Govt taking steps to develop naxalite affected districts: MHA

New Delhi, Apr 22 (UNI) In view of the rising incidence of naxalism in the country, the government is giving special attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of development schemes in naxalite affected areas.

Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today that under the Backward Districts Initiative, which covered 147 districts, an amount of Rs. 45 crore per district had been allocated on a non-lapsable basis. This has now been replaced by the Backward Regions Grant Fund, in 250 districts.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, which was originally being implemented in 200 districts, is now being extended to all districts in the Country, having regard to the need to universalise this demand-driven programme for wage-employment. These schemes are in addition to various income-generating, public-utility and social-security schemes of different Ministries like Rural Development, Agriculture, Health and Family Welfare, Youth Affairs and Sports, Panchayati Raj and Tribal Affairs, he said.

An Inter Ministerial Group under Additional Secretary (Naxal Management) in the Ministry of Home Affairs oversees effective implementation of development schemes in naxalite affected areas for accelerated socio-economic development.

Further, under the Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme, Home Ministry reimburses security-related expenditure in respect of specified items to the concerned State Governments for dealing with naxalite activities. Seventy six districts in nine states are included under this scheme. Of them Andhra Pradesh has 16 districts, Bihar 14, Chhattisgarh 8, Jharkhand 16, Madhya Pradesh: 3, Maharashtra: 4, Orissa: 9, Uttar Pradesh : 3 and West Bengal: 3.

UNI AJ LS AS1731