Extremism down by 70%: Amit Shah

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said there had been a 70 per cent reduction in the number of left wing extremism affected districts in the country and AFSPA had been lifted from 66 per cent of the northeast due to consistent efforts of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led BJP government.

Shah was speaking at the inauguration of the National Tribal Research Institute and presented a lowdown of the works accomplished by the UPA and NDA government vis-a-vis the sector.

Shah said the BJP government under Modi had managed to achieve wide-ranging development of the northeast and reduce the number of LWE-infested districts, both the regions primarily dominated by tribals.

He said the institute would now work on challenges confronting the sector -- issues related to forests, people and land; cultural heritage, legal legacy issues and nutritional aspects of Scheduled Tribes.