Why new definition of Aravalli range accepted by SC threatens green efforts

While Supreme Court in its recent orders has barred issuance of any new mining licences, environmentalists across the region have still been left wanting.

The environmentalists have raised serious concern over the court accepting a new definition of ‘Aravalli Hills and Ranges’ recommended by a committee spearheaded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

What is the change made to the definition of Aravalli hill and ranges?

The operational definition of ‘Aravalli Hills’ in the context of mining is any landform located in the Aravalli districts having an elevation of 100m or more from the local relief. For this purpose, the local relief shall be determined with reference to the lowest contour line encircling the landform. The entire landform lying within the area enclosed by such lowest contour, whether actual or extended notionally, together with the hill, its supporting slopes and associated landforms irrespective of their gradient, shall be deemed to constitute part of the ‘Aravalli Hills’. Two or more Aravalli Hills located within the proximity of 500m from each other, measured from the outermost point on the boundary of the lowest contour line on either side forms the ‘Aravalli Range’.

How does it threaten the Aravalli range?

The latest definition excludes all the hills having an elevation of less than 100m from the local relief. This will lead to many hills across the range being opened up for mining. Destruction of these smaller hills would result in India’s oldest mountain range losing its continuity, leading to creation of more gaps in the range from where dust storms and the Thar desert would advance towards eastern Rajasthan, western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi-NCR. The Aravalli Hills, even though these are scrubby and low, help conserve biodiversity, retain water, trap heat and regulate the climate. Losing these hills to mining will worsen dust pollution, water scarcity, extreme weather and impact millions of people living in north-west India.

What will be its impact on the hill range falling in Haryana?

Aravalli hills are in extremely fragile state in all the districts of Haryana as a result of destruction caused by mining and stone crushing and the near disappearance of the range in Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani districts as a result of mining. Haryana’s natural forest cover which is already one of the lowest in India, a mere 3.6 percent, could further decline as the ecologically fragile landscapes lose legal safeguards. Much of Haryana’s notified forest lies within low-elevation hill systems, not meeting the 100m criteria. The exclusion of lower hills below 100m from the local relief means that vast stretches of scrub hills, grasslands and ridge areas will no longer fall under protected Aravalli zone anymore. These areas can then be opened up for mining which will undo three decades of legal protection. The 100m criterion will potentially erase large parts of Haryana’s forested Aravallis from official maps, where the terrain undulates but rarely meets that height and will deny these areas protection.