Programme (now Aspirational Districts Initiative) and Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan for comprehensive tribal development.
Key institutional mechanism: The MHA convenes regular annual reviews with Chief Ministers and senior officials of LWE-affected states to monitor the strategy's implementation.

Connection to this news: The MHA's declaration is the most concrete result of SAMADHAN's integrated approach — combining security pressure (Operation Kagar) with the development penetration that deprived the Maoist movement of its social base.

Operation Kagar: The Final Security Push

Operation Kagar (meaning "Final Mission") was a large-scale multi-agency counter-insurgency operation concentrated primarily in the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh.

Approximately 20,000 security personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) — including specialised CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) units — and Chhattisgarh Police participated.
Operational elements: establishment of forward operating bases (FOBs) across the Bastar region; use of drones and satellite imagery for intelligence; construction of over 612 new police stations in reclaimed areas; and a structured surrender-and-rehabilitation policy.
The operation resulted in the killing of the general secretary of CPI (Maoist), Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, along with 26 other Naxals on May 21, 2025 — the highest-value neutralisation in the movement's history.
The operation also saw a significant increase in Maoist surrenders, reflecting both security pressure and the functioning rehabilitation incentives under SAMADHAN.
Chhattisgarh's Bastar division — comprising seven districts including Sukma, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Bastar, and Kanker — was historically the most violence-intensive zone in India.

Connection to this news: Operation Kagar, particularly the killing of CPI (Maoist)'s top leadership, was the decisive operational development that allowed MHA to formally declare the end of the LWE-affected district classification in April 2026.

The Red Corridor and LWE-Affected District Classification System

The MHA has historically classified districts into categories based on the intensity of LWE violence and the capacity of state governments to respond.

"Highly Affected Districts" (HADs): Districts with the highest LWE violence incidence; received maximum Central security deployment and SCA.
"LWE-Affected Districts": A broader category covering HADs and districts with some LWE presence but lower violence intensity.
New classification (2026): "Legacy and Thrust districts" — 37 districts where LWE has been operationally eliminated but where continued administrative and developmental attention is warranted to prevent resurgence. "District of Concern" — West Singhbhum (Jharkhand) — the only district where some residual concern remains.
The Red Corridor concept refers to the geographic belt of LWE activity running through central and eastern India; at peak, it covered parts of approximately 10 states from Andhra Pradesh in the south to Bihar/West Bengal in the north.
LWE affected districts declined from 126 (2013) to 38 (2024) to zero (2026) under the active district classification.

Connection to this news: The MHA's reclassification represents a formal closure of the "LWE-affected district" designation, but the "Legacy and Thrust" category signals that security and development resources will continue to flow to former hotspots — preventing the governance vacuum that originally enabled the movement.

Key Facts & Data

Origin of LWE in India: Naxalbari uprising, 1967, West Bengal.
CPI (Maoist) formation: 2004 (merger of PWG and MCC).
Peak LWE district count: 126 districts across 10 states (circa 2013).
District count at time of declaration (2026): Zero active LWE-affected districts.
"Legacy and Thrust" districts: 37.
"District of Concern": 1 (West Singhbhum, Jharkhand).
States informed by MHA: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal.
Operation Kagar personnel: approximately 20,000 (CRPF + Chhattisgarh Police).
Police stations built in reclaimed areas: over 612.
CPI (Maoist) general secretary killed: Nambala Keshava Rao alias Basavaraju, May 21, 2025.
SAMADHAN strategy enunciated: 2017.
CRPF specialised unit for LWE: CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action).
MHA declaration to states: April 2026 (following review as of March 31, 2026).