This is an interesting evaluation of the first 5-year phase of a SIDA-assisted Social Forestry project implemented between 1981-1986. The primary purpose of the project was to meet rural subsistence requirements for fuelwood and other forest products, particularly of the most socially and economically disadvantaged groups (i.e. the landless, small farmers, women and Scheduled Castes). Despite impressive physical achievements in terms of afforestation of 158,000 hectares of communal land, the report concludes that the project had little positive or lasting impact on target groups. Its primary beneficiaries were large farmers and Village Panchayats, who had generated income through sale of forest products to urban markets from private and communal lands, respectively. The report suggests that the project’s social and development goals were not achieved partly because of flawed underlying assumptions. Thus, there was an over-emphasis on physical targets based on the belief that Tamil Nadu was experiencing a major fuelwood crisis, which later proved to be unfounded. There was a failure to recognise that communal lands were subject to multiple uses and that plantation activity could adversely affect target groups. There was also a failure to recognise or address the social and economic inequities that exist in most Indian villages, which affected the realisation of benefits by target groups. The report also expresses grave concern about the poor physical and economic performance of plantations, and questions the ecological sustainability of certain practices, such as removal of all litter from plantations.