<span style="color: #222222;">As many as 822 communal incidents have taken place in the country last year in which 111 people lost their lives. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Home, Hansraj Ahir said, 86 people were killed in 703 such incidents in 2016 and 97 people lost their lives in 751 such incidents in 2015. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">He said, the responsibility of maintaining law and order, peace and communal harmony including action against the culprits rest primarily with the state governments. </span><br />'' <br />'' <span style="color: #222222;">The Minister said, the Central government assists states in a variety of ways like sharing of intelligence inputs and sending messages and advisories from time to time to maintain communal harmony.   </span><br />''