'The natural barrier that is Aravalli, you are demolishing it, then who will stop the desert?'
'In future, I predict that people will roam around with oxygen cylinders in Delhi because they won't be able to breathe.'
The Supreme Court recently accepted the Union environment ministry's elevation-based definition of the Aravalli hills -- counting only landforms above 100 metres, and opening up the rest, almost 90 percent of the range, to mining -- and instructed the Centre to carry out a scientific mapping of the range before allowing any new mining leases.
At first glance, the order appears protective: No fresh mining until a full survey is completed, and a sustainable mining plan to be drafted.
But even as the judgment is being welcomed in some quarters, it has prompted a fundamental question from conservation experts: What happens to the vast stretches of the Aravallis that fall below this 100-metre threshold?
In Rajasthan alone, where most of the range lies between 30 and 80 metres, could this new definition mean that large portions of one of the world's oldest mountain systems may become sacrifice to the mining lobby since they won't be recognised as hills?
And if not recognised, how will they be protected?
Professor Laxmi Kant Sharma, Central University of Rajasthan, Environment Science, in an interview to Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff, explains how the debate over a single number -- 100 metres -- may determine the future of an entire ecological shield.
The Supreme Court has accepted the Union environment ministry's elevation-based definition of the Aravalli hills and ranges, and directed the Centre to carry out scientific mapping and prepare a 'sustainable mining plan' for it.
So why object because the court has ordered that no fresh mining leases be granted until the mapping and plan are completed?
The problem is over the 100 metres height of the Aravalli hills. The government is counting only those hills that are above 100 metres in height, and the ones below it will not be counted as a part of the Aravalli hills.
In Rajasthan, around 90 percent of the Aravalli hills is in the height of 30 to 80 metres. Now they are in danger of perishing.
What is the importance of the Aravalli hills?
The Aravalli hills are divided into three parts.
The first one is Upper Aravalli, which is located in the Delhi National Capital Region area and Haryana state. Delhi's Raisina Hill area is also part of Aravalli hills.
The second part is if you go downwards from Delhi to Rajasthan, the Aravalli hills extends to Udaipur area.
The third part, which is the lower part of the Aravalli hills, is till Gujarat.
And in this, 80 percent of the Aravalli hills is located in Rajasthan in which the range is 30 to 80 metres in height. The highest peak is in the Mount Abu range which is 1,727 metres in height. It is called Guru Shikar.
What kind of problem do you foresee with the Supreme Court verdict?
Most parts of the Aravalli hills located in Gurgaon and Rajasthan are below 30 metres. Right now if you go to the Aravalli hills, you will find that the mining mafia is flattening all the Aravalli hills which are just above 100 metres. They are flattening it to make it less than 100 metres in height so that they can flatten it completely in the future as they have got a go-ahead from the Supreme Court's 100 metre rule.
Has illegal mining not stopped?
It is still continuing. It never stopped. And in the future too it will never stop.
But the Supreme Court said clearly that sustainable mining should be done in the Aravalli Hills.
Sustainable means it should be for defence purposes or national security where you need some minerals you can mine. The rest of the mining going on is for commercial production. I don't think commercial mining is more important than human lives.
Aravalli is a national monument which has been in existence for 2.6 billion years. There is biodiversity, rivers and it defines India's culture.
Aravalli decides the climate pattern of North India. There will be a change in climate if you start demolishing the Aravalli hills.
Is the Union environment ministry not concerned about the destruction of the Aravalli hills?
The environment ministry has always existed; everybody knows for years that mining cannot continue on the Aravalli hills. Already 30 percent of the Aravalli hills has disappeared in spite of India having an environment ministry.
As I told you, Raisina Hill was a part of the Aravalli hills and that was flattened to make a home (for then governor general Lord Irwin by the British in 1929).
Even after Independence mining was never stopped at the Aravalli hills. Nobody stopped it.
There are three mafias that work to demolish the Aravalli hills.
The upper range of the Aravalli hills is in the Delhi NCR region as I told you earlier. It is the real estate mafia that wants to demolish the hills to construct homes worth Rs 100 crore. There is a nexus of politicians, bureaucrats and the local administration.
In Rajasthan the mining mafia is active in destroying the Aravalli hills.
In the lower area it is being destroyed to make five-star hotels as you start going down from the Udaipur side. This is the tourism lobby harming the Aravalli hills.
What about the green wall project started by the government in March 2023 to stop the desertification and degradation of the Aravalli hills? Is it not working?
This is a Rs 1,600 crore project, if I am not mistaken. They are trying to plant trees from Delhi to Mehsana in Gujarat which is in the Aravalli range. They are calling this as a green wall.
Now, when you are demolishing nature's green wall that is the Aravalli hills, then what is the guarantee of this new green wall that you are building? This green wall is irrelevant.
What kind of variety of trees are you going to grow? Where are you going to get water in the desert for these trees? And even if you get it, what are you doing to water the plants which are growing naturally?
Therefore, it is a useless effort as it is only a plantation drive.
The Aravalli hills on its own is a historical monument and the government is making no effort to save it. Instead, they are just planting saplings, which is not the solution. The genetic species and biodiversity of the Aravalli hills will not be conserved in future.
What about jobs? You spoke of mining, tourism. But they create jobs, which is important. And that is the precise reason the Supreme Court spoke of sustainable mining.
There is no point in using the word 'sustainable'. Is there no way to look alternate ways?
You cannot say just because our population has increased, flatten everything on the earth because people need homes.
Where will the natural resources go? Are they not important to our life? And why are we planting trees and saplings?
Today there is pollution in Delhi; the government did cloud seeding which was an utter waste of money. If the Aravalli hills were protected you would have never seen this kind of pollution in Delhi.
What will happen in future? Do you fear the disappearance of the natural wall in Aravalli will not be able to keep desert dust at bay for Delhi NCR?
100 percent, I am sure about this. I have produced a research paper. In it I say the Thar desert footprint is increasing and reaching Delhi NCR upper side.
The Thar desert is coming to Delhi?
Yes, it is reaching the upper side of NCR. On the downside of NCR there is still greenery because of the plantation drive from the forest department.
The natural barrier that is Aravalli, you are demolishing it, then who will stop the desert? Your monsoon patterns will change forever.
When I was young it was unimaginable that we will drink bottled water. Today it is not an issue. Water is selling and people are paying for it.
In future, I predict that people will roam around with oxygen cylinders in Delhi because they won't be able to breathe. Right now, people are not sensitised to their future. Industrial lung diseases are increasing and nobody is noticing it.
The pollution in Delhi has been blamed on farmers in adjoining states burning stubble.
This is happening due to dust storms and climate change. The weather pattern is changing. If you do not have a policy to tackle these things, life will be more difficult in the future.
Aravalli has given us protection for centuries. The Supreme Court judgment has ensured that this protection cover is dead. I don't think we will be able to save the Aravalli hills now.
Are you sure we will not be able to save the Aravalli hills?
Yes, I am 100 percent sure. Aravalli hills will become Aravalli plateau one day, and it has just started.
In some places the Aravalli hills has just disappeared, like in Naraina, Rajasthan. Another place is Chhoti Khatu in Nagaur where Aravalli has disappeared. Mining goes on in the daytime.
There is a village near Bhilwara where the entire village is suffering from lung disease, silicosis. I have made a documentary on this subject as the entire village population is busy breaking stones of the Aravalli hills.
Do you feel this 100 metre rule can be reduced to say 50 metres? Landforms over 50 metres will be counted as hills -- will that help?
This could have been sustainable. The word 'sustainable' was meant for 50 metres and not 100 metres.
What will be the development model if there is no tourism, mining or real estate business? People need jobs at the end of the day.
Hills do not create jobs. You've got to preserve Aravalli because you've got to conserve biodiversity. You have to leave some legacy for future generations.
Nobody tells you not to do mining in Barmer where we have a lot of premium minerals. In the Thar desert, petrochemical companies are drilling and nobody is objecting to it.
Can the Supreme Court ruling on the Aravallis be used as a precedent for other hill ranges as well? Does it have precedentiary value?
No, because this judgment is only for the Aravalli Hills.
I have written a letter to the CJI, asking who will decide the height of 100 metres. Who has done a survey of the Aravallis? Nobody. Till date, no boundary line has been demarcated for the Aravalli hills.
Don't we have 692 kilometres (430 miles) marked as the Aravalli hill range?
No, that is only the buffer line. Nobody till date has defined to what extent the Aravalli range has been demarcated in every region. The government has not defined it.
By this the government is indirectly telling miners, go ahead with mining because the boundary has not been defined.
Secondly, the government has not defined which hill is 100 metres tall in Aravalli. No district collector knows these facts.
I have demanded that there should be an Aravalli Development Authority. Experts can sit on that body and chief secretaries of four states (Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan and Gujarat) must sit with the experts to regularly monitor the mining situation.
There will be no administrative hurdles and no law and order problem because the chief secretaries are sitting and monitoring the situation.
A LiDAR (pulsed laser light to measure distances and create high-resolution 3D models and maps of the Earth's surface) survey is needed. You can also do drone surveys so that we come to know the height of the Aravalli hills at different places.
Once you know the height of each hill in Aravalli, then you cannot do illegal work.
At this moment nobody knows these things. Only if you do all these things will we be able to save the Aravalli hills.
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