The article describes the implementation of the Highland Zonal Development Plan devised by the government for highland ethnic villages in the northern region, in order to change from the slash-and-burn agricultural practices and opium cultivation to the irrigated cultivation approach along with reforestation, so that sustainable exploitation of the forests could be undertaken. Furthermore, the hill villagers were provided with knowledge on education, public health, livestock, cultivation, and management. The plan was based on a new concept that hill people must be taught, not forced. Additionally, practical demonstrations of new techniques must be carried out.