Low-flying clouds hug the Aravalli range along the Bewar-Jaipur stretch. | Photo credit: The Hindu
The environment ministry on Wednesday issued orders to the chief secretaries of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, asking them to enforce the Supreme Court’s directive to prevent the granting of new mining leases in the Aravalli range until a management plan is finalised.
Existing mines with permits will be allowed provided they “strictly” meet the standards.
A letter was also sent to the Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), an expert body affiliated to the Ministry of Environment, directing him to prepare a management plan for sustainable logging that should identify “permissible areas for logging” as well as those that are “ecologically sensitive, critical for conservation and priority areas in the landscape where logging would be allowed only under exceptional circumstances”. No deadline was set for the completion of the exercise.
Amid criticism from environmental activists and allegations that large areas of the Aravali range could be opened up for mining, the letters issued on Wednesday (December 24) are in line with Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s recent emphasis on protecting the region.
A press release from the Ministry of Environment said the ICFRE exercise “will expand the coverage of protected and no-mining areas”.
Although mining, along with quarrying and deforestation in the Aravalis, has been an environmental issue in the courts for years, a uniform definition of the extent of the Aravali applicable across all states and Union Territories has remained elusive. A committee of experts, including representatives of the Union Environment Ministry, recommended that all states agree to adopt a uniform criterion of “100 meters above local relief” to regulate mining in the Aravalli region, a standard that has been in place in Rajasthan since 9 January 2006.
The Aravali Range has also been defined as all landforms within 500 meters of two adjacent hills that are 100 meters or higher. All terrain formations in this 500-meter zone, regardless of their height and slope, are excluded from consideration for mining leases, said an explainer from the Ministry of the Environment.
However, the government does not yet have an indication of how many hills are included in this definition. A 2010 report by the Forest Survey of India reportedly estimated that only 8% of the approximately 12,000 hills exceed 100 meters and are therefore potentially open for mining.
“This is a bogus attempt at damage control that will fool no one. These are pious proclamations but the dangerous 100m+ redefinition of the Aravallis – rejected by the Forest Survey of India, the Central Empowered Committee empowered by the Supreme Court and the amicus curiae of the Supreme Court – remains unchanged,” Jairams Ramesh told the Congress.
Published – 24 Dec 2025 20:20 IST
