Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Monday that considerable strides have been made in areas affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) and in the past three years, 40 new security camps have been established, while 15 more are on the anvil.
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When LWE violence was at its peak in 2009, the number of incidents was 2,258, which decreased to 509 in 2021, he said, adding that this number has rapidly fallen further since 2019.
“In 2009, 1,005 people died in militant violence, while in 2021, 147 people were killed... from 96 violent incidents at police stations were reported in 2009, it came down to 46 in 2021,” he detailed.
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Mr. Shah was speaking in Bhopal at the Central Zonal Council meeting in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami. The CMs of other two States that are part of the council, Uttar Pradesh’s Yogi Adityanath and Chhattisgarh’s Bhupesh Singh Baghel attended the meeting virtually.
In the area of telecom services, more than 2,300 mobile towers are being installed in the first phase; 2,500 more will be installed in the second phase, said Mr. Shah.
Mr. Baghel claimed that 426 major bridges are missing on the roads constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna. Stating that work 154 roads of the length of up to 526 km has been completed in Naxal-affected Bastar division in Stage 1, he demanded for the approval of Stage 2 of the development work. Estimated cost of both the works is ₹1,700 crore, he added.
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National Pension System
Mr. Baghel raised the issue of refund of ₹17,240 crore contributed by State government employees to the National Pension System (NPS) since 2004. The two Congress-ruled and poll-bound States of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan announced restoration to the Defined Pension Benefit Schemes or the Old Pension System. (DPBS/OPS) earlier this year.
A senior government official said that while 15 out of 18 issues discussed were resolved, there was no assurance from the Home Minister on the NPS refund.
The Union Government informed the Parliament on March 24 that the proposal to reintroduce OPS is “not under consideration of Government of India.”
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Law and order
Speaking at another function in Bhopal, later in the day, Mr. Shah said that the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Madhya Pradesh has uprooted Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activities from Malwa region.
He said the government was going to overhaul the British-era Indian Penal Code (IPC) and one of the changes being considered was making the collection of forensic evidence compulsory in crime cases punishable by more than six years. “Era of third degree torture is over. Custodial torture has roots in colonial India. Conviction of criminals can be achieved based on forensic evidence that is irrefutable,” Mr. Shah said.
He said the collection of forensic evidence will require resources, for which the government is set to open ten National Forensic Science University in different parts of the country over the next two years. This will also create employment. “M.P. government has allotted 27 acres for NFSU in Bhopal, this will be the fifth such campus,” he said.
Noting that the police are often projected in a negative light by filmmakers and the media, the Home Minister said the truth was that it is the only organisation in the country working round the clock, sometimes without availing of leaves.