Brigadier Basant Kumar Ponwar, Pioneer of India's Jungle Warfare Doctrine, Dies at 77

Brigadier Basant Kumar Ponwar, a retired Indian Army officer who served in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, died at age 77 on July 29‑30, 2026 at his parental home in Mhow, Indore district, Madhya Pradesh. He was widely recognised as the architect of modern jungle‑warfare training used against Left‑Wing Extremist (Maoist) insurgencies in central India.

During his 36‑year career Ponwar commanded the 1st Battalion of the Maratha Light Infantry, led operations in Nagaland, Punjab, Tripura and the Bastar region, and later served as Commandant of the Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in Mizoram. He oversaw the first Indo‑US joint jungle‑warfare exercise in 2004 and was awarded the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal and Vishisht Seva Medal. After retirement he founded the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College (CTJWC) at Kanker, Chhattisgarh, training thousands of police and security personnel who confront Maoist insurgents across several Indian states.