Overview
- The environment ministry’s December 17 memo instructs the Survey of India to help states delineate Aravalli landforms using the Supreme Court-accepted 100‑metre elevation threshold and to cluster hills within 500 metres as ranges.
- At a December 8 meeting, the ministry tasked ICFRE with drafting a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining and set up oversight and technical committees involving SoI, FSI, GSI, the mines ministry and state officials.
- The government said no new mining leases can be granted until the MPSM is finalised and asked ICFRE to propose additional no‑go zones based on ecological sensitivity, noting current mining is limited to roughly 0.2% of the area.
- Critics argue the elevation-only criterion could shrink the legally recognised Aravalli footprint by excluding many low-lying ridges and rolling landscapes previously treated as part of the system.
- Political and public pushback intensified as Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav rejected Congress claims that over 90% of the range will lose protection, while citizens held a silent protest in Jaipur.