On April 6, 2010, India witnessed one of the deadliest attacks on its security forces when Maoists ambushed a CRPF contingent in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, killing 75 CRPF personnel and a state police head constable. An entire generation of security personnel was reminded of the formidable challenge posed by Left-Wing terrorism.
Fast forward to November 2026, and the picture is dramatically different. The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has completed 12 consecutive months without a single operational fatality anywhere in the country, the first such achievement in 47 years. The last operational death was reported on October 30, 2025. In 2025, eight CRPF personnel were killed in action in Maoist-affected areas. Notably, since then, India has been freed from the curse of leftist terror.
This transformation reflects a sustained change in India’s approach to internal security, particularly under the Narendra Modi government. Rather than treating the Maoist insurgency as an isolated law-and-order problem, the government pursued a combination of aggressive security operations, better intelligence, improved equipment, infrastructure development and efforts to encourage Maoist cadres to surrender.
The results are visible in official statistics. Maoist violence incidents declined from 1,936 in 2010 to 234 in 2025, an 88 per cent reduction. Deaths of civilians and security personnel fell from 1,005 to 100 during the same period. Security forces also neutralised 364 Maoists in 2025, while 2,337 cadres surrendered.
Improved protective equipment, better operational planning, coordinated intelligence and faster evacuation of injured personnel have also contributed to reducing fatalities, according to the CRPF leadership.
The contrast between Dantewada in 2010 and the CRPF’s operational record in 2026 is striking. It does not mean India’s internal security challenges have disappeared, but the decline of Maoist violence represents a significant shift. For the men and women serving in uniform, fewer casualties mean something far more important than statistics, it means more personnel returning home safely to their families.
