The paper discusses the chronological changes in Indian participatory forest management from the perspectives of forest conservation and the impact of participatory forest management approach in the context of socio-economic issues of native dwellers, using archival resources, secondary information and previous academic and non-academic materials. The idea of participatory forest management in India can be traced back to the British colonial period. However, this idea was revitalized in the 1980s. Historically, it was hard to protect entire forest areas by the Forest Department because the forests had been part of local peoples' day-to-day life. Therefore, native peoples' participation in forest management along with their socio-economic improvement has been required to protect forests. Throughout the history of community participation, villagers have been involved in forest management schemes through a give-and-take symbiotic relationship. Community participation in forest management from the standpoint of forest conservation in India has shown that it is an evolving process, embedded within local socioecological systems and negotiated between the state and local communities.