Aravalli... these ancient hills have shielded a vast part of India from the scorching deserts for nearly 2.5 billion years. When the hot winds of Thar hit India's heartland, it's Aravalli that stands as a formidable barrier. In Rajasthan, this is the final hope for water, the last defense against wind, and the first promise of life. It's here that rivers are born, clouds pause, and in the sea of sand, Aravalli quietly cradles a legacy, transforming its definition over time. Now, the existence of this ancient mountain range is in jeopardy. Let’s delve into why such claims of crisis are surfacing...
Why Is Aravalli in the News?
Recently, the Supreme Court of India endorsed a new definition for the Aravalli hills as recommended by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. Meanwhile, they have halted new mining leases in its corridors across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat until experts provide further reports. Moreover, the government has been asked to craft a mining plan.
What Is the New Definition?
Where did this new definition emerge from? It began back in 1995 when TN Godavarman, a landowner from Tamil Nadu, took a significant case for forest conservation to India’s Supreme Court. He pointed out widespread illegal logging in Nilgiris. In response, the court in 1996 ruled that forest land definitions should not solely depend on government notifications but open consistent inspection across other forest zones. A committee, then formed, has now framed the definition for the Aravalli hills, a task assigned by the court in May 2024 to a multi-agency committee.
The FSI had been using a 3-degree slope standard for Aravalli since 2010. In 2024, a technical committee recommended altering this to a slope of at least 4.57 degrees with a minimum height of 30 meters to categorize an area as Aravalli hills. These criteria covered about 40% of the Aravalli territory. However, the Ministry's latest definition denotes a height benchmark of 100 meters.
According to court orders, only those terrains in the Aravalli districts that rise 100 meters or more above their surroundings will be considered part of the Aravalli hills. The lands encircled by such a baseline, inclusive of hills, sustainable slopes, and related geomorphology, irrespective of slope angle, are within Aravalli.
Additionally, places where hills are within 500 meters of each other in proximity are categorized as a range. The panel states,
