The present study presents an overview of the changing state of the forests and explores ¿hypotheses regarding the causes of change in the forest cover and its quality. It also gives ¿a brief overview of the economic importance of the forests and the legal and institutional ¿framework for the forest sector in India. Forest Strategy is inadequate to cope with all the ¿diverse demands that India faces in the sector. India needs a balance of its three policy ¿orientations - production forestry, afforestation, and protection/regeneration - to have ¿an effective forest strategy, in addition to an enabling environment that promotes research ¿and extension and private sector participation. Support for production forestry does not ¿imply agreement with the essential features of industrial forestry, like replacement of ¿natural forests with monoculture. It merely implies incorporation of a production oriented ¿approach.¿