79 Maoists surrender in central India state

INDIA: Seventy-nine Indian Maoist rebels have surrendered to authorities in the insurgency-racked central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, police said.

The Maoists laid down their arms at a ceremony at police headquarters in Raipur, capital of Chhattisgarh, one of the Indian states worst hit by the leftist insurgency and home to many of India's indigenous people, or adivasis.

Chief Minister Raman Singh said the surrender late Wednesday was part of a new state government "surrender policy" aimed at bringing Maoists back into the political mainstream, and called it a major success in tacking the insurgency.

Some 356 people security personnel, civilians and Maoists died in 2006 in insurgency-related violence in mineral-rich Chhattisgarh, one of 15 out of India's 29 states where the rebels are active, according to official figures.

The Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of neglected tribes and landless farmers, have gained control of 10 of the state's 16 impoverished districts.

About 50,000 villagers have been displaced in the state, living in tent shelters as Indian counter-insurgency forces operate in the countryside.

Officials have said the Maoist insurgency, which dates back over four decades, now threatened huge swathes of India's centre, east and south.

The rebels exert varying degrees of influence in around 165 of the country's more than 600 administrative districts, according to intelligence estimates.

Last year, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the Maoists as the single biggest threat to the nation's internal security.

Raipur, Friday, AFP