Naxal violence in Orissa has also put several investment proposals in jeopardy.
Ahead of Congress President Sonia Gandhi and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi's rallies in Chhattisgarh on Wednesday, security forces averted a possible landmine explosion, as they diffused two Improvised Explosive Devices weighing 50 kg in the Dantewada area of the state.
This is suspected to be a Naxal ambush for security forces. Maoists fired multiple rounds while attacking the vehicle-mounted team, the official said.
Eight wanted Naxals, three of them carrying rewards on their heads, were arrested from separate places in Chhattisgarh's insurgency-hit Bastar region on Thursday, the police said.
Fourteen Naxals including four women were arrested in two separate operations in the insurgency-hit regions of Chhattisgarh today, police said.
A cache of weapons was recovered from the encounter site
Fearing leakage of their strategies ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Naxals are keeping a close watch on people who could act as informers and pass on information using mobile phones in villages of their hot-bed Bastar.
The Maoists have constituted 'Baal Action Teams' to deploy school children in different capacities in their attempt to regroup the child cadres and boost their perceived military strength.
As round one of the seven-phase Lok Sabha election began in 91 constituencies across the length and breadth of India, from the hills of Kashmir to the islands of Andaman and Nicobar, reports of unrest and irregularities cast shadows over the world's biggest poll process.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
He said the government was committed to protecting their rights. It was committed to working on the path of development and asked them to educate their children.
SHO among 2 cops killed in Naxal ambush, 6 hurt in Chhattisgarh
Tribal teacher Soni Sori and her activist-nephew Lingaram Kodopi were released from Jagdalpur jail on Thursday after the Supreme Court granted them bail following their arrest two years ago for allegedly receiving money on behalf of Maoists from a corporate house in Chhattisgarh.
Around 30 per cent polling was recorded till noon on Tuesday in 72 constituencies spread over 19 districts of Chhattisgarh where voting for the second and last phase of Assembly polls is underway.
From walking up to 10 kms to crossing rivers and spending nights in Naxal-hit areas, the poll officers will have to go past numerous hurdles and face life-threatening challenges to do their duty, but none of them is complaining.
Concerned over high incidents of violence, the Home ministry has asked the Election Commission to conduct the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in 33 Naxal-hit districts in the first phase to ensure maximum security and minimum casualties.
Six security personnel were killed and eight injured in back-to-back attacks by Naxals in insurgency-hit districts of Chhattisgarh, which has seen a string of strikes by the red ultras in the past three days.
Bhupesh Baghel revived the Congress in Chhattisgarh after the party's frontline leadership was wiped out in a Maoist attack in 2013.
The forest department has issued a show cause notice to the DFO Rajesh Kumar Chandel seeking his reply within a week.
'If you put colour-coded internal security maps of India in May 2014 and now, the picture won't be flattering to Modi.' 'Failures on internal security are now piling up and can break Modi's momentum,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Encouraged by their initiatives which resulted in high voter turnout in Naxal-hit areas, officers in Chhattisgarh's Chief Electoral Office are hopeful of a similar trend in 72 constituencies going to polls on Tuesday.
The poll process in Chhattisgarh, which goes to assembly elections in two phases on November 11 and 19, was initiated on Friday with the issue of notification by Governor Shekhar Dutt.
The NDA candidate tells the Election Commission that the Maoists plan to kidnap him.
Bhatnagar is expected to take charge of the CRPF later this week as he is on an official assignment in Indonesia in the capacity of NCB DG.
Avenging the Sukma attack, security forces claim to have gunned down 12-15 Maoists in Chhattisgarh's Basaguda-Chintalnar area on Sunday.
The Congress has demanded immediate removal of the nodal officer appointed by Chhattisgarh government to assist National Investigation Agency probing the Darbha valley Maoist attack in which senior Congress leaders were killed on May 25.
Ahead of the all-party meet called by the government to discuss the naxal situation, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday said it will serve no purpose unless a comprehensive strategy is devised to deal with the problem.
More than two lakh paramilitary personnel, thousands of vehicles and nearly a dozen helicopters will be deployed across the country to ensure smooth and violence-free elections beginning April 7.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Thursday alleged that lack of coordination between the security forces and the state police was leading to rise in Naxal violence in Chhattisgarh, and accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government of having a nexus with ultras for political gains.
'This is for the first time that a strong, solid evidence-based investigation has happened.' 'It can meet international standards and put the onus on the Pakistanis.'
The jawans are helping farmers in ploughing their fields
Seven CRPF men were killed on Wednesday and their weapons looted after Naxals carried out a deadly landmine blast on their vehicle in the jungles of the worst Naxal-affected Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh.
According to the notice, "The conduct (wearing sunglasses) is in violation of the India Services (Conduct) Rules, Section (3), 1968."
Maoists took 250 villagers hostage in Sukma district of Chhattisgarh hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to neighbouring Dantewada but freed all the captives late on Saturday night barring one who was beaten to death after being tried in a 'people's court'.
The Union home ministry on Tuesday ruled out involvement of the army in anti-Naxal operations but said more paramilitary forces will be deployed for intensified operations in Maoists-hit areas to flush out the extremists.
The Central Reserve Police Force on Thursday said it has ordered an inquiry into the shocking recovery of uniforms, suspected to be that of troopers martyred in a recent Naxal ambush in Chhattisgarh, in a garbage dump near a hospital in state capital Raipur.
An injured jawan said around 10-12 Naxalites must have got killed in the 'befitting' retaliation by the CRPF contingent.
The survey will benefit a population of at least 35,000, mainly tribals, to get patta (title deed) for the land they were possessing.
'People accused of mass murder and worse are let out on medical grounds.' 'Saibaba is now 100% handicapped, and has committed no murder, yet he is not allowed to come out.'
She had got 849th rank in the 2014 civil services exam and was allotted the Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise).
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