The large-scale surrender by Maoists in Chhattisgarh, lured by the government’s cash carrot, has handed the administration the fresh challenges of ensuring their security and preventing social stigma from stalling their integration into the mainstream.
“The immediate challenges for the security forces and the state government are the safety of the surrendered rebels and their quick absorption into mainstream society,” a Union home ministry official said.
Surrendered Maoists face a constant threat from active Maoist groups, while society tends to stigmatise them at a time they have “lost their identity” and are trying to rebuild their lives, he said.
“Rehabilitation and reintegration of surrendered Maoists is a Herculean task,” the official added.
“The state government and the security forces will need the help of NGOs, community leaders and civil rights groups to help with the rehabilitation process. Healthcare and employment for the surrendered Maoists should be top priority.”
Sources said some of the 210 Maoists who had surrendered in Chhattisgarh last week had been put up in the camps of the CRPF’s Cobra battalion.
Naxalites hold copies of the Constitution of India after their surrender at the police lines, Jagdalpur, in Bastar district, Chhattisgarh, Friday, Oct. 17, 2025.
The rest were at the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker, Chhattisgarh, from where senior officials are drawing up strategy before launching an offensive against the rebels.
Some of the incentives for the surrendered Maoists under the “Chhattisgarh Naxal Surrender/ Victim Relief and Rehabilitation Policy, 2025”, according to the
official, are:
- A cash assistance of ₹50,000.
- An “encouragement amount” for a surrendered weapon: ₹5 lakh for a light machine gun, ₹4 lakh for an AK-47 rifle, ₹2 lakh for an Insas or self-loading rifle.
- For Maoists who are single, a grant of ₹1 lakh within three years of marriage.
- Allotment of up to 4 decimals (1,742sqft) of land in an urban area, or up to 1 hectare of farmland in a rural area, to a surrendered Maoist carrying a reward of ₹5 lakh or more.
- If land cannot be given, a ₹2-lakh assistance will be given towards buying a house.
- If land cannot be given, a ₹2-lakh assistance will be given towards buying a house.
- An incentive of ₹15,000 to help seize an improvised explosive device weighing 5kg or more; and ₹25,000 if the IED weighs 10kg or more.
- An incentive of ₹1 lakh for help in recovering a “large dump” of automatic weapons or arms-making equipment, or at least 20kg explosives.
- Legal support to start a new life.
- Sanction for ₹1 crore worth of development projects for a village panchayat if all the Maoists active there have surrendered.
The policy also provides higher compensation, free education, healthcare and job opportunities to the victims of Maoist violence.
Sources in the Chhattisgarh government said a new colony — the “Naxalite Rehab Cell”— would come up soon on a six-acre plot. They did not identify the place.
A former BSF director-general told The Telegraph that the Chhattisgarh government must ensure that all the promises made to the surrendered Maoists are kept.
He said that some Maoists who had surrendered in 2007-08 had returned to the insurgency in 2012.
“They felt betrayed by the Bihar government, which had failed to fulfil its bagful of promises about monetary help, free education for their children and a better life,” the former DGP said.
He stressed that the responsibility for implementing the post-surrender benefits lay with the government, not the forces.
He said the state governments tended to be concerned more with increasing the surrender statistics than with winning the hearts of the surrendered Maoists.
“Often in the past, the police would pick up innocent tribal youths and parade them as surrendered Maoists,” the former DGP said.
“Surrendered Maoists are always vulnerable. Life has come a full circle for them: They joined the movement because of poverty, only to face a similar predicament after their surrender.”
He added: “They are forced to start life from scratch with no resources and under life-threatening conditions.”