Stretching almost 670 kilometres from Gujarat to New Delhi in the Northwestern India, the Aravalli range is assumed to be one of the world’s oldest mountain programs. Older than the Himalayas, the range plays a extreme feature in northern India’s ecology — acting as a barrier in opposition to the eastward unfold of the Thar Barren explain, recharging groundwater aquifers, and moderating temperatures in a explain extra and extra tormented by heatwaves and air air pollution.
On November 20, 2025, the Supreme Court of India accredited a proposal from the Ministry of Atmosphere, Woodland and Native weather Commerce (MoEFCC) to redefine what legally constitutes the Aravalli hills. Below this new definition, handiest landforms that upward push not not up to 100 metres above the native ground level — along with their slopes and adjoining areas — will be recognised as allotment of the Aravalli range.
Whereas the courtroom ordered a temporary pause on new mining leases in the attach of abode, it made definite that handiest hills meeting this elevation threshold would qualify for long-time-frame correct protection. This possibility, described by the authorities as a pass in the direction of administrative uniformity across four states, has drawn racy criticism from environmental specialists who argue that it overlooks the geological and ecological continuity of the range.
The verdict became as soon as among the many final judgments delivered by Chief Justice Bhushan Gavai before his retirement. In its aftermath, extreme protests and rallies have emerged across India, reflecting rising dismay over the trend forward for contrivance to be one of the nation’s most fragile ecological programs. Environmentalists are horrified that in terms of the full Aravalli procedure may perchance more than likely perhaps now be exposed to mining and precise estate trend.
By distinction backdrop, World Inform’s contributor Abhimanyu Bandyopadhyay spoke to Anuradha P Dhawan, in most cases identified as Anu PD, a mode kind designer, environmental activist, and the co-founder of the Aravalli Bachao Voters’ Movement. She outlines why campaigners tell the courtroom’s possibility poses extreme dangers to the ambiance and to communities that rely on the Aravallis.
Below are some excerpts from the interview:
Abhimanyu Bandyopadhyay (AB): Sooner than we pass on to different questions, may perchance more than likely perhaps you inform our readers a little bit regarding the Aravalli Bachao Voters’ Movement? How did all of it begin?
Anuradha P Dhawan (APD): The Aravalli Bachao Voters’ Movement is an completely citizen-driven effort to protect the Aravallis from mining, precise estate initiatives, unlawful encroachments, landfills and the dilution of environmental laws. On February 24, 2025, residents of Gurugram realized that the Gurugram Metropolitan Construction Authority became as soon as planning to scheme a road chopping throughout the Aravalli Biodiversity Park, linking National Motorway-forty eight with MG Road in Gurugram. This became as soon as a wake-up call for many of us who had been living in the metropolis for a decade or extra. Around 200 residents came together in response that day, and for the principle time, the slogan “Aravalli Bachao” became as soon as raised. For various of us who had lived in the metropolis for years, this became as soon as the principle time we realised how weak the Aravallis had been and how little we in actuality knew about them.
As discussions started, we discovered that the Haryana authorities became as soon as additionally planning to amend the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), a legislation over a century old skool that supplied considerable protection to forested areas in Punjab and Haryana, including broad diagram of the Aravallis. The proposed amendment threatened to dilute these safeguards. At that point, it became definite that this became as soon as not factual about one road, however about a systemic rollback of environmental protections.
On February 27, a little team of us gathered outside three metro stations in Gurugram, preserving placards and speaking on to the voters regarding the proposed correct changes and their penalties. That similar day, the Haryana Assembly passed the amendment. On the opposite hand, interior 24 hours, the Supreme Court stayed its implementation. Whereas it became as soon as a restricted victory, it happy us that sustained action became as soon as considerable.
That moment shaped the circulation. Since then, thousands have joined to work on disorders ranging from the NCR 2041 draft contrivance to forest protection nationwide. We secret agent ourselves not as a proper organisation, however as a collective of voters defending a shared ecological heritage.
AB: Used to be there any organised resistance on this discipline before the Aravalli Bachao Voters’ Movement, or became as soon as this the principle initiative of its form?
APD: Sooner than Aravalli Bachao, there became as soon as no sustained, organised citizen resistance focused particularly on the Aravallis. Whereas participants and specialists had long spoken regarding the range’s ecological significance in moderately a pair of forums, there had not been a collective, citizen-led effort working consistently on Aravalli-related disorders. In that sense, the circulation marked a foremost.
AB: Actions to protect the Aravalli range aren’t new. Why has the Supreme Court’s present redefinition of the Aravalli hills resulted in recent protests now?
APD: Attributable to us are likely to brush apart everything except it hits them in the lungs. For years, ecological distress became as soon as easy to establish away due to of us had been so eager with their day-to-day grind of roti, kapda and makaan (A in trend Hindi phrase that signifies the basic needs for human survival: roti/food, kapda/cloth and a makaan/house), that it clearly didn’t ache them. Now, all of a unexpected, when air pollution had began to enter their properties, when of us literally couldn’t breathe, when taps ran dry, when newborns had been being taken to lung specialists and senior voters to emergency rooms, they started realising the intensity of the distress.
The Supreme Court’s redefinition inform landed at precisely this moment of give contrivance, and with this latest assault on Aravalli, we determined to head away no situation for even one extra day of delay. Delhi-NCR and the full north Indian belt are already contrivance to be one of basically the most polluted and water-confused regions in India. Being the biggest native weather regulators of the full northern India, the Aravallis recharge groundwater, act as a natural barrier in opposition to desertification, attach an unprecedented range of biodiversity, and repair the majority of the forest duvet of the Delhi National Capital Space. Without it, all of us will be doomed.
But these days, a senior television anchor claimed that Delhi’s polluted air can’t “inch” due to of the Aravallis. In an age where mediocrity in most cases replaces recordsdata, this level of ride sadly doesn’t surprise us. The encouraging allotment is that extra of us are lastly starting to attain why the Aravallis topic and are stepping forward to protect them.
AB: The Supreme Court banned mining in the Aravalli hills of Faridabad, Gurugram and Mewat in 2002 and again in 2009. But unlawful mining continues. How is that occuring?
APD: In 2020 and 2021, a team of us travelled deep into Haryana’s Mewat explain. Formally, we went as trekkers and saved a low profile as we knew the dangers. The three districts you talked about are all no-mining zones, however on the ground, in actual fact extremely different. We witnessed and recorded extra than one instances of unlawful mining in these areas. Certainly one of the biggest causes this continues is the rising energy of the mining mafia. About two years ago, a Deputy Superintendent of Police became as soon as killed after being bustle over by a Backhoe Loader while investigating unlawful mining in Mewat. That incident on my own presentations how harmful this discipline has became. We’ve been engaged on this trigger for a extraordinarily long time, and unlawful exercise is nearly routine now. Blasting on the full starts early in the morning and wraps up by round 10 a.m.
Illegal mining going down conclude to ITC broad bharat manesar; Haryana. Photo: Aravalli Bachao Movement org.
Over time, unlawful tracks have been carved out for tractors and trolleys, and even camels are aged to transport discipline materials, significantly in a ways-off areas. That’s how mining continues no topic the ban.
Camels are being aged to support away the illegally mined sand alongside the lake. Photo: Aravalli Bachao Movement org.
We filed instances and submitted video evidence, however nothing in actuality moved. The true process factual drags on — hearings salvage postponed, dates attach altering, and the defence keeps soliciting for overtime. It becomes an never-ending loop.
From the very foundation, our requires have been very traditional. As an illustration, a purposeful toll-free amount where voters can file unlawful mining. Despite the proven truth that there is a amount that exists, it doesn’t work. And even when somebody does in discovering, complaints aren’t taken significantly.
Simple alternate ideas fancy the employ of drone surveillance to song mining hotspots haven’t been applied both. Whether or not it’s the authorities, the courtroom, and even the procedure as a complete, it feels fancy there is a collective unwillingness to protect the Aravallis no topic being attentive to the penalties.
AB: Enact you watched the Supreme Court’s present verdict is a deliberate pass to facilitate the implementation of the NCR-2041 contrivance?
APD: Successfully, It all appears to be like to be a allotment of a broad contrivance. Must you gain out about at how things have unfolded over the previous few years, it’s sophisticated to not secret agent a greater sample. There’s a definite agenda to expose India actual into a world economic powerhouse, and to scheme that happen the nation’s natural resources are doubtlessly being handed over to the corporates. Construction, however at the worth of clear air, soil and water. The SC’s verdict suits neatly into this trajectory successfully clearing the diagram for plans fancy NCR-2041 and legitimising the corporate invasion of ecologically nonetheless land that must have been non-negotiable. The rot doesn’t cease there. Establishments meant to protect the public are being deliberately weakened, stripped of authority to allow them to’t interfere. The media is continuously being leaned on and participants who communicate out are being focused and intimidated.
That is an intentional clearing of the sphere. Obstacle by obstacle, safeguard by safeguard, they’re striking off everything that stands in the diagram of a broad extraction mission masquerading as trend. As an illustration, after the benefit of doing alternate reforms started in 2019, the environmental clearance rejection rate reportedly dropped from round 70–80% to factual 10–15%. In 2023, the Rajasthan authorities allowed main cement firms into the Aravalli explain, opening it up to intensive mining. By 2024–25, Ambuja Cement on my own seen a manufacturing scheme better of almost 300%.
On the identical time, agricultural bushes has been reclassified as forest to inflate forest duvet numbers. Must you attach all of this together, it becomes sophisticated to secret agent this as trend driven by public or environmental curiosity moderately than earnings.
AB: Atmosphere Minister Bhupender Yadav has acknowledged that “no relaxation has been granted” for the Aravallis and has accused critics of spreading misinformation. How operate you acknowledge?
APD: The difficulty with the minister’s statement is that it doesn’t in actuality approach with verifiable recordsdata. There’s no clarity on the actual attach of abode of the Aravallis and even on what number of hills qualify below the different definitions being aged—whether it’s per slope, geological criteria, or the brand new 100-metre height threshold.
The Minister has claimed that the Aravalli range spans four states and 39 districts. On the opposite hand, no official list of these districts has been positioned in the public domain. We’re asking the minister to scheme the list of these 39 Aravalli districts public, so there is clarity on where the Aravallis are officially recognised in legislation. In accordance with a Ministry of Atmosphere and Forests committee file, prepared after a lot deliberation, 37 districts had been before everything talked about, however handiest 34 had been not in an instant identified as Aravalli districts in the final analysis. So where does the figure of 39 approach from? The Ministry’s reliance on the 100-metre height criterion further weakens conservation efforts. This criterion originates from geological reports designed to facilitate mining operations, not ecological conservation. Applying it to environmental protection excludes the overwhelming majority of Aravalli hills, which may perchance more than likely perhaps be decrease in height however seriously considerable for groundwater recharge, biodiversity, and native weather resilience. Claims that this definition protects over 90 percent of the Aravalli attach of abode are unsupported, because it stays unclear what attach of abode this percentage refers to or what attach of protection is being counted. The Ministry’s claim that the full attach of abode of the Aravallis is 1,47,000 square kilometres is equally unsupported as no methodology or mapping exercise has been shared publicly. Moreover, most credible estimates attach the Aravalli range at nearer to 76,000 square kilometres! If here’s the topic of the ambiance ministry of a nation then God is conscious of where we’re heading to.
In functional phrases, this opens up broad areas below the 100-metre threshold to mining, development, industrial activities and precise estate. So when the minister says no relaxation has been granted, it feels much less fancy a appropriate clarification and extra fancy an hollow try and scheme a scheme tell account for the public.
AB: Environmental activists in India have in most cases confronted intimidation, harassment, and even arrest. Have individuals of the Aravalli Bachao Movement confronted an identical tension? How operate you peek the present crackdown on environmental activism in the nation?
APD: A couple of years ago, some of us had been detained by the police simply for standing silently outside a venue where the chief minister became as soon as expected. We had told the police that we handiest supposed to quit a letter. There have been 30–40 of us, including students, preserving placards. We deliberately steer definite of calling our actions “protests,” as we notice Gandhian tips of quiet, non-confrontational activism. Despite this, one colleague became as soon as manhandled, and we had been taken to the police attach of abode for approximately three hours.
Since then, we’ve got repeated calls from the Prison Investigation Department (CID), dwelling visits, and questioning about our work and “intentions,” even for nonetheless gatherings. Whereas we’ve been lucky that it hasn’t escalated further, the broader pattern is being concerned. Environmental activists, journalists, and dissenting voices are extra and extra handled as threats. We stand in harmony with others going through an identical tension, including Sonam Wangchuk and the Place Ladakh campaign.
