Decision on Red Corridor Region

Why in news?

Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) has redrawn the red corridor region which are affected by Left-wing extremism.

What is a red corridor region?

• Red corridor region is demarcated by the union government to notify the districts which are affected by left wing extremism.
• It is spanning across 106 districts in 10 States, namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

What is the recent decision on red corridor region?

• A recent report of MoHA classifies the red corridor region with respect to the severity of the Naxal influence.
• The three main categories are -

1. Severely affected - Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar
2. Partially affected - West Bengal, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh
3. Slightly affected - Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh

• 44 districts have been removed from the list and eight new districts which could be slightly or partially affected has been added to the list.
• The recent decision is taken since only 30 worst affected districts account for 90% of the LWE violence.

What were the actions taken by government to tackle LWE?

• The National Policy & Action Plan constituted by the MoHA had been introduced to reduce the concentration of Naxal affected districts.
• All expenses incurred by the affected areas were covered under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme.
• This provides funds for projects related to development such as infrastructure, transportation, communication, bridges and schools.

• Under which mobile towers, boarding schools and roads were installed in LWE affected areas.
• Government also aims for a multi-pronged strategy which primarily includes development and security aspects of affected districts.

Source: The Indian Express