The government is introducing a special scheme to address the development of 35 left-wing extremism (LWE) affected districts. The Planning Commission will prepare an integrated action plan (IAP) for the affected areas and that adequate funds would be made available for the same.

The 34 districts referred to in the Finance Minister’s announcement were a subset of the 83 LWE affected districts identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs for coverage under its security related expenditure (SRE) scheme. This subset consisted of those districts where more than 20 per cent of the police stations experienced some incidents of naxal violence.

To begin with, the IAP for 60 tribal and backward districts was to be implemented with a block grant of Rs. 25 crore and Rs. 30 crore per district during 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively for which the funds were to be placed at the disposal of the Committee headed by the district collector and consisting of the superintendent of police of the district and the district forest officer.

The district level committee will have flexibility to spend the amount for development schemes according to need, as assessed by it. The Committee would draw up a plan consisting of concrete proposals for public infrastructure and services such as school buildings, anganwadi centres, primary health centres, drinking water supply, village roads, electric lights in public places, etc.