Sustainable development in Gujarat: An overview

Sustainable development can be understand as the integration of economic growth, enhancement of social welfare along with protecting and conserving the environmental degradation. This article exemplifies the sustainable development in Gujarat. It has recorded an extraordinary economic performance in the past decade yet it neither industry nor agriculture has its position completely changed. The only vivid difference has been the materialization of import dependent and export-oriented petroleum refining, which has few connections with the state economy. While in the past decades, the social development of Gujarat continues to lag behind its economic development. But in terms of infant mortality rate, literacy rate and life expectancy its performance has only been modest. Its place in social development is only slightly better than that of the India's average, ranking seventh in PQLI among the major states in 2001 and 2011. The study suggest that the state should develop in a way that preserves its environmental resources for the next generation. It should preserve its air quality, its water quality, its soil quality and its forests. To manage air quality it should use both command and control as well as emission charge policies with possibilities of offsets and trade.