Centre defends new Aravalli mining rules

A site of illegal minings at Gairatpur Bas village in Pandala hills, One of the 16 locations across the Aravallis of illegal stone and sand mining in Nuh, Gurugram and Faridabad in Haryana | Photo Credit: KRISHNAN VV

The Union Government on Sunday clarified that the definition of Aravalli hills as “all landforms rising 100 m above local relief” and prohibition of mining on both the hills and supporting slopes was based on a definition followed by the Rajasthan government since January 9, 2006. The Centre asserted that the new definition does not translate into permitting mining in all landforms below 100 metres.

At the relevant time when the Rajasthan government adopted this uniform criterion of Aravali hills being “100 metres above local relief”, it was headed by Ashok Gehlot of the Congress. The Centre is facing criticism from the Congress, besides environmentalists and water conservationists, on the new definition of the Aravalis with former Congress President Sonia Gandhi describing it as a “death warrant” for the hill range that stretches across multiple states.

The backlash against the Centre started on November 20, 2025, when the Supreme Court, in an order, commended the recommendations made by a committee constituted by the Environment Ministry. In the recommendations, the Committee said the operational definition of the Aravali hills and ranges in the context of mining is “any landform located in the Aravali districts, having an elevation of 100 metres or more from the local relief, shall be termed as Aravali hills”.

This definition followed analysis and criticism and intermittent protests by concerned citizens who believe that it would open up mining in 90 per cent of the Aravali hills.

The Centre on Sunday said that the definition had been arrived at after extensive consultations with the state governments in which it emerged that only Rajasthan has formally established a definition for regulating mining in the Aravalis since January 9, 2006.

Rajasthan’s definition for regulating mining in the Aravallis is based on a 2002 committee report of the state government based on Richard Murphy’s landform classification, which identified all landforms rising 100 meters above local relief as hills and based on that, prohibiting mining on both the hills and its supporting slopes.

The centre clarified that all the landforms enclosed within the lowest binding contour encircling hills of height 100 metre or more irrespective of their height and slopes are excluded for the purposes of grant of mining lease.

“All the landforms enclosed within the lowest binding contour encircling Hills of height 100 metre or more irrespective of their height and slopes are excluded for the purposes of grant of mining lease. Similarly, Aravali range has been explained as all the landforms which exists within 500 metres of two adjoining Hills of height 100 metre or more. All landforms existing within this 500 metre zone irrespective of their height and slopes are excluded for the purposes of grant of mining lease. It is, therefore, be wrong to conclude that mining is permitted in all landforms below 100 metre height,” said a statement issued by the Centre.

Published on December 21, 2025