The Aravalli “Death Warrant”: Why Height Cannot Define an Ecosystem’s Soul

By reducing India‘s oldest mountain range to a mere number on an altimeter, we are effectively issuing a death warrant for North India‘s primary ecological shield.

This article explores why the Supreme Court’s 100-metre threshold is a dangerous legal technicality that threatens our water, air, and very survival.

In the heart of Northern India, a silent disaster is being legislated. On November 20, 2025, a Supreme Court ruling accepted a new, technical definition of the Aravalli Hills—classifying only landforms rising 100 metres or more above the local relief as protected “hills.” While the government argues this brings “administrative uniformity,” environmentalists and citizens see it for what it truly is: a geological death warrant.

By reducing a 2-billion-year-old ecological lifeline to a mere number on an altimeter, we are inviting a catastrophe that will haunt our health, our water, and our future for generations.

It is time for every Indian to stand in protest and demand an immediate Ordinance to revert this order.

The Giant We Take for Granted: Why the Aravallis Matter

The Aravalli Range is not just a collection of rocks; it is North India’s primary ecological shield. Stretching nearly 700 km across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi, its importance transcends its physical height:

The Great Green Wall

The range acts as a natural barrier, steering moisture-bearing winds and preventing the eastward expansion of the Thar Desert into the fertile Indo-Gangetic plains.

A Massive Natural Aquifer

The highly fractured and weathered rocks of the Aravallis are the primary source of groundwater recharge for the parched National Capital Region (NCR). Rainwater percolates through these hills to feed the very aquifers that keep our cities alive.

Climate & Heat Moderator

By influencing wind patterns and stabilising soil, the hills reduce the frequency of lethal dust storms and regulate local temperatures in an era of unprecedented heatwaves.

Wildlife Sanctuaries

These hills are corridors for leopards, hyenas, and hundreds of bird species, linking protected forests and maintaining a fragile web of life.

The Corporate Hunger: A Treasure Targeted

The Aravallis sit atop a literal goldmine of minerals—limestone, marble, sandstone, copper, and granite. For decades, industrial houses and real estate giants have eyed these hills as “raw material” rather than “lifelines.”

The granite deposits, though small in percentage, are a “construction goldmine” for the Delhi–NCR boom.

The tragedy is that while these minerals can fuel short-term profits for a few, the ecological services they provide as an intact hill are priceless and permanent. Once razed, no amount of “Sustainable Mining” or “Management Plans” can bring back a 2-billion-year-old aquifer.

The Legal Struggle: From 1992 to the 100m Threshold

The battle to save the Aravallis has been a three-decade-long war of definitions.

In 1992, a landmark notification protected the range based on its ecological value. However, inconsistent state rules and the lack of a uniform definition led to a “regulatory chaos” that mining mafias exploited.

The 2025 Supreme Court ruling was intended to fix this by adopting a uniform definition.

But by setting the threshold at 100 metres, the order has effectively erased over 90% of the range from legal protection.

Smaller hillocks, low-lying scrub hills, and ridges—the very features that block dust and recharge wells—are now legally “non-hills” and open to the shovel.

The Fallout: A Fragile Future at Risk

The implications of this order are chilling:

Loss of Protection

In Rajasthan alone, out of 12,081 mapped hills, only 8.7% meet the 100-metre criteria. The rest are now vulnerable.

The 100-Metre Myth

Mining damage is never restricted to the pit. The construction of access roads, the felling of trees for “buffer zones,” and the resulting dust and noise pollution will destroy the entire surrounding ecosystem, even if the “peak” is over 100 metres.

Socio-Economic Collapse

Falling water tables mean agricultural failure for millions of farmers. Increased dust storms and heat stress mean a direct spike in respiratory illnesses and heat-related deaths in cities like Gurugram, Delhi, and Jaipur.

A People’s Protest: The #SaveAravalli Movement

From the silent marches in Delhi–NCR to mass rallies in Jaipur, the people are reacting with fury. Protesters are correctly identifying that a “hill” must be defined by its ecological role—its ability to stop a desert—not its elevation.

Opposition leaders and grassroots activists alike have labeled this ruling a “betrayal of our environmental heritage.”

The Way Forward: A Call for an Ordinance

We cannot wait for a “Management Plan for Sustainable Mining” (MPSM) to be finalized. By the time the maps are drawn, the low-lying ridges that protect our air could already be gone.

The Government of India must intervene by bringing in an Emergency Ordinance to:

1. Scrap the 100m height-based definition.
2. Re-adopt an ecosystem-centric definition that protects every inch of the Aravalli landscape, regardless of its height.
3. Establish an Absolute Ban on mining in all Aravalli districts until the Green Wall project is fully matured.

Conclusion

As to what past events, disasters of the day and our ongoing initiatives tell us, warn us: the collision of the 1910 Hulton Bank mining disaster memory and today’s “100-metre” legal technicality tells us that when we prioritize extraction over safety, the cost is always paid in human lives.

Our ongoing initiatives tell us we have the “Green Wall” vision to restore 26 million hectares, but the looming destruction of 90% of our oldest mountain range warns us that a nation which tries to build its future on the rubble of its primary ecological shield is a nation building its own tomb.

आरावली महज एक पर्वतमाला नहीं, भारत की जीवनरेखा हैं और इसे हुयी पर्यावरणीय क्षति पेयजल संकट के साथ ही मरुस्थल के फैलाव, वर्षा में कमी, भू-जल के स्तर में गिरावट, अत्यधिक गर्मी, रेतीले तूफान तथा साँस सम्बन्धित बीमारियों के खतरे में वृद्धि का कारण बन सकती हैं।

अतः आरावली को बचाने की लड़ाई, अपने अस्तित्व को बचाने की लड़ाई हैं – जैसे भी बन पड़े,  इस मुहिम का हिस्सा बनिये।