Red corridor

Red corridor designates the districts of India which have the presence and influence of Naxalites. The Naxal insurgency reached its peak in the late 2000s with almost 180 affected districts and has been on the decline since then. As of April 2026^[update], only West Singhbhum in Jharkhand is declared as marginally Naxal affected by the Indian home ministry.

The Naxalite–Maoist insurgency is part of an ongoing conflict between left-wing extremist groups and the Indian government.^[1] 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.^[2] The faction splintered into various groups supportive of Maoist ideology, claiming to fight a rural rebellion and people's war against the government.^[3][4] Naxalite organisations and groups have been declared as terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India (1967).^[5][6]

The influence zone of the Naxalites is called the red corridor.^[7][8] The armed wing of the Maoists is called the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army,^[9][10] which has conducted multiple attacks on the security forces and government workers in the corridor.^[11]

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.^[12][13] 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 not owning lands.^[14][15] 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.^[16][17] While the region has significant natural resources,^[18] tribal communities participated in Naxalism probably as a means of push back against the state, including the usage of land for resource extraction.^[19][20][21]

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.^[22] The state's absence allowed the Naxalites to become the legitimate authority in these areas by performing state-like functions, including enacting policies of redistribution and building infrastructure for irrigation.^[23] The Indian government states that the Naxalites prevent the common people from access to public services.^[24][25]

Extent of Areas with Naxalite activity from 2007 to 2024

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.^{[26][27][28][29]} As of April 2024, 38 districts across nine states are affected by Naxalist extremism.^[30] In March 2025, the home minister informed the Indina Parliament that Naxalism was mostly limited to 18 districts of which six of them were classified as 'most affected'.^[31] In February 2026, the home ministry announced that the number of districts with Naxal influence has reduced to seven districts, which was further reduced to a single district (West Singhbum) in Jharkhand by April 2026.^[32][33]

• 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