India, July 23 -- The Central government on Wednesday declared that India has been freed from the menace of Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) due to increased central and state security operations along with development initiatives that are part of the National Policy and Action Plan to counter LWE. While responding to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said that the Union government has been implementing multi-layered security along with development measures and steps to secure the rights and benefits for the local people from the very root in the States. The minister said that for rapid development of the most backward LWE-affected districts, the Special Central Assistance (SCA) scheme was formulated and launched in 2017 so that the development needs of the vulnerable and backward areas could be met in the form of critical core infrastructure.

He also said that till date, an amount of Rs 4,282.96 crores has been released to the States for development works under the SCA. In addition to the SCA, the minister noted that several area-specific schemes have been launched to undertake development works like connectivity, education, skill development, and financial inclusion. He said that under two road development schemes, i.e., Road Requirement Plan (RRP) and Road Connectivity Project for LWE affected areas (RCPLWEA), 15,189 km roads have been constructed so far, laying special emphasis on enhancing connectivity in these areas. Moreover, 9,497 telecom towers have been erected in LWE-affected areas. The minister said that 47 Industrial Training Institutes and 49 Skill Development Centres have been set up for skill development. He also said that 179 Eklavya Model Residential Schools have been commissioned in these areas to promote education. He also said that 6,025 post offices providing banking services have been opened to promote financial inclusion and 1804 bank branches and 1321 ATMs have been set up in the most affected LWE areas.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.