Combating Left Wing Extremism: Is Police Training Lacking?

The menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE), commonly termed as Naxalism and Maoist insurgency, has been categorised as the single biggest challenge to India’s internal security by the Prime Minister. He urged the Centre as well as States, to urgently employ all available resources to cripple the virus of Naxalism.

The Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs has adopted a multi-prong strategy to deal with the Naxal menace, including an effective security response to curb rebel’s violence. Due to socio-economic roots of the problem, emphasis is being laid on employing the State Police Forces to tackle the Naxal violence. However, the Government’s security response, have been ineffective in most of the States except a few. Inadequate combat capability of police forces in Naxalism-affected States is considered a prime factor for failing security response. Lack of proper training to police forces, due to poor infrastructure, resources and environment, is often attributed to inadequate combat capability of police forces.

This occasional paper attempts to briefly assess the ineffective security response and importance of police training, in Naxalism-affected States in general, and examines Chhattisgarh as a case study; in particular. The paper also discusses the role of the Centre in police training, and briefly assesses the overall police training environment and culture. At the end, the paper identifies some corrective measures and makes relevant policy recommendations.

Download Paper

Order Hard Copy

Please email us at publication [at] idsa.in or call +91-11-2671 7983 (Ext. 7322)