Publication

Abstract : An overview of the growth story of Gujarat over the last 2 decades would reveal that the state has emerged as a major player at the national level with commendable scores in almost all respects of industrial development with fewer exceptions. While appreciating this fact of the mysterious growth story of the state, it may be quite reasonable and highly logical to understand the growth story in terms of its interface with the natural resources and environment regimes that acted as the triggers as well as the casualties of the emergent growth process in the state. It is all the more important to explore the long term implications that this growth will create on the sustainability of natural resources as well as the environmental management practices in the state, especially in the emerging context of changing global as well as local climatic, hydrological and agro-economic environments. Against this backdrop, this paper attempts at a critical assessment of the development process that the state of Gujarat experienced during the last two decades and the emerging and potential challenges posed by the growth with respect to sustainable development and conservation of natural resources (land and water in particular), agro-ecosystems and the environment. The time frame of last two decades has been deliberately chosen for analysis as this period also witnessed tremendous transformation in Gujarat’s economy owing to several socio-political events as well as occurrence of natural hazards, including the most devastating earthquake (2001) in the state.