Red corridor designates the districts of India which has the presence and influence of Naxalites. As of March 2025, the corridor encompasses 18 districts across seven states, predominantly in Central India and East India.
History
The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is part of an ongoing conflict between Left-wing extremist groups and the Indian government.
The insurgency started after the 1967 Naxalbari uprising and the subsequent split of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) leading to the creation of a Marxist–Leninist faction.
The faction splintered into various groups supportive of
Maoist ideology, claiming to fight a rural rebellion and people's war against the government.
Naxalite organisations and groups have been declared as terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India (1967).
Red corridor
The influence zone of the Naxalites is called the red corridor.
The armed wing of the Maoists is called the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army,
which has conducted multiple attacks on the security forces and government workers in the corridor.
Socio-economic conditions
Some of the states that form a major part of the red corridor such as
Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, and
Odisha have a low Human Development Index and a high poverty rate.
The key characteristic of these regions is that these regions are overpopulated and solely dependent on the primary sector activities such as
agriculture, with the majority of the population does not own lands.
[Fernando Franco, "Pain and Awakening: The Dynamics of Dalit Identity in Bihar, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh", Indian Social Institute, 2002, . ... Land deprivation is the major cause of mass poverty especially in view of the low level of economic diversification in rural areas. Amongst all major states, Bihar has the second highest proportion (55 per cent) of landless or quasi-landless households in the rural population ...][Dietmar Rothermund, "An Economic History of India: From Pre-colonial Times to 1991", Routledge, 1993, . Snippet: ... Eastern India has been bypassed by the 'Green revolution' to a great extent ... Instead of urbanization, we can find rural areas with an amazing degree of overpopulation ...] The Maoist movement began in the late 1960s as a conflict between the tribal peasants and the land owners, which was attributed to the lack of tribal autonomy with respect to natural resources on their lands, and land ownership.
[Magnus Öberg, Kaare Strøm, "Resources, Governance and Civil Conflict", Routledge, 2008, . Snippet: ... the general consensus is that the insurgency was started to address various economic and social injustices related to highly skewed distributions of cropland ...] While the region has significant natural resources,
tribal communities participated in Naxalism probably as a means of push back against the state, including the usage of land for resource extraction.
[Debal K. SinghaRoy, "Peasant Movements in Post-colonial India: Dynamics of Mobilization and Identity", Sage Publications, 2004, .]
Impoverished areas with no electricity, running water, or poor healthcare provided by the state probably accepted social services from Naxalite groups, and gave their support to the Naxal cause in return.
Affected districts
The insurgency reached its peak in the late 2000s with almost 180 affected districts and has been on the decline since then due to the counter-insurgency actions and development plans formulated by the Government.
As of April 2024, 38 districts across nine states are affected by Naxalist extremism.
In March 2025, the home minister informed the parliament that the naxalism was mostly limited to 18 districts of which six of them were classified as 'most affected'.
The corridor is largely spread across areas of
Central India and
East India.
+Naxal affected districts (2025) |
|
| Chhattisgarh | 28 | 7 | Bijapur, Dantewada, Gariyaband, Kanker district, Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki, Narayanpur, Sukma district |
| Odisha | 30 | 4 | Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Malkangiri, Nuapada district |
| | 55 | 2 | Balaghat, Mandla district |
| Telangana | 33 | 2 | Bhadradri Kothagudem, Mulugu district |
| | 26 | 1 | Alluri Sitarama Raju |
| Jharkhand | 24 | 1 | West Singhbhum |
| Maharashtra | 36 | 1 | Gadchiroli |
|
|
See also
-
List of Naxalite and Maoist groups in India
-
List of terrorist incidents in India
-
Revolutionary base area
-
Separatist movements of India
-
Terrorism in India
-
Timeline of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency
