KOHIMA: The National Crime Records Bureau has deemed Nagaland to be the "most peaceful" state, according to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, who claimed that 2022 has been "a good year" for the state.
"The year 2022 has been good, and the NCRB has stated that Nagaland is the nation's most tranquil state, which speaks much about the state... save for the Naga political issue, which could not be settled this year," Rio told the press.
The state administration and the people of Nagaland, he claimed, had not given up on finding a solution to the complex problem. The chief minister expressed his hope that the upcoming year of 2023 would be tranquil and productive.
The northeastern state has assembly elections scheduled for the beginning of 2019. Rio further urged people to understand that for a problem to be solved and for development to occur, there must be unity among all groups. Everything is solvable if we work together, he continued.
According to recent sources, Nagaland had the lowest rate of cognisable crimes among Indian states (67.2 per 1 lakh of the population), but "extortion" has remained a major problem as the State had the highest rate of crime under the category of "extortion and blackmailing" in 2021.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently published "Crime in India 2021," which listed Nagaland as having the highest rate of crime for "extortion and blackmailing" at 7.6. (UTs). In 2021, the national average for the same time period was barely 0.8, while Arunachal Pradesh, with a 5.3, was the state that came closest to Nagaland.
According to the NCRB, the crime rate is computed as the "crime incidence" per lakh of the population. In 2021, Nagaland reported 159 incidents/cases of crimes classified as "extortion and blackmailing." There were 201 instances in 2019; 131 cases in 2020; yet there were 159 cases in 2021.
Nagaland has regularly recorded the highest rate for the past eight years, according to data analysis going back to 2014, when the NCRB started publishing specific statistics on "extortion and blackmailing" under "Offences against Property."
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