-Ramphal Kataria
From Green Wall to Dark Zone: The Political Economy of Aravalli’s Destruction
Abstract
The Aravalli Range, one of the oldest mountain systems on Earth, constitutes a critical ecological infrastructure for north-western India. Functioning as a barrier against desertification, a major groundwater recharge zone, a biodiversity corridor, and a climatic regulator, the Aravallis sustain millions across Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, and the National Capital Region. Despite their ecological and historical significance, the range has undergone accelerated degradation due to unregulated mining, rapid urbanisation, policy dilution, and judicial ambiguity. This article traces the geological origins and historical role of the Aravallis, examines their hydrological and ecological functions, and analyses the political economy underpinning their destruction. Particular attention is paid to the role of successive governments, regulatory failure, and recent Supreme Court interventions—especially the now-stayed 2025 definition of the Aravalli hills. The article argues that the crisis of the Aravallis is not a failure of knowledge but a failure of governance, in which law, planning, and development policy have systematically enabled ecological collapse.
I. Introduction
Mountain systems are not merely geological formations; they are ecological infrastructures that organise water, climate, biodiversity, and human settlement. In north-western India, this role has historically been performed by the Aravalli Range. Yet, despite its antiquity and significance, the Aravallis today face an existential crisis driven by extractive development, urban expansion, and regulatory erosion.
Unlike the Himalayas—which command political, cultural, and strategic attention—the Aravallis have been rendered administratively marginal, treated as expendable terrain rather than as a life-support system. This marginalisation has enabled their systematic dismantling, often under the guise of legality.
This article situates the contemporary crisis of the Aravallis within a longer geological, historical, and political-economic frame, arguing that the degradation of the range represents a paradigmatic case of India’s ecological governance failure.
II. Geological Origins and Deep Time Significance
The Aravalli Range originated during the Proterozoic Era, over 2.5 billion years ago, through tectonic collision between the Aravalli Craton and the Bundelkhand Craton (Roy 1990; Mishra and Ravi Kumar 2013). These cratons represent some of the oldest and most stable continental lithospheres on Earth, making the Aravallis among the planet’s earliest fold mountain systems.
While the Himalayas continue to rise due to ongoing tectonic activity, the Aravallis ceased vertical uplift eons ago and were gradually reduced by erosion. Their present modest elevation should not be mistaken for ecological insignificance. On the contrary, their fractured geology—comprising quartzite, marble, phyllite, and ancient volcanic formations—renders them uniquely suited for groundwater recharge and mineral storage.
Stretching approximately 670–692 km from Gujarat through Rajasthan and Haryana to Delhi, the range historically shaped drainage patterns, soil formation, vegetation zones, and climatic gradients across north-western India.
III. Early Human Settlement and Sustainable Extraction
Archaeological evidence demonstrates that human societies have interacted with the Aravalli ecosystem for over six millennia. Excavations at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Kunal and Tosham (Haryana), and sites in the Khanak–Dadam belt indicate that copper mining and metallurgical activity were already underway during the Sothi–Siswal and early Harappan periods (Shrivastava 1999; McIntosh 2007).
Crucially, early mining practices were shallow, decentralised, and embedded within broader subsistence economies. The ecological footprint of extraction remained limited, allowing forest regeneration and hydrological stability. The contrast with contemporary mining—deep, mechanised, and politically shielded—underscores that environmental destruction is not an inevitable consequence of resource use, but of its political organisation.
IV. The Aravallis as an Ecological Infrastructure
Barrier Against Desertification
The Aravallis constitute the primary ecological barrier preventing the eastward expansion of the Thar Desert. By moderating wind velocity and trapping aeolian sediments, the range historically shielded Haryana, Delhi, western Uttar Pradesh, and the Indo-Gangetic plains from desertification.
Scientific studies have documented multiple breaches in the Aravalli system—from Ajmer to Mahendragarh—through which dust storms increasingly penetrate the National Capital Region (WII 2017). These breaches are directly correlated with deforestation, hill cutting, and mining.
Groundwater Recharge and Aquifers
The fractured geology of the Aravallis allows rainwater to percolate deep into interconnected aquifers capable of storing millions of litres per hectare annually. These aquifers sustain both rural communities and major urban centres, including Delhi, Gurugram, Faridabad, Jaipur, and Alwar.
Mining and blasting puncture these aquifers irreversibly. Once fractured beyond recovery, recharge collapses permanently, converting recharge zones into extraction sinks.
Rivers Originating from the Aravallis
Several major rivers and tributaries originate in the Aravalli Range, disproving the persistent misconception that the system is hydrologically marginal.
The Luni River, rising near Ajmer, once flowed perennially to the Rann of Kutch before large-scale damming, sand mining, and groundwater depletion rendered it seasonal downstream. The Banas River, a tributary of the Chambal, supports irrigation across eastern Rajasthan but now exhibits declining base flows. The Sabarmati, originating in the Aravallis near Udaipur, supplies drinking water to Ahmedabad but is sustained increasingly by inter-basin transfers rather than natural recharge.
In Haryana and Delhi, the Sahibi River—now degraded into the Najafgarh drain—originates near Kotputli and once supported wetlands such as Najafgarh Jheel. Its transformation into a polluted drain reflects not only urban waste disposal but the collapse of upstream recharge due to mining and deforestation (CSE 2016).
V. Biodiversity and Landscape Connectivity
The Aravalli ecosystem supports over 400 plant species, more than 200 bird species, and numerous mammals, including leopards, hyenas, jackals, nilgai, and porcupines. Forest patches such as Mangar Bani, Bandhwari, Sultanpur, Bhindawas, and Khaparwas function as biodiversity reservoirs and wildlife corridors.
Urban expansion, highways, mining pits, and waste dumping have fragmented these corridors, increasing human–wildlife conflict and accelerating biodiversity loss. The ecological cost of fragmentation far exceeds the immediate footprint of construction.
VI. Mining, Urbanisation, and State Complicity
The Aravallis are rich in marble, quartz, sandstone, copper, zinc, and construction-grade sand, making them central to the real estate economy of the National Capital Region. The Supreme Court–appointed Central Empowered Committee (2018) documented widespread illegal mining, including the disappearance of 31 hills in Alwar district alone.
Open-cast mining and blasting in the Aravallis puncture aquifers beyond recovery. Once fractured beyond a threshold, aquifers collapse or drain laterally, rendering recharge ineffective even after mining ceases. Unlike deforestation—which may be reversed over decades—hydrological damage from mining is often permanent.
This explains why post-mining “reclamation” projects in Alwar, Bhiwani, and Faridabad have failed to restore groundwater levels despite plantation drives (CEC 2018).
Despite repeated court orders, enforcement remained weak. Lapsed notifications under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, selective reclassification of land, and regulatory ambiguity enabled mining to continue with political patronage. Successive governments—across party lines—treated the Aravallis as a resource frontier rather than as a protected ecological system.
VII. Dams, Barrages, and the Illusion of Water Security
The proliferation of dams across Aravalli-origin rivers—Bisalpur on the Banas, Dharoi on the Sabarmati, Jawai on the Luni—has created an illusion of hydrological stability. While reservoirs store surface water, they do little to compensate for the destruction of recharge zones upstream.
Hydrological studies indicate that reservoirs in semi-arid regions experience high evaporation losses—often exceeding 30% annually—making them poor substitutes for groundwater storage (IWMI 2018). Moreover, dams disrupt sediment flow, further degrading downstream riverbeds and reducing natural filtration.
VIII. Dark Zones and Rural Collapse
In Haryana, between 130 and 240 villages in the Aravalli belt face acute groundwater depletion. Over 3.64 lakh hectares have been degraded, with water tables falling by 1–1.5 metres annually. In villages such as Dadam, Khanak, and Pichopa Kalan, groundwater depths have reached 1,500–2,000 feet, collapsing agriculture, livestock economies, and rural livelihoods.
These areas are officially designated as “dark zones,” where groundwater extraction far exceeds recharge—a classification that itself signals regulatory failure rather than ecological inevitability.
IX. Climate Change and the Amplification of Hydrological Stress
Climate variability has intensified the consequences of ecological degradation. Erratic rainfall, increased dry spells, and higher temperatures amplify evaporation and reduce effective recharge. Without intact Aravalli systems to buffer these shocks, both rural and urban water systems face heightened vulnerability.
X. Law, Ecology, and the Aravallis: Supreme Court and NGT Jurisprudence
Early Judicial Recognition (1990s–2000s)
Judicial engagement with the Aravallis began in the 1990s, as public interest litigations challenged rampant mining in Haryana and Rajasthan. In M C Mehta v Union of India (2002), the Supreme Court recognised the ecological significance of the Aravallis and imposed restrictions on mining under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.
This phase marked a jurisprudential shift: the Court acknowledged that ecological damage could justify limits on economic activity even in privately held land.
The Punjab Land Preservation Act and Regulatory Evasion
In Haryana, large tracts of the Aravallis were notified under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900, restricting non-forest use. However, successive state governments allowed notifications to lapse, effectively legalising construction and mining without environmental clearance.
The Supreme Court repeatedly criticised this practice, noting that the lapse of notifications did not erase ecological value (T N Godavarman Thirumulpad v Union of India, ongoing forest matters).
The Central Empowered Committee and Empirical Evidence
In 2018, the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee submitted a damning report documenting illegal mining, disappearance of hills, and administrative complicity in Rajasthan and Haryana. The CEC’s findings established that environmental violations were not episodic but systemic.
National Green Tribunal: Strong Orders, Weak Enforcement
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued multiple orders halting mining and directing restoration in the Aravallis, particularly in Faridabad, Gurgaon, and Alwar. However, enforcement remained uneven due to overlapping jurisdictions and political pressure.
The NGT’s limitation lies not in jurisprudence but in its dependence on state agencies for compliance.
Judicial Interventions and the Crisis of Definition
In late 2025, the Supreme Court adopted a uniform definition of Aravalli hills as landforms rising 100 metres or more above local relief. Scientists and environmentalists warned that this criterion excluded nearly 90% of the range, including low-lying recharge zones and wildlife corridors.
Following nationwide opposition, the Court stayed its own order on 29 December 2025 and constituted a High-Powered Expert Committee. While a moratorium on new mining leases remains in force, the episode revealed a deeper institutional crisis: ecological systems were reduced to cartographic abstractions divorced from hydrology and biodiversity.
XI. Aravalli at the District Level: Case Studies from Haryana and Rajasthan
Haryana
1. Faridabad
Extensive stone mining has fragmented hills and lowered groundwater levels to critical depths. Despite repeated NGT orders, mining continues under temporary permits. Villages such as Anangpur face acute water scarcity.
2. Gurugram
Urban expansion has destroyed forest patches and recharge zones. Construction in Mangar Bani’s periphery threatens one of the last intact Aravalli forests in NCR.
3. Bhiwani–Mahendragarh Belt
Deep mining at Dadam and Khanak has resulted in groundwater depths exceeding 1,800 feet. Agriculture has collapsed, forcing seasonal migration.
Rajasthan
4. Alwar
The disappearance of over 30 hills due to illegal mining exemplifies regulatory collapse. Despite forest notifications, mining mafias operated with impunity.
5. Jaipur
Urban sprawl into foothills has reduced recharge to the Banganga basin, worsening water stress in rural blocks.
6. Udaipur
Marble mining threatens the headwaters of the Sabarmati. Reclamation efforts have failed to restore hydrological function.
Localised Damage, Regional Consequences
District-level destruction accumulates into regional ecological collapse. The Aravallis cannot be protected piecemeal; they require landscape-level governance.
XII. Conclusion
The destruction of the Aravallis is not a failure of knowledge but a failure of governance. Scientific evidence has long established the range’s ecological significance. What has been lacking is political will, regulatory integrity, and judicial ecological literacy.
The Aravallis survived billions of years of geological change. They may not survive a few decades of extractive development legitimised by policy and law. Protecting the Aravallis is not an environmental luxury; it is a prerequisite for water security, climate resilience, and ecological justice in north-western India.
References
1. Roy, A B (1990): “Evolution of the Precambrian Crust of the Aravalli Mountain Range,” Developments in Precambrian Geology, Vol 8, pp 327–347.
2. Mishra, D C and M Ravi Kumar (2013): “Proterozoic Orogenic Belts and Rifting of Indian Cratons,” Geoscience Frontiers, Vol 4, No 1.
3. McIntosh, Jane R (2007): The Ancient Indus Valley, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara.
4. Shrivastava, R (1999): “Mining of Copper in Ancient India,” Indian Journal of History of Science, Vol 34.
5. Central Empowered Committee (2018): Report on Illegal Mining in the Aravalli Hills, Supreme Court of India.
6. Wildlife Institute of India (2017): Land Use and Wildlife Status in the Aravallis, Dehradun.
7. RGICS (2018): Forest Cover Change in Aravalli Districts of Rajasthan, New Delhi.
8. Supreme Court of India (2003–2025): Orders on Mining and Environmental Protection in the Aravalli Region.
9. CGWB (2021): Groundwater Assessment Reports for Haryana and Rajasthan.
10. CSE (2020): Urbanisation and Water Stress in NCR.
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