By Faraz Ahmad. Delhi, India, 09:31 AM IST

Maoists have emerged as a major challenge to the Indian state, although insurgencies in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast claim more lives than the violence unleashed across the country by the ultra-left radicals.

But the monetary loss on account of Maoist violence, according to official figures, is much higher than the human casualties, and this seems to be worrying the government.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been personally addressing chief ministers, ministers and officers of states affected by the Maoist violence. In addition, quarterly meetings of the officers of these states are held to monitor and coordinate between the states and the central government.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil too holds regular meetings of state chief ministers and home ministers. National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan has also been taking keen interest in this. Supplementing his efforts are Home Secretary V.K. Duggal and the joint secretary in the ministry monitoring Maoist violence.

Yet, if the latest figures released by the home ministry for the period ending Oct 31, 2006 are any indication, the numbers killed in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast continue to exceed those killed in Maoist violence.

For instance, in Jammu and Kashmir, till Oct 31, 2006, as many as 340 civilians and 131 security personnel were killed for a total of 1,442 violent incidents recorded.

This is not even half of the corresponding figures for 2004 when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government took power in India. That year, 707 civilians and 281 security personnel were killed in 2,565 incidents of violence.

The figure came down in 2005 when the number of incidents was 1,990 with 557 civilians and 189 security personnel getting killed.

As for the northeast, the most troubled state has been Manipur in the last three years, with over 400 incidents each year. Even this year, when things were better, the state recorded 418 incidents of terrorist violence with 73 civilians and 27 security personnel dying.

In 2004, these figures were 478 incidents, 88 civilian deaths and 36 policemen fatalities. In 2005, the incidents rose to 554 with 158 civilians and 50 policemen dying.

Even Nagaland, where the government has been talking for close to a decade with the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Issac-Muivah) in the hope of lasting truce, there were 254 incidents of militant violence with 26 civilians and two policemen dying.

Assam, where the government abandoned peace talks with the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) half way, 120 people and 25 policemen were killed in 334 incidents. In 2004 as many as 194 civilians and 17 policemen were killed in 267 incidents and in 2005 there were 398 incidents resulting in 173 civilian and seven police casualties.

Of course there are states in the northeast like Mizoram that recorded zero incident in 2004, four incidents in 2005 with no security personnel killed and five incidents with none killed.

Compare this with the figures available for the same period from the Maoist affected states.

Chhattisgrah has been the most troubled state since the UPA government took power. In 2004 there were 352 incidents resulting in the deaths of 75 civilians and eight security personnel. These went up to 380 incidents, 118 civilian and 47 police casualties in 2005. And the incidents almost doubled in the last 10 months of 2006, recording a figure of 627 with 292 civilian and 73 police killings.

The Andhra Pradesh figures have come down in the same proportion. The state recorded 310 incidents in 2004 with 166 civilian and only five police casualties. In 2005 this went up to 532 incidents with 184 civilian and 22 police casualties. This year saw a drastic reduction in Maoist violence in the state with 163 incidents leading to 33 civilians and five policemen dying.

All the other states hit by Maoist violence have also shown a downward trend, according to home ministry figures. Yet the government is attending to this with far more seriousness than other terrorist violence because, says a home ministry source, the level of property destruction and threat to projects and business is far higher from the Maoists.

The government put property damage in Andhra Pradesh in 2004 at Rs.22.9 million. In 2005 it went up to Rs.28.2 million but came down to Rs.62 million in 2006. In Chhattisgarh though, it was Rs.11.5 million in 2004, coming down to Rs.564,000 in 2005 but shooting up to Rs.96.5 million in 2006.

By Faraz Ahmad (Staff Writer, © IANS)