UnSustainable Mining Or Ecological Gamble? The Aravalli Debate

Will Aravalli agree with our definition of ‘hills’ and ensure her ecology, wildlife, biodiversity, waters and wind, birds and bees and leopards and deers all change their millenia-old way of life because we decided it cannot be called a hill anymore?

This is a question many are asking– from scientists to activists to people raised in the lap of Aravalli.

The Supreme Court accepted the centre's new definition of Aravalli earlier this month. Now, any hill structure within the 670 kilometre-long Aravalli range, spread across Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, will be classified as a ‘hill’ only if it is at least 100 metres tall from local relief. Local relief being key here as the global way of counting height, which was from mean sea level, has been done away with. Critics claim this will endanger 90% of Aravalli – including former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot –by potentially removing it from protection awarded to mountains and forests and opening it up for mining and construction.

The government disagrees. There will be no new leases, at least till a survey of the range is done. Speaking with ANI, after intense backlash against this decision, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav said on Tuesday, “Mark my words, the total Aravalli area is about 1.47 lakh square kilometres. Only around 217 square kilometres, nearly two per cent, is eligible for mining. Even so, the Supreme Court has directed that a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining be prepared. After that, permission from ICFRE will be required before any activity can proceed.” He has also blamed social media reels, YouTube videos and activists for spreading what he called misinformation around the ruling.

Any rock we cut, any stream we stop, any ‘hill’ we mine, will damage all of Aravalli, says Vikrant Tongad, an environmental conservationist.

Nature doesn’t care about human definitions, Aravallis will not magically change their way of existence – which is about 1.8 to 2 billion years old; older than the Himalayas, older than the evolution and extinction of dinosaurs combined.

And in 2025, we are seeking to redefine if Aravalli even is a hilly range.

“Nature decides what is a hill, nature defines it. Nature has made Aravallis to stop desertification. Aravallis are relevant to us everyday. In Canada, there are older mountains which are now dead. Aravalli is the oldest living range. Nature knows. Thirty-four districts across four states all know what Aravalli is. Any mining will damage all Aravalli. We have to protect the entire Aravalli. The corridors, the wetlands, the water bodies, the ecology, all developed foothills, ramsars – all is aravalli. The height doesn’t define,” emphasises Tongad.

So why are we redefining? Money from mining and construction, claims an activist formerly associated with Save Aravalli. But others also chime in with similar concerns.

“The urgency to redefine the Aravallis appears administrative and legal rather than scientific. Introducing a topographic threshold (≥100 m relief) lacks geological, hydrological and ecological basis, reflecting a poor landscape-scale understanding and selectively ignoring geomorphological and ecological continuity. While a standard definition was needed due to inconsistent treatment across four states, the decision marks a shift from ecosystem-based regulation to asset-based land classification, driven largely by demand for land, construction materials and mining,” says PK Joshi, a professor at School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The government, before and after its submission to the Supreme Court to change the definition of hills, claimed the move seeks to regulate mining and protect this ecologically sensitive region, with a comprehensive management plan guiding future mining leases.

So mining needs, as the protesters across Jaipur and Delhi are lamenting, is not a conspiracy theory at this point. Illegal mining in the Aravalli belt has been under judicial scrutiny since the 1990s, following petitions by environmentalist M.C. Mehta.

The former Save Aravalli activist mentioned earlier also claimed illegal mining, especially around NCR, is a serious issue. When Outlook visited Faridabad stone crushing mills earlier this month, locals claimed a lot of these stones were coming from illegal stone cutting. Outlook couldn’t verify these claims. But they argue, if there is no illegal cutting, where are these amounts of stone turning up everyday?

“What is the issue with the SC ruling? They want mining, they call it sustainable mining, they want to do that right? So just say this is a degraded area and we can mine here. But environmentally speaking, there is no scope for mining in aravalli. This way to define what is aravalli just to point out where to mine, this is wrong,” claims Tongad.

He explains that mining, whether we call it sustainable or not, will always come with its fair share of environmental risks.

Professor Joshi explains, for the government, sustainable mining implies conditional permissibility based on environmental plans and micro-zonation. However, ‘no new mining’ and ‘sustainable mining’ are contradictory—one prohibits activity, while the other allows it under regulation. Sustainable mining aims to minimise environmental, social and economic harm without compromising future needs. He is referencing the recent claims by the government that new mining won’t be permitted while their press release talks of sustainable mining zones.

This is what the press release on this decision reads: ‘Freeze on new mining leases: Because the definition is now operational, the Supreme Court has ordered no new mining leases until a Mining Plans for Sustainable Mining (MPSM) has been prepared by ICFRE on the lines of the one prepared by it for Saranda Forests in Jharkhand. This acts as a preventive shield against immediate ecological threats.’

Tongad says that having read the whole judgment and still studying it, they have a few concerns. “They have mentioned sustainable mining many points. We have heard this many times. Like yamuna mining and sand mining. But it will be misused, we know. In Himachal, there was news of sustainable mining but many violations were seen and the river was damaged. Nature doesn’t care about the definition of sustainability for us,” he adds.

On the topic of a plan similar to Saranda he says, “that is a very small area not as large as arvalli. Mantri ji might know things, we don’t know anything yet, what can be mined or not.”

Let’s look at both sides. As media outlets have reported, that 90% Aravallis will be endangered — a figure also echoed by former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot — Professor Joshi warns that if “90% of the Aravallis are endangered,” the consequences could be severe. From an Earth systems perspective, this would mean the collapse of a major groundwater recharge system, along with increased dust, heat stress in the NCR, and over time, a loss of climate buffering functions and a decline in regional biodiversity.

And if the government is right in their claim that the media and Youtubers are spreading misinformation, and only a small part will be mined, we asked the professor what if 10% of the area is impacted? He says, even if “only 10% starts being mined,” the ecological impacts are far from proportional. Mining a small portion “does not mean losing 10% of functions”—it can trigger aquifer collapse in nearby areas, accelerate erosion and runoff, and set off cascading ecosystem failures. In the fractured hard-rock terrain of the Aravallis, even localized extraction can disrupt groundwater and slope stability across much larger areas. “Even limited mining can compromise the ecological integrity of the entire range,” Joshi warns.

In the new judgement, Aravali range has been explained as all the landforms which exist within 500 metres of two adjoining Hills of height 100 metre or more. All landforms existing within this 500 metre zone irrespective of their height and slopes are excluded for the purposes of grant of mining lease. Earlier, scientific committees had argued that even small hills and intervening landforms function as a single ecological system.

Tongad says water from the Aravallis “recharges groundwater” and enriches surrounding villages. “Not just the tall mountains— the buffer, foothills, and ecologically sensitive zones—everything is Aravalli.”

Dr Rajesh Solomon Paul, Environment & Geology expert argues that even microscopic impacts of mining in Aravalli can be devastating for NCR. Speaking of stone cutting and mining, he explains whether it is legal or illegal, the very act of mining is pollution heavy. “We need strong checks and technology to control these emissions. We even have some of that tech but money is at the crux. These people will not spend money on ensuring these checks.”

If the Aravallis are impacted in any way, the dust that would be generated along the way from Gujarat to Rajasthan will have no barrier at all and will enter the national capital – meaning no high AQI season once a year, but a dusty year.

Professor Joshi warns that if mining intensifies near Delhi, especially in the fragile Aravalli landscape, it could “disturb infiltration pathways” and further lower already-stressed groundwater tables. Removal of vegetation and soil would make slopes prone to erosion and reduce the natural cooling provided by vegetated slopes. Dust from blasting, drilling, and trucks would add to air pollution, especially during dry months.

Local residents may face “dust, noise, and vibrations,” leading to respiratory problems, sleep disturbances, and stress, with children, the elderly, and agricultural workers most affected. Reduced groundwater recharge and possible contamination from mining tailings could limit water for domestic and agricultural use. While some communities might gain short-term economic benefits, agricultural productivity and grazing could decline, and heavy-vehicle traffic would increase road safety risks.

And since sustainable mining is being talked about a lot, what about sustaining the overall ecology as well as civilisation around it?

Mining causes irreversible damage and long-term risks. Breaching ridges destroys ecological functions that are hard to restore, while impairing recharge zones reduces regional water resilience. Restoration efforts like reclamation and afforestation demand sustained capacity and funding, yet post-closure obligations are often unmet. These mountains also regulate microclimate and help mitigate dust storms — a role even low hills of 10–30 metres have been shown to play — so their loss weakens the NCR’s climate-adaptation potential.

Joshi notes that “the Aravalli range is biologically significant” even in its arid-thorn landscape. Mining would “break wildlife movement corridors” for leopards, hyenas, jackals, and many birds, causing habitat fragmentation, increased conflict, and reduced genetic exchange. Slow-growing native species like Dhau, Khair, and Ber “are not easily regenerated,” and cleared hillsides may be overtaken by invasive species or wasteland. Rocky outcrops host unique microhabitats—seasonal pools and scrub niches—supporting reptiles, insects, and endemic plants, which are “highly sensitive to blasting and excavation.” Overall, ecological services such as pollination, soil stabilization, and carbon storage would decline, weakening the resilience of the broader Delhi-NCR landscape.