With Naxalism casting a shadow over almost a third of the country's total area, the Centre is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to address the problem in a holistic and coordinated manner.
The influence of naxalism has been growing all over the country as out of the total of 12,476 police stations, naxal violence was reported from 509 police stations in 11 states last year, sources in the Union Home Ministry said.
It is widely felt that naxalism is no more a law and order problem, but poses a threat to internal security as is evident from the declaration of a 'Compact Revolutionary Zone' of 'Red Corridor' from Nepal to Tamil Nadu - accounting for almost a third of the country's total area.
The sources admitted that CPI (Maoist) has been trying to increase its influence and activity in parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Uttaranchal and also in new areas in some of the already affected states.
Since the problem, identified as the single biggest internal security challenge before the country, has to be tackled on the political, security and development fronts, the Centre will continue to coordinate and supplement efforts and resources of state governments, they said.
{{/usCountry}}Since the problem, identified as the single biggest internal security challenge before the country, has to be tackled on the political, security and development fronts, the Centre will continue to coordinate and supplement efforts and resources of state governments, they said.
{{/usCountry}}They, however, said essentially it was for the state governments to pursue effective measures to improve ground level policing and development response besides countering the negative propaganda unleashed by naxalites to contain and control this menace.