CRPF Empowers Naxal-Hit Villages: Mushroom Farming for Self-Reliance in Balaghat

• Balaghat, once a Naxal-affected region for 35 years, is now free from the red terror due to police efforts to build trust and break Naxal support systems.
• The CRPF is actively working in these areas, not against Naxals, but to empower tribal communities through self-reliance initiatives.
• Under the Civic Action Plan, CRPF camps provide sewing machines to women and mushroom seeds to farmers in Naxal-affected villages like Dabri.
• Villagers receive comprehensive training in mushroom cultivation, with arrangements also made for marketing the produce, which can fetch up to Rs 1000/kg as powder.
• This initiative has rebuilt trust between villagers and security forces, moving them away from Naxal ideology towards self-sufficiency and administration.

Why It Matters: CRPF's mushroom farming initiative is transforming Naxal-affected Balaghat villages into self-reliant communities.