A Retired Army Officer, Brigadier General Jonathan Temlong has stressed that merely deploying a significant number of boots on the ground, complemented by technology, is essential to assert dominance over vast forested areas in the fight against Bandits. He highlighted the importance of developing a national security infrastructure and architecture that extends beyond the military. Recalling the concept of forest guards from earlier years, he proposed the reinstatement of such entities. According to him, the forest guards often possess intimate knowledge of the forest terrain, actively monitor movements within, and provide regular reports to the government.
He said in an interview with Channels TV
 ”You see when you talk about the fact that we are losing our forest. If we want to dominate our forest against bandits, we need a million or more boots on ground. Including technology and the rest.
And that is why when you are talking about building a national security in infrastructure and national security architecture, it’s not just about the military alone.
When we were growing up we had what we called forest guards, those forest guards are the ones who should know everywhere in that forest.
They are supposed to be observing certain movements in those forests and make reports to the government.”
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