The Red Corridor Region of India: What Do the Data Tell Us?

In this paper we analyze why Naxalism (an ultra-left movement) still persists in pockets of India. One popular perception about the existence of Naxalism is deprivation. We examine deprivation in terms of seven development indicators, namely, access to health and health outcomes; access to education and educational outcomes; access to finance; access to communication and other basic amenities; nature of work participation; living standard; and poverty. We examine the hypothesis whether people living from rest of India has a better living standard in comparison to people living in the Red Corridor region (areas affected by Naxalism). We find evidence that Red Corridor region is deprived in comparison to rest of India.