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ABSTRACTMigration literature has considered environmental constraints as one of the prime movers of populations, especially from dry regions, where water rather than land is the primary limiting factor. This study examines the impact of degradation of private as well as common pool land resources on migration decisions, based on primary data from over one thousand households in three dry land districts in Gujarat. The study finds that economic assets and natural capital have differential impacts on short-term and long-term migration decisions. Thus, any employment creation in rural dry land regions is likely to help the poorest. Further degradation of common-pool land resources influences short-term but not long-term migration. Therefore, better management of common-pool resources would strengthen the livelihood base of traditional herder communities and limit migration among middle-income households. Overall, in dry areas such as Gujarat, access to irrigation, rather than land ownership per se, is likely to deter migration.

The corporate initiatives in social development in Gujarat indicates that the state with its long drawn traditions in entrepreneurship as well as philanthropic traditions, emanating from both harsh economic conditions as well as close links with religious and national movements, have given rise to a sustained contribution from the industrial/trading community for social development. In the process, it has also shown a definite shift from mainly 'charity' to developmental orientation. To a large extent, these have been prompted by a deep rooted understanding that economic prosperity of the few in the midst of sufferings of the large mass of the people, cannot be sustained unless it is greased with some kind of positive contribution towards people's development. This understanding has become sharper and more explicit in the recent period, especially in the context of environmental issues. The need therefore, is to widen this understanding and identify the specific role that the corporate sector "ought" to play in social development, rather than make "voluntary contribution at its free will, towards whatever it finds convenient to do for the society". This kind of a shift in perspective may necessitate simultaneous changes in the policy framework.