Discuss the ecological significance of the Aravalli range and examine the challenges in regulating mining activity along it.

The Aravallis, among the world's oldest fold mountain systems, run from Delhi through Haryana and Rajasthan into Gujarat and function as northern India's ecological shield. Yet, as the Supreme Court's ongoing intervention shows, recognising their value has proved easier than regulating the mining that erodes them.

Ecological significance

• Barrier against desertification: the range checks the eastward advance of the Thar Desert into the Indo-Gangetic plain, protecting agricultural belts [1].
• Groundwater security: its foothills and valleys are critical recharge zones for a water-stressed region [1].
• Biodiversity habitat: slopes, ridges and intervening valleys sustain dry deciduous forest ecosystems and wildlife corridors [1].
• Green lungs of Delhi-NCR: the hills moderate air quality and local climate for one of the world's most polluted urban agglomerations [1].

Challenges in regulating mining

• Definitional ambiguity: the absence of a settled legal definition of "Aravalli Hills and Ranges" long created enforcement loopholes, prompting the Court's suo motu cognisance in December 2025 [2]; the accepted criterion — landforms rising 100 metres or more above local relief, clustered within 500 metres — now seeks to close them [1].
• Enforcement deficit: illegal mining continues despite bans, with the Court warning that such extraction causes irreversible damage and seeking assurances from States [3].
• Federal and administrative spread: the range crosses five States and 64 districts, so a lease banned in one jurisdiction may resume across a boundary [4].
• Participation deficit: the Court-appointed High-Powered Committee held hearings in four cities, and activists allege mining-affected villages were never visited — weakening the legitimacy of the fact-finding itself [4].
• Livelihood–ecology trade-off: mine-dependent workers and State mineral revenues create political resistance to restrictions.

Regulation therefore fails less from absent law than from weak definitions, fragmented enforcement and thin community consultation. A scientifically mapped range, a uniform inter-State compliance mechanism, and genuine village-level hearings would align extraction with sustainability. Restoring the Aravallis is ultimately a constitutional duty under Article 48A and central to India's land-degradation-neutrality commitments.