Insurgency-related incidents in northeast India saw 80 pc reduction in PM Modi's tenure: MHA

Northeast India region has witnessed an 80 per cent decline in insurgency-related incidents since 2014 when the Narendra Modi-led government came to power at the Centre. According to the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), around 6,000 insurgents from different groups have surrendered in these years.

In fact, years 2019 and 2020 witnessed the lowest number of insurgency incidents and casualties of civilians and security forces during the last two decades. "The security situation in the North Eastern states has considerably improved since 2014. The year 2019 and 2020 witnessed the lowest number of insurgency incidents and casualties of civilians and security forces during the last two decades. In comparison to the year 2014, there has been a reduction of 80 per cent in the incidents of insurgency in the year 2020," a document released by the home ministry said.

"During this period, the number of casualties in security forces decreased by 75 per cent and civilian casualties decreased by 99 per cent. While there were 824 incidents of violence in the Northeast in 2014 in which 212 innocent civilians were killed, it has reduced to 162 such incidents in 2020, in which only three civilians were killed. In the last two years, 4,900 militants have surrendered. Overall, a total of 6000 militants have surrendered since 2014," the home ministry said. According to MHA data, a total of 824 insurgency-related incidents had taken place in the region in 2014, while the number of incidents have reduced to 574 in 2015, 484 in 2016, 308 in 2017, 252 in 2018, 223 in 2019, 163 in 2020.

A total of 209 insurgency-related incidents had taken place in 2021 and it came down to 158 in 2022. From 2014 to 2022, a total of 587 extremists got killed in counter insurgency operations while 10,107 extremists were arrested by security forces and 128 security personnel have lost their lives during the period.

The MHA data stated that during the period security forces recovered 4,662 numbers of weapons from the extremists. After taking tough steps taken against the insurgent groups by the Modi government, there has been a significant improvement in the security situation of the Northeast.

The Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been reduced from a large part of the North East, fulfilling the long-standing and sentimental demand of the North Eastern states - Assam: 60 per cent of Assam now free from AFSPA, Manipur: 15 police stations in six districts were taken out of the periphery of the disturbed area, Arunachal Pradesh: Now AFSPA left in only three districts and two police stations in one district, Nagaland: Disturbed area notification removed from 15 police stations in seven districts, Tripura and Meghalaya: Completely withdrawn. The central government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been making continuous efforts to end insurgency and violence in the region and several efforts have been made for the overall development of the region.

According to the MHA document, the central government has identified three core objectives for the North East Region - to preserve its dialects, languages, dance, music, food, and culture and to create attraction for it all across India; to end all disputes in the North East and to make it a peaceful region and to make the North East a developed region and bring it on par with the rest of India. During these years, various border dispute settlement agreements and peace accords have been signed with relevant stakeholders.

Long pending disputes between various states in the Northeast had been a major concern in the development of the region. Many decades-long disputes are finally getting permanently resolved through the proactive efforts of the Central government. This has given a push to integration and trust and has paved the way forward for long-term peace and progress. Bodo Accord:

During the 1960s, the Bodos and other tribes of Assam called for separate state of Udayachal. In late 1980s, there was another demand for a separate state for Bodos - Bodoland, and for Assam to be divided "50-50". As a result of these continuous demands, there had been widespread incidents of violence over the years. To resolve the five-decade old Bodo issue in Assam, the Bodo Accord was signed on January 27, 2020 resulting in the surrender of 1615 cadres with a huge cache of arms and ammunition at Guwahati. Bru-Reang Agreement:

Due to ethnic violence in the western part of Mizoram in October 1997, a large number of minorities Bru (Reang) families migrated to North Tripura in 1997-1998. A landmark agreement was signed on January 16, 2020, to resolve the 23-year-old Bru-Reang refugee crisis by which more than 37,000 internally displaced people are being settled in Tripura. National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) Agreement:

The National Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT) formed in 1989 has been involved in violence, operating from their camps across international borders. After several years of negotiations with the Government of India and the Government of Assam, an agreement was signed with the National Liberation Front of Tripura (SD) in August 2019 resulting in the surrender of 88 cadres with 44 weapons. Karbi Anglong Agreement:

The Karbis are a major ethnic group of Assam, whose history has been marked by killings, ethnic violence, abductions and taxation since the late 1980s. To resolve the long-running dispute in the Karbi regions of Assam, the Karbi Anglong Agreement was signed on September 04, 2021, in which more than 1000 armed cadres renounced violence and joined the mainstream of society. Assam-Meghalaya Inter-State Boundary Agreement:

A landmark agreement was signed on March 29, 2022, to settle the dispute over six areas out of a total of twelve areas of the interstate boundary dispute between the states of Assam and Meghalaya. This agreement alone resolved around 65 per cent of border disputes between the two states. By aiming to make Northeast as the 'Economic Hub of India' connecting Southeast Asia under the Act East Policy, the central government has increased the total earmarked funds under 10% gross budgetary support from 54 Central Ministries for expenditure on development works in the North East by 110% from Rs 36,108 crore in 2014-15 to Rs 76,040 crore in 2022-23.

A new scheme, 'The Prime Minister's Development Initiative for the North-East' (PM-DevINE), was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23 with an initial allocation of Rs 1,500 crore. (ANI)

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