Overview
- Meeting records and a December 17 memorandum show the environment ministry instructing the Survey of India to help states delineate Aravalli hills that meet the 100‑metre elevation test accepted by the Supreme Court.
- ICFRE has been tasked to draft a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining for the entire range, with oversight and technical committees formed and a mandate to identify additional no‑go zones.
- The Centre directed Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat to stop issuing new mining leases until the plan is finalised, as the Union environment minister called it a total ban and experts questioned the legal force of the announcement.
- Environmentalists and opposition leaders cite Forest Survey of India numbers to argue that about 90% of Aravalli landforms fall below 100 metres, a contention the government disputes while noting only a tiny fraction is currently permissible for mining.
- Former forest officer R. P. Balwan has moved the Supreme Court seeking clarification that the plan apply to the whole Aravalli system, as protests escalate and the Indian Youth Congress announces an Aravalli Satyagraha Yatra from January 7 to 20.