The importance of providing the poor man with an opportunity to perceive and participate in the process of economic development has long since been realised. An examination of some past and current policies in India, however, idnicated that the results have not been commensurate with the size of the effort or the problems, and some of the efforts appeared to focus on "tension management". Scientific management of inter-related natural resource systems could maximize sustainable outputs of goods and services, and provide employment to the rural poor. Forest land is one of India's major resources but little conscious effort has been directed to appropriately harness the same. Data concerning labour absorption capacity of forestry and related activities have been used to argue the importance of i) effective management of existing forests, ii) bringing barren, unculturable and culturable waste lands, marginal agricultural lands, lands under shifting cultivation, etc. under tree crops. Expected private and societal benefits from and opportunity costs of the proposed steps have been discussed in quantitative and qualitative terms to show that policies aimed at utilization of the land resource according to its inherent capabilities could help in accelerating agricultural growth with social justice.