Down To Earth | 30 December, 2025

Sachin Pernacca Sashidhar, Milind Bunyan, Kripa MK, Abi T Vanak

The Supreme Court’s now-stayed definition of the Aravalli Range relies on a 100-metre height threshold that could exclude most of the landscape. Scientists and environmental groups warn the move ignores decades of ecological research on how the Aravallis function as a desert barrier, aquifer and wildlife corridor. The ruling raises unresolved questions about the sidelining of expert institutions, the scale of denotification, and new exemptions for critical and atomic mineral mining.