If demography can be a dividend, geography certainly decides its destiny. Few landscapes illustrate this more clearly than the Aravalli Range, an ancient chain of hills that quietly shapes water security, climate, and life across western and northwestern India.The hills that run for nearly 690 km from Gujarat through Rajasthan and Haryana to Delhi, forming the oldest fold mountain system in the subcontinent, have become the center of a long-running environmental and legal debate.At the heart of the issue is a simple but emotive question. What exactly counts as the Aravalli range? The answer matters because this classification determines which areas can be mined, built upon, or conserved.
A recent ruling by the Supreme Court has accepted a “standard definition” proposed by the central government to identify what qualifies as the Aravalli Hills. While the move was intended to bring clarity to long-standing disputes, the definition’s limited ecological lens has raised fresh concerns about environmental protection and sustainable development.Why the controversy?In November, the Supreme Court agreed with a proposal by the central government on how the Aravalli hills should be officially identified. The court said that only those hills that rise at least 100 metres above the surrounding land, or groups of such hills located close to each other, will be considered part of the Aravalli range for regulatory purposes.
What the SC decided on Aravalli
The court also asked the Union government to carefully map the region and prepare a clear plan for managing it. This plan will include rules on where mining can take place and how it should be regulated. The aim is to remove confusion caused by different government records and maps, which have often led to disputes and court cases in the past.Why the Aravallis matterEnvironmental experts maintain the significance of the Aravalli hills is not about how tall they are, but about what they do. The hills work like a natural water storage system, with their rocky structure allowing rainwater to slowly seep underground and refill aquifers. These aquifers supply water to many towns in Rajasthan and big cities such as Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, and Alwar. Studies even show that large-scale mining and cutting of hills damage this process, leading to long-term loss of groundwater.The Aravallis also help slow the spread of the Thar Desert towards eastern India. Scientists warn that if the hills continue to be damaged, desertification could increase, along with dust storms and extreme heat in the Indo-Gangetic plains.Although the region is dry, the Aravalli hills support forests, scrubland and grasslands. These habitats are home to wildlife such as leopards, hyenas, nilgai and many bird species. Conservationists say these ecosystems are fragile and can be easily broken apart by mining and construction.History of legal tussleThe current controversy is primarily rooted in decades of judicial scrutiny. Since the 1980s, courts have intervened repeatedly to curb unregulated mining in the Aravalli belt, particularly in Rajasthan and Haryana. Multiple Supreme Court orders in the 1990s and early 2000s restricted mining in notified forest areas, citing environmental degradation, air pollution and public health risks. However, enforcement remained weak due to the absence of a universally accepted definition of what constituted the Aravalli range. Mining operators and developers often argued that certain hillocks or plateaus did not legally qualify as Aravallis, even if they were ecologically linked to the system. This ambiguity reportedly created administrative paralysis and prolonged litigation, prompting the Centre to seek a standardised definition.The logic behind the new definitionGovernment officials and legal experts defending the Supreme Court’s ruling argue that the elevation-based criterion introduces clarity into a highly subjective domain. They say that by setting a measurable threshold, authorities can avoid arbitrary decisions and reduce disputes over land classification.In its observation, the top court acknowledged the need to balance environmental protection with economic realities. Mining of stone and minerals in the Aravalli region supports livelihoods and supplies essential materials for construction and infrastructure. A blanket ban, the SC noted, could have severe economic consequences if not backed by clear scientific and legal parameters.Why the criticism?The ruling has drawn criticism from ecologists, hydrologists, and civil society groups who believe that the 100-meter threshold oversimplifies a complex landscape like the Aravalli.They point out that many ecologically critical features of the Aravalli system, including recharge zones, wildlife corridors and low-lying ridges, do not meet the elevation criterion but are vital to the range’s environmental function. Excluding these areas from automatic protection, critics say, could open the door to expanded mining and construction.Experts also warn that mining impacts are cumulative, as even shallow or small-scale extraction can permanently alter drainage patterns and soil stability, consequently reducing the land’s ability to absorb rainfall. In arid and semi-arid regions, such damage is often irreversible.
Experts on Aravalli
Once this order is implemented in full force, which is for mining purposes, environmentalist Vimlendu Jha said, “tomorrow it could be real estate or other things that could begin in the region, which is also the main fear of the locals of the entire region.”Disagreeing with the new definition of Aravalli, Jha said, “the mountain is not just a piece of rock assembled together. Aravalli, which is the oldest mountain range in the world, is also an ecosystem.” He said, “If mining is allowed…Aravalli, which is above the ground, is also under the ground. So it’s not just the tree cover, green cover, or the national dust shield or weather shield it provides, but at the end of the day, temperature and air quality between Thar and Delhi are maintained because of the shield of the Aravalli.“Shedding light on the risk arising from the new definition that “lifts the protection,” he said, risk is that all of this will be a large-scale plundering of this area and not just by mining, but also by other areas like real estate.“Once we start calling it a forest and not a range, and it falls under a semi-urban landscape or rural landscape rather than a protected landscape, it will be open for any kind of exploitation through economic-commercial activity,” he told TOI.
On the impact on the Delhi-NCR region, which witnesses toxic-air-driven health hazards every year, Jha said, “Firstly, desertification increases when we compromise with the buffer we have. Secondly, when the dust increases, the PM10 level we have in the Delhi-NCR is pathetic and therefore the risk or the intensity of air quality increases. Aravalli’s entire area is also the main water recharge table, so the water sufficiency of the region is also questioned because of mining.“Magasaysay awardee Rajendra Singh, known as the “Waterman of India,” said earlier governments and courts took nature and environmental issues seriously, but that approach has disappeared.“If this decision, meant to benefit one individual, is implemented, only 7-8 per cent of the Aravalli will survive,” he told news agency PTI, calling for a legal battle as well as mass public mobilisation.The road aheadThe Supreme Court’s directive to conduct scientific mapping is now seen as the critical next step. Environmental lawyers say the outcome will depend on how comprehensively the mapping exercise incorporates hydrology, biodiversity and geomorphology, rather than focusing solely on elevation. Transparency will also be key.Civil society groups have demanded that maps and management plans be made public and subjected to independent scientific review. Without such safeguards, they argue, the process risks becoming a procedural formality rather than a tool for genuine conservation.At its core, the Aravalli debate reflects a broader challenge in India’s environmental governance. How to reconcile development pressures with the protection of natural systems that do not conform neatly to administrative boundaries or numerical thresholds.As climate stress intensifies and water scarcity deepens across north-west India, the fate of the Aravalli range carries implications far beyond the hills themselves. Whether the Supreme Court’s attempt at regulatory clarity strengthens or weakens environmental protection will depend on how the ruling is implemented on the ground, which ultimately remains at the mercy of bureaucracy.For now, India’s oldest mountain range stands at a crossroads, its fate being debated and defined by modern institutions that are only a moment in time compared to the ancient geology they now seek to regulate.
