India, April 2 -- In 2006, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh publicly acknowledged Naxalism as the single biggest internal security threat the country had ever faced. At its peak, the Red Corridor stretched from Nepal's border down through Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and Andhra Pradesh, covering 40% of the country's landmass.

Between 2004 and 2014, Naxal violence claimed 1,824 security force personnel and 4,684 civilians. The Dantewada ambush of 2010 killed 76 Central Reserve Police Force jawans in a single afternoon. The response was fragmented, reactive, and ultimately ineffective. Security forces operated without coordination, intelligence was rarely shared, and the movement survived each setback by regrouping in territory the...