The Indian forests are home to around 100 million people and provide sustenance to them. The paper traces the impacts of Indian forest polices, legislations on rights of communities and its links to conservation in the pre- colonial and post independent India. Within the existing framework of national forest laws, the paper puts the rights of the communities into perspective with international policies including Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD). It discusses who would benefit the most from REDD.