BASTAR (India), April 23 -- The Maoist rebellion that once held sway over nearly a third of India is being bulldozed into submission in its final forest fortress.

Thick clouds of red dust billow skyward as earthmovers cut roads through the Abujhmad hills of India's central Chhattisgarh state, the last holdout of a nearly 60-year insurgency that has cost 12,000 lives.

Security forces are strangling the final remnants of the revolt with a network of 450 fortified bases and surveillance hubs linked by roads driven deep into the dense forest.

New Delhi said last month that it had effectively defeated the insurgency, which at its height held a large swathe of northern and central India with up to 20,000 fighters, after villagers rose up aga...