The Crossbill News Desk
Amid mounting concerns over mining, deforestation and rapid real estate expansion in the Aravalli hill range, a collective of citizens and environmental activists has announced a mass foot march spanning four states to draw attention to what they describe as an ecological crisis unfolding across one of India’s oldest mountain systems.
Under the banner of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan, the group said on Thursday (January 22) that it will undertake a 700-kilometre walk along the length of the Aravallis to highlight threats to the fragile ecosystem and to communities that depend on it for survival.
The initiative comes in the backdrop of intense public debate over a controversial new definition of the Aravallis that could potentially open up large swathes of the range to mining.
The Aravalli hill range, stretching across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, has been under scrutiny since the Supreme Court accepted a new definition proposed by the Union environment ministry in an order dated November 20.
The definition restricted the Aravallis to hills rising more than 100 metres above the local terrain. Following protests, especially in Rajasthan, the Court later stayed its own order.
Against this backdrop, the collective has launched the ‘Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra’, also referred to as the ‘Aravalli Protection March’. Announced at a press conference in New Delhi, the march will begin from the Aravalli district in Gujarat on January 24 and pass through three districts in Gujarat, 27 districts in Rajasthan and seven districts in Haryana before entering Delhi. Organisers said the march would take over 40 days to complete.
According to members of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan, the yatra will bring together environmentalists, conservationists, lawyers, social activists and local residents, engaging directly with rural communities that rely on the Aravallis for water, agriculture and livelihoods.
It will engage with rural communities dependent on the Aravallis for sustenance and livelihoods in every district and “showcase the beauty and destruction of North West India’s lifeline for clean air and water”, said Neelam Ahluwalia, a member of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan, in a statement on Thursday.
“The Aravallis have been bleeding for the last few decades as a result of deforestation, licensed and illegal mining, real estate development with hill after hill being razed to the ground and waste dumping poisoning our aquifers. Aravallis require strict protection, not senseless definitions to exclude majority of the areas from legal protection and so called ‘sustainable mining plans’,” she added.
Activists participating in the march stressed that the debate around mining needs urgent clarification.
“Through the ‘Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra’, we want to highlight that there is nothing sustainable about mining which is an extractive operation causing negative social and environmental impacts,” said Kailash Mina, an environmental activist from Rajasthan’s Sikar district.
“So called ‘licensed and regulated mining’ across the Aravalli range flouts all norms and has caused huge destruction. Both licensed and illegal mining in the Aravalli belt over the last 40 years has already razed many hills across the range to the ground and along with it several cattle grazing areas,” he said in a statement.
The march also seeks to foreground the concerns of Adivasi communities living in the Aravallis.
“Through the ‘Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra’, we want to highlight how the lifestyle of the adivasi people is tightly woven to the mountains and its forests,” said Kusum Rawat, youth leader of the Adivasi Ekta Parishad.
Belonging to the Bhil tribal community of southern Rajasthan and Gujarat, Rawat said many Adivasi groups depend on the forests for food, fuel, medicinal plants and forest produce such as bamboo and tendu leaves.
Members of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan also expressed unease over the Supreme Court hearing held on January 21.
While the Court said its stay on the new definition would continue, it also observed that no further petitions would be entertained, stating that they distracted from the main issue.
Under the banner of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan, the group said on Thursday (January 22) that it will undertake a 700-kilometre walk along the length of the Aravallis to highlight threats to the fragile ecosystem and to communities that depend on it for survival.
The initiative comes in the backdrop of intense public debate over a controversial new definition of the Aravallis that could potentially open up large swathes of the range to mining.
The Aravalli hill range, stretching across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, has been under scrutiny since the Supreme Court accepted a new definition proposed by the Union environment ministry in an order dated November 20.
The definition restricted the Aravallis to hills rising more than 100 metres above the local terrain. Following protests, especially in Rajasthan, the Court later stayed its own order.
Against this backdrop, the collective has launched the ‘Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra’, also referred to as the ‘Aravalli Protection March’. Announced at a press conference in New Delhi, the march will begin from the Aravalli district in Gujarat on January 24 and pass through three districts in Gujarat, 27 districts in Rajasthan and seven districts in Haryana before entering Delhi. Organisers said the march would take over 40 days to complete.
According to members of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan, the yatra will bring together environmentalists, conservationists, lawyers, social activists and local residents, engaging directly with rural communities that rely on the Aravallis for water, agriculture and livelihoods.
It will engage with rural communities dependent on the Aravallis for sustenance and livelihoods in every district and “showcase the beauty and destruction of North West India’s lifeline for clean air and water”, said Neelam Ahluwalia, a member of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan, in a statement on Thursday.
“The Aravallis have been bleeding for the last few decades as a result of deforestation, licensed and illegal mining, real estate development with hill after hill being razed to the ground and waste dumping poisoning our aquifers. Aravallis require strict protection, not senseless definitions to exclude majority of the areas from legal protection and so called ‘sustainable mining plans’,” she added.
Activists participating in the march stressed that the debate around mining needs urgent clarification.
“Through the ‘Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra’, we want to highlight that there is nothing sustainable about mining which is an extractive operation causing negative social and environmental impacts,” said Kailash Mina, an environmental activist from Rajasthan’s Sikar district.
“So called ‘licensed and regulated mining’ across the Aravalli range flouts all norms and has caused huge destruction. Both licensed and illegal mining in the Aravalli belt over the last 40 years has already razed many hills across the range to the ground and along with it several cattle grazing areas,” he said in a statement.
The march also seeks to foreground the concerns of Adivasi communities living in the Aravallis.
“Through the ‘Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra’, we want to highlight how the lifestyle of the adivasi people is tightly woven to the mountains and its forests,” said Kusum Rawat, youth leader of the Adivasi Ekta Parishad.
Belonging to the Bhil tribal community of southern Rajasthan and Gujarat, Rawat said many Adivasi groups depend on the forests for food, fuel, medicinal plants and forest produce such as bamboo and tendu leaves.
Members of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan also expressed unease over the Supreme Court hearing held on January 21.
While the Court said its stay on the new definition would continue, it also observed that no further petitions would be entertained, stating that they distracted from the main issue.
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