From red zone to recruitment hub: How jobs are rewriting Balaghat’s Maoist legacy

In Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district, once plagued by Maoist insurgency, a unique administrative approach is transforming lives. By linking job creation to counter-insurgency, over 6,000 youths have secured industrial jobs, offering a path away from isolation and daily-wage labor. This initiative focuses on building employment pipelines, providing opportunities that are slowly replacing fear with hope.