E-Paper
Serial blasts thing of past; LWE violence also down: Modi
In his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 77th Independence Day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India is feeling a sense of security now
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that internal security has improved since he took over in 2014, underlining serial blasts were a thing of the past while the Left-wing Extremist (LWE) violence has also gone down.
“India is feeling a sense of security now,” Modi said in his address from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 77th Independence Day.
Serial blasts rocked cities such as Delhi, Surat, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur in 2007-2008. As many as 132 blasts across the country in 2021 left 80 people dead, according to an analysis of the use of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) by the National Bomb Data Centre of the elite counter-terrorism force National Security Guard. In 2020, 120 blasts claimed 40 lives. There was an all-time high recovery of 536 IEDs in 2021, 311 more than in 2020.
Maoists carried out most IED attacks (55 out of 132 in 2021) followed by 50 in the rest of India including 16 in Jammu and Kashmir and 11 in the northeast. In 2020, Maoists carried out 49 blasts. Twelve such attacks were reported from Jammu and Kashmir and 11 in the northeast.
In the LWE areas, 13,315 incidents of violence took place between 2006 and 2014. They came down by 50% to 6,552 between 2014-22, according to Union home ministry data.
LWE violence left 5,289 people dead between 2006 and 2014. The fatalities came down by 66% to 1,754 between 2014 to 2022.
The number of Maoists who surrendered went up from 2,428 between 2006-14 to 5,816 between 2014-22. Officials have credited a three-dimensional strategy involving controlling extremists, better coordination between the Union government and affected states, and development works for a dip in Maoist violence.
