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Dimapur, April 9 (EMN): Ministry of Home Affairs, government of India, reported that a total of 1,473 extremists have surrendered from the Northeast region in 2021 adding that the surrender of 2,696 extremists in 2020 was the highest since 1999.
Report stated that Assam topped in the surrender of extremists with 2668 in 2020 and 1353 in 2021. It reported that in Nagaland only four extremists surrendered in 2020 and eight in 2021.
A scheme for surrender-cum-rehabilitation of insurgents in Northeast, which was in effect from January 1, 1998, and implemented by the Ministry of Home Affairs has been revised on April 1, 2018, for six states Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Meghalaya excluding Mizoram and Sikkim with an aim to ensure that insurgents, who have surrendered, do not find it attractive to join insurgency again.
According to the MHA, the scheme was to wean away the misguided youth who strayed into the fold of insurgency and later found themselves trapped into that net.
“Under this policy, an immediate grant of INR 4 lakh was to be kept in the name of the each surrendered as fixed deposit in a bank for a period of 3 years. This money can be utilised as collateral security/ margin money against loan to be availed by the surrendered from the bank for self-employment,” the ministry said.
It also stated that payment of stipend of INR 6,000 per month for a period of three years was extended to each surrendered insurgent besides incentives for weapons/ ammunition surrendered by the insurgents, vocational training for self-employment, funds for construction of rehabilitation camps.
It added that 90% of total expenditure incurred on rehabilitation of surrendered would be reimbursed under the SRE scheme to NE states.
The report by MHA further maintained that pursuant to this policy of the government, many cadres of various insurgent groups of NE Region have surrendered and joined the mainstream of the society.