Red corridor

The red corridor, also called the red zone or according to the Naxalite–Maoist parlance the Compact Revolutionary Zone,^[1] is the region in the eastern, central and the southern parts of India where the Naxalite–Maoist insurgency has the strongest presence. The red corridor has been steadily diminishing in terms of geographical coverage and number of violent incidents, and in 2024 it was confined to 12 "most affected" (accounting for all LWE civilian or security forces deaths) and 38 "total affected" districts (down from 180 in 2009)^[2] across 10 states in two coal rich, remote, forested hilly clusters in and around Dandakaranya-Chhattisgarh-Odisha region and tri-junction area of Jharkhand-Bihar and-West Bengal.^[3]

The Naxalite group mainly consists of the Maoist armed cadres of the Communist Party of India (Maoist).^[4] These areas span parts of the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and West Bengal.^[5][6][7][8]

All forms of Naxalite organisations have been declared as terrorist organisations under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of India (1967).^{[9][10][11][12]}