Agitations by various sections over a range of issues recorded an increase of nearly 7 per cent in 2012 compared to 2011, with 78,444 protests and demonstrations reported all over the country.
At the State level, the maximum number of 21,232 agitations — including over 10,000 protests by political parties, 2,720 by government employees, 1,392 by labour and 1,281 agitations on communal issues — were reported in Tamil Nadu, as against 15,746 in 2011. The fewest number of protests (574) in the State involved students.
While 9,397 agitations were recorded in Madhya Pradesh, there were a total of 6,038 protests in Uttarakhand, reveals data recently released by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D).
In 98 agitations, the police opened fire at the protesters and 65 such instances were recorded in Madhya Pradesh, where 121 people were injured.
Police firing was reported in 16 of the 1,901 agitations in West Bengal, whereas two civilians and three policemen were killed and eight civilians and 469 policemen suffered injuries in the protests. In 298 of the 78,444 agitations, the police had to use teargas and baton charge.
In all, 13 civilians and 6 policemen were killed, whereas 354 civilians and 863 policemen were injured in the agitations.
Besides in Tamil Nadu, a substantial increase in agitations compared to 2011 was registered in Chhattisgarh (from 2,367 to 3,303), Madhya Pradesh (4,628 to 9,397), and West Bengal (1,352 to 1,901).
Chandigarh (2,009 to 1,102), Uttarakhand (8,610 to 6,038), Punjab (7,554 to 4,246), Maharashtra (8,289 to 5,178), Karnataka (5,013 to 3,380) and Gujarat (3,411 to 2,477) recorded a significant decline.
According to the BPR&D statistics, Sikkim, Tripura, Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep saw no agitation in 2012.
The maximum number of agitations was political in nature (37.13 per cent), followed by protests on issues other than communal, student, government employees or labour-related (25 per cent). Communal agitations accounted for 4.95 per cent and student protests, about 9.41 per cent of the total number.
While Tamil Nadu recorded the maximum number of communal agitations (1,281), Maharashtra stood second with 1,261. It was followed by Karnataka (445) and Delhi (425). The BPR&D report states no communal agitation was reported from Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Manipur, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand, the A&N Islands, D &N Haveli, Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.
The maximum number of student agitations was reported in Rajasthan (939), followed by 862 in Uttarakhand, 850 in Madhya Pradesh and 811 in Assam.
While 1,392 labour agitations were recorded in Tamil Nadu, the number was 879 in Punjab, 668 in Uttarakhand and 528 in Odisha.
Government employees hit the streets 2,720 times in Tamil Nadu, 2,023 in Punjab and 1,651 times in Madhya Pradesh during 2012, such protests in the country forming an overall 15.63 per cent.
