: Deepak Kumar Nayak
On March 6, 2026, addressing a function marking the 57th Raising Day of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at Mundali in Cuttack District, Odisha, Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah asserted that the country was on the verge of eliminating the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) by the end of the month, adding:
“Today, I want to assure the nation that the country will be Maoist-free by March 31. Our forces will defeat those who dream of building a red corridor from Tirupati to Pashupati. Our Security Forces (SFs) have reached the expectations, and the country is now on the verge of eliminating red rebels.”
On March 3, 2026, Security Forces (SFs), engaged in an encounter with the Maoists, killed an armed CPI-Maoist cadre in the dense forest and hilly terrain between Gumlar, Girispara and Nelgoda villages under the Geedam Police Station area, along the Dantewada-Bijapur border in the Dantewada District of the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh. The slain Maoist was identified as Rajesh Punem, an ‘area committee member (ACM)’ of the Bhairamgarh Area Committee, who carried a government reward of INR 500,000. During a post-encounter search of the site, a significant cache of weapons and equipment, including one SLR (Self-Loading Rifle), one INSAS (Indian Small Arms System) assault rifle, one pistol (with magazine) and one walkie-talkie set, was recovered.
On February 26, 2026, two CPI-Maoist cadres – ‘area committee members (ACMs)’ Hichami Madda and Manki Podiyam, both linked to the Bhairamgarh Area Committee, and each carrying a reward of INR 500,000 – were killed in an encounter with SFs during an anti-Naxalite operation along the Indravati River belt in the Jangla region of Bijapur District in Chhattisgarh. SFs recovered a cache of weapons, including one SLR, an INSAS assault rifle and a 12-bore gun, along with explosives and other Maoist materials.
On February 25, 2026, SFs recovered the decomposed body suspected to be that of Anvesh, a ‘Divisional Committee Member (DVCM)’ of the KKBKN (Kalahandi-Kandhamal-Boudh-Nayagarh) Division of the CPI-Maoist, from a forested area in Tarabadi under Daringbadi Police limits in the Kandhamal District of Odisha. Kandhamal Superintendent of Police (SP) Harish B.C. confirmed that Anvesh was allegedly killed by his own associate, Shukru, a ‘State Committee Member (SCM)’, to prevent his surrender. Intelligence inputs suggested that Anvesh, who carried a bounty of INR 2.2 million and had been active in the region for several years, was preparing to surrender before authorities under the government’s rehabilitation policy for Maoists. Investigators believe the killing was intended as a warning to other cadres against laying down arms.
On February 22, 2026, two CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an encounter with SFs in a forest along the Ganjam-Kandhamal border in the Karkara Forest area under Rakia Police Station limits in the Kandhamal District of Odisha. The slain Maoists were identified as Jagesh, an ‘ACM’, and Rashmi, a party member, carrying a combined bounty of INR 2.75 million on their heads. Belonging to the KKBKN division of the CPI-Maoist, the deceased were active in the district and allegedly involved in several violent incidents. Weapons and other items were recovered by the security personnel from the spot.
On February 19, 2026, five CPI-Maoist cadres were killed in an exchange of fire with SFs during a joint search operation in the dense forests of Karreguttalu near Doli and Jelia villages in Venkatapuram Mandal (administrative division) in the Mulugu District of Telangana. Part of Operation Kagar-2, some 5,000 security personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA), Greyhounds and the District Reserve Guard (DRG), participated in the manoeuvres in the Karreguttalu hillocks, considered a CPI-Maoist stronghold. The identities of the deceased were yet to be officially confirmed. Police sources indicated that those killed were suspected to be members of a Maoist area committee. SFs reportedly recovered automatic weapons, literature and other materials from the site.
According to partial data collated by the South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), at least 62 Naxalites (Left Wing Extremists, LWEs) have been killed by SFs in 2026 (data till March 22). During the corresponding period of 2025, SFs had killed 133 Naxalites. Through 2025, SFs killed 390 Naxalites, in addition to 296 killed in 2024, 56 in 2023, 67 in 2022, and 128 in 2021.
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According to the SATP database, SFs arrested 491 Naxalites in 2025 as against 439 arrests in 2024. In 2026, as on March 22, 15 Maoists had been arrested. Since March 6, 2000, when SATP started documenting LWE-related violence across the country, 17,217 Naxalites have been arrested (data till March 22, 2026).
Mounting pressure on the Naxalites has resulted in a large number of surrenders over the past years. According to SATP data, at least 2,128 Naxalites surrendered through 2025, in addition to 475 in 2024. During the current year, as on March 22, 2026, 78 surrenders have been recorded. Since March 6, 2000, 20,073 Naxalites have surrendered (data till March 22, 2026).
Through 2025, SFs recovered weapons and ammunition from the Maoists in 240 incidents, in addition to 205 such incidents of recovery in 2024. During the current year, as on March 22, 2026, the number of such incidents stands at 62. Since March 6, 2000, a total of 5,365 incidents of arms recovery have been documented.
Through 2025, the overall security situation was further improved by ongoing SF successes on the ground. The trend of declining overall fatalities, on a year-on-year basis, in Left Wing Extremism-related violence, established since 2018, witnessed a reversal in 2023 at around 9.62 per cent (from 135 in 2022 to 148 in 2023), then spiked by 168.24 per cent (from 148 in 2023 to 397 in 2024) and further increased by 20.15 per cent (from 397 in 2024 to 477 in 2025). According to SATP data, a total of 477 persons (54 civilians, 33 SF personnel and 390 Naxalites) were killed in such violence through 2025, against 397 fatalities (80 civilians, 21 SF personnel and 296 Naxalites) in 2024. A total of 148 persons (61 civilians, 31 SF personnel and 56 Naxalites) were killed in 2023. As of March 22, 2026, the overall number of such deaths for the current year was 65 (two civilians, one SF trooper and 62 Naxalites), compared to 160 such fatalities (14 civilians, 13 SF personnel and 133 Naxalites) during the same period in 2025. Significantly, the reversal of the trend in overall fatalities in 2024 and 2025 was largely due to elimination of increasing numbers of rebels, particularly after January 21, 2024, when UHM Amit Shah proclaimed that the country would be free of the menace of Naxalism.
The number of civilian fatalities (54) reported through 2025 was the second-lowest in this category since 2000, according to SATP data. A previous low of 53 was recorded in 2022. 2010 saw the highest number of civilian fatalities in such violence, at 630.
Though the number of fatalities among SFs increased from 21 in 2024 to 33 in 2025, according to SATP data, the number of fatalities in 2025 was the fourth lowest in this category since 2000. Three previous lows were recorded at 15 in 2022, 31 in 2023, and 21 in 2024. 2009 recorded the maximum number of SFs killed in such violence, at 319.
The SF:Maoist kill ratio remained in favour of the SFs in 2025, at 1:11.81, an improvement over the ratio for 2022, at 1:4.46. The ratio in 2024 was at 1:14.09, which was the best since March 6, 2000. In 2010, the SF:Maoist kill ratio shifted to 1.01:1, favouring the Maoists. In 2009, again, the ratio was at 1.01:1. In 2007, the ratio was at 1.2:1 favouring the Maoists. However, since March 6, 2000, the overall kill ratio has been in favour of the SFs, at 1:1.85. In the current year, the kill ratio remains overwhelmingly in favour of the SFs at 1:62 (as of March 22, 2026).
Other parameters of violence indicate that, despite sustained SF pressure, the Maoists retain some operational capabilities across the country. At least five major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities) were recorded in 2025, compared to two such incidents in 2024. The Maoists orchestrated at least 53 incidents of Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosions in 2025, compared to 42 such incidents in 2024. Although no major incident initiated by the Maoists has been recorded in 2026 so far, the Maoists have already orchestrated at least nine explosions in 2026 (data till March 22).
Moreover, the number of overall LWE-linked incidents of violence increased marginally from 574 in 2024 to 600 in 2025. However, incidents in which the Maoists killed civilians and SFs decreased from 84 in 2024 to 60 in 2025.
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Meanwhile, according to the SATP database, Maoist activities were reported from eight States in 2025, in comparison to 10 States in 2024. (India has a total of 797 Districts in 29 States and nine Union Territories). The eight affected States have a total of 275 Districts, of which one district fell in the ‘highly affected’ category; 11 in the ‘moderately affected’ category; and 15 were ‘marginally affected’. By comparison in 2024, 35 affected districts from 10 states, out of a total of 320 Districts in these States, two districts fell in the ‘highly affected’ category, nine in the ‘moderately affected’ category, and 24 were ‘marginally affected’. It is significant to note here that at peak, in September 2009, the Maoists were ‘active’ in as many as 223 Districts across 20 States, out of a total of 626 Districts and 28 States in the country.
Analysis of every state in the nation hit by LWE activities clearly demonstrates a general downward trend in violence as well as a significant improvement in the security situation of the impacted areas, and the waning power of the insurgents, specifically in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Telangana, Odisha, Bihar and Maharashtra, as well as in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
On February 4, 2026, Nityanand Rai, Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, asserted that the number of LWE-affected districts had been reduced from 126 in 2018, to just eight (Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh; West Singhbhum in Jharkhand; Gadchiroli in Maharashtra; and Kandhamal, Kalahandi and Malkangiri in Odisha) by December 2025, with only three districts (Bijapur, Sukma and Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh) now categorized as “Most LWE Affected”.
