NEW DELHI, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Substantial improvement has been made in containing the violence unleashed by Naxals, or the Left-wing extremists (LWE) in India over the past few years, said the country's Ministry of Home Affairs here on Monday.

The central government has removed 44 districts off the list of a total of 126 Naxalism-hit districts, according to a statement issued by the interior ministry.

The number of worst-affected districts has also gone down from 35 to 30, with three districts in Jharkhand and two districts in Bihar no longer on the list.

According to the release, incidents of violence have seen a 20 percent decline with a 34 percent reduction in related deaths in 2017 as compared to 2013. The geographical spread of extremists' violence also shrank from 76 districts in 2013 to just 58 districts in 2017.

Besides, just 30 of these districts account for 90 percent of the extremists violence in the country. However, certain new districts have emerged as the focus of expansion by the LWE.

The Ministry of Home Affairs recently undertook a comprehensive exercise in consultation with the affected states to review the affected districts in order to ensure that the deployment of resources is in sync with the changed ground reality.

The ministry has been implementing the "National Policy and Action Plan" since 2015 to combat the LWE, envisaging a multi-pronged strategy involving security and development related measures.

The LWE has been active in several parts of the country since the late 1960s-70s, and different parts of the country have been affected by different levels of violence.