The present crisis in the domestic pulp and paper industries has been attributed, at least in part, by them to infirmities in the revised National Forest Policy of 1988, which, in the words of the Indian Paper Makers Association(IPMA), "completely absolves the Government and State forest departments of the responsibility of producing pulpwood and industrial roundwood for the integrated development of forest-based industries - even though all forest areas in the country are owned by the Government."A study of the history of the national forest policy reveals a steady attrition in its scope and substance, according to IPMA.