Working Plan is a tool for scientific management of forests and is extremely useful in evaluating the status of forest resources, assessing the impact of past management practices and deciding about suitable management interventions for the future. The practice of systematic management planning of the forests in India was established in the colonial period through a written statement of prescriptions titled as "Working or Management Plan (WP)" for a fixed period, generally for 10 years in the post-independent period. The concept of "sustained yield" though a limited version of sustainability, finds mention in almost every Working Plan of the country. All forests are to be sustainably managed under the prescription of the working plan / scheme. The National Forest Policy clearly states "No forest should be permitted to be worked without an approved Working Plan by the competent authority".