Aravalli range - Revision history

Jyoti: /* Groundwater pollution */

2026-03-28T18:23:21Z

‎Groundwater pollution

Pdewan at 16:29, 27 February 2026

2026-02-27T16:29:30Z

Pdewan: Pdewan moved page Aravali range to Aravalli range without leaving a redirect

2026-02-27T16:25:39Z

Pdewan moved page Aravali range to Aravalli range without leaving a redirect

Jyoti: /* 2019: Haryana removes legal cover from 30,000ha of foothill land */

2024-03-05T21:03:37Z

‎2019: Haryana removes legal cover from 30,000ha of foothill land

Jyoti: /* 2018/ A fourth of Aravali hills in Rajasthan gone forever */

2023-07-08T20:09:28Z

‎2018/ A fourth of Aravali hills in Rajasthan gone forever

Jyoti: /* 2018/ A fourth of Aravali hills in Rajasthan gone forever */

2023-06-19T15:41:32Z

‎2018/ A fourth of Aravali hills in Rajasthan gone forever

Pdewan: /* Damage */

2023-06-18T07:31:11Z

‎Damage

Jyoti: /* Stone age carvings */

2023-02-25T14:25:00Z

‎Stone age carvings

Jyoti: /* Places in need for conservation */

2023-02-25T13:57:55Z

‎Places in need for conservation

Jyoti: /* Conservation mechanisms */

2022-12-23T17:25:11Z

‎Conservation mechanisms

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:23, 28 March 2026
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	The affidavit also put the onus of providing an explanation to the claims made in the petition on MCG. “Municipal solid waste management falls under the purview of the local municipal bodies. The concerned local municipal bodies are believed to be exercising their constitutional powers and functions to enforce the municipal lawsrules. The municipal bodies have since been made parties in the matter, they will explain their stand,“ reads the affidavit.		The affidavit also put the onus of providing an explanation to the claims made in the petition on MCG. “Municipal solid waste management falls under the purview of the local municipal bodies. The concerned local municipal bodies are believed to be exercising their constitutional powers and functions to enforce the municipal lawsrules. The municipal bodies have since been made parties in the matter, they will explain their stand,“ reads the affidavit.
		+
		+	=The people, their culture, and their livelihood=
		+	==Rajasthan, as of 2026==
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/in-rajasthan-the-aravallis-cant-be-simply-measured/articleshow/128834084.cms Prasidhi Sharma, February 27, 2026: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	The range has shaped everything — from livelihoods to culture, faith and language — for the many communities and tribes it has cradled. Even as controversy over an official definition has led Supreme Court to seek a review, voices on the ground say the Aravallis’ imprint far exceeds physical dimensionsWhat are the Aravallis?
		+
		+	An answer to this seemingly straightforward question was stayed by Supreme Court last Dec after it sparked a public outcry for being too narrow in scope. The top court now wants a new yardstick to define the range, which stretches 600km across four states and, at close to 2 billion years old, represents India’s oldest fold mountains. But talk to people on the ground in Rajasthan, the state synonymous with the Aravallis, and it becomes evident that the measure of these mountains lies not so much in their height, but in how deeply they have shaped the lives of the people who call the landscape home.
		+
		+	The now-shelved definition — involving a 100m elevation cutoff and proximity of 500m between hills for demarcating the range — had inspired fears that a significant portion of the Aravallis would be stripped of environmental protections.
		+
		+	For people who live in its folds, the stakes are immediate: if the map shrinks, so do forests, grazing commons, water systems, sacred groves, and the checks that stand between community life and mining, fragmentation and forced migration.Shelter And Sustenance“The Aravallis and our communities share a bond that goes back centuries. These mountains are not just geography for us. They are a living god, central to our identity and survival,” says Hari Ram Meena, tribal writer and former IPS officer.
		+
		+	The Aravallis are home to some of Rajasthan’s oldest communities. The Meena tribe once ruled large parts of the Jaipur region, controlling strategic passes of the Aravallis before the rise of the Kachwaha Rajputs. In southern Rajasthan, Bhil chieftains held sway over vast forested tracts. “The Bhils were known as the ‘kings of the forest’. So crucial was their role that the royal coat of arms of Mewar depicts a Rajput warrior on one side and a Bhil warrior on the other,” Meena adds.
		+
		+	The mountains also shaped warfare. During Maharana Pratap’s resistance against the Mughals, the Aravallis enabled guerrilla tactics and hidden movement based on local knowledge of forests, mountain passes and water sources.If the hills protect, they also sustain. The Aravallis are Rajasthan’s ecological spine. It regulates climate, arrests desertification, feeds rivers like the Banas, Luni and Sabarmati, and helps forests survive in a largely arid landscape. It is also a cultural watershed, separating not just river systems flowing towards the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal, but also shaping traditions, languages and ways of life.
		+
		+	For communities such as the Bhil, Meena, Garasia, Saharia, Raika, Rewari, Mogia, Nath, and Gurjar, the mountains are not a resource, but a living presence. Temples, sacred groves, hilltop shrines, and forest deities dot the landscape and the mountains are treated as a ‘prakriti tirtha’, a sacred geography.
		+
		+	Embedded In Everyday LifeLife in the Aravallis has always revolved around forest produce, livestock and water.
		+
		+	Communities collect food, fuelwood, medicinal herbs, bamboo, tendu leaves and wild fruits from the forest. Rain-fed terraced farming supports hardy crops such as millets and pulses, while hill slopes provide grazing areas for cattle, sheep, goats and camels.Traditional water systems are central to survival. ‘ Johads ’, stepwells, nadis and baoris — built and maintained collectively — harvest rainwater and recharge groundwater. “Our water structures are our lifeline. They are protected not by law but by community ethics,” Meena says.
		+
		+	Social activist Kunj Bihari Sharma explains how deeply human and animal life are intertwined here. “Aravalli forests are not just greenery,” he says. “They are sources of fuel, fodder, herbs and water. In summers, even wild animals depend on village wells and grazing areas. Humans and wildlife survive together.”
		+
		+	But this balance has been steadily eroded. Over the years, communities were told that forests belonged to the state, not to them. “Earlier, people built johads through collective labour. Now, even that is restricted. At the same time, illegal mining and stone mafia hollow out the hills,” Sharma says.Nowhere is the impact more visible than among Denotified Tribes (DNTs) and nomadic communities, whose lives depend entirely on grazing landscapes. Gopal Keshawat, former chairperson of the Development and Welfare Board for Denotified, Nomadic, and Semi-Nomadic Communities, warns that mining has triggered a deep livelihood crisis. “Pastoral communities survive on livestock, milk, wool and leather. When grazing lands are destroyed, their entire economy collapses,” he says.Keshawat says that nearly 10% of India’s nomadic population and more than one crore people in Rajasthan depend on Aravalli-linked ecosystems. He recalls that commissions such as the Ayyangar Committee, and Balkrishna Renke Commission had clearly recommended mining bans in the Aravallis and separate grazing lands for DNT communities. “These recommendations were to protect both people and nature. Ignoring them puts animals and humans at equal risk,” he said. But, where laws fail, cultural practices continue to protect biodiversity.
		+
		+	''' Living Mountains '''
		+
		+	Across Rajasthan, ‘orans’, or community-protected sacred groves, remain untouched due to religious beliefs. Social sanction rather than written rules prohibit tree-cutting and hunting in these forests, dedicated to local deities like Bhadarva Dev and Pandurimata.Among the most powerful expressions of this belief is the Gawari dance of the Bhil community.
		+
		+	Dedicated to Shiva and Parvati and performed over 45 days by men in parts of Udaipur district, the dance is both spiritual and ecological — what social activist Kishan Gurjar says “is not entertainment, but the worship of nature”. “Cutting forests is considered a sin, and Gawari spreads the message of conservation,” Gurjar adds.
		+
		+	The Aravallis are also deeply linked to nomadic communities such as the Sapera or Kalbelia. “The Kalbelia learned to live with snakes, treat snake bites and understand forest behaviour,” says social justice researcher Navin Narayan, who has worked with these groups for over 20 years. Kalbelia were once seen as protectors of villages, not entertainers. Amid mining and forest loss, Narayan warns that the shrinking Aravallis are threatening not only their livelihoods, but also the traditional knowledge that connected people with nature for generations.“The survival of the Aravallis is largely because of indigenous communities. These hills have protected people, and people have protected the hills,” says Manish Barod, block president of the Scheduled Areas Reservation Front in Udaipur. It’s a link that is repeatedly stressed with an eye on the Aravallis’ future, with activists and stakeholders saying that protecting the mountains is much more than a simple definition. “Reducing Aravallis to physical measurements denies its reality. It is a socioecological organism where folk culture, agriculture and community knowledge are deeply intertwined,” says sociologist Shyam Sunder Jyani.
		+
		+	What is at stake is not just forests or hills, but Rajasthan’s living memory — its languages, rituals, arts and ways of life shaped over millennia.
		+
		+	''' Mountains that define art, culture '''
		+
		+	Along the banks of the Banas river, which originates in the Aravallis, lies Molela village that’s famed for its terracotta sculptures of deities. Ask potter Prabhu Gameti, and he says the craft exists because of the mountains. “The clay from the Banas is smooth and flexible. When fired, it doesn’t crack. That’s why idols made here last generations,” he explains.Researcher and folk artist Madan Meena warns that environmental destruction directly erases culture. “When livelihoods collapse, people migrate. And when people migrate, languages die,” he says, referring to the more than two dozen languages and dialects, many existing only in oral tradition, that are spoken in the region. An art form carries hundreds of words linked to seasons, tools, etc.
		+
		+	“When an art form disappears, an entire vocabulary disappears with it,” he says.Communities like the Mogiya, who collect medicinal herbs, and the Nath sect, whose shrines such as Pandupol lie deep within the hills, show how belief, livelihood and landscape merge seamlessly. Also, Jain temples, Buddhist remnants and folk shrines together reflect the Aravallis’ religious diversity. “The Aravallis prevented cultural homogenisation in Mewar. Its geography ensures this region’s diversity,” says C S Sharma, a history professor in Udaipur.
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		+	[[Category:Fauna\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALLI RANGE
		+	ARAVALLI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:India\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALLI RANGE
		+	ARAVALLI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:Name\|ALPHABETARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALLI RANGE
		+	ARAVALLI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|ARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALLI RANGE
		+	ARAVALLI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:Places\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALLI RANGE
		+	ARAVALLI RANGE]]

	=Places in need for conservation=		=Places in need for conservation=

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 [[File: Aravalis, 2005-2016.jpg| Aravalis, 2005-2016; Graphic courtesy: [epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Gallery.aspx?id=18_06_2016_006_027_009&type=P&artUrl=Defining-moment-for-Aravalis-18062016006027&eid=31808 ''The Times of India'']|frame|500px]]
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← Older revision		Revision as of 21:03, 5 March 2024
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	Black day for environment, say activists & Oppn. Govt calls it a much-needed move		Black day for environment, say activists & Oppn. Govt calls it a much-needed move

		+	==22,425 hectares in NCR get ‘protected forest’ tag/ 2024==
		+	[https://epaper.indiatimes.com/article-share?article=04_03_2024_007_006_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, March 4, 2024: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	Gurgaon : Around 85% of the Aravali land, which was to be included in the compensatory afforestation plan, has finally got legal cover as ‘protected forest’. A total of 22,425ha of land spread across five districts of Haryana have been notified now.
		+
		+	The gain for the Aravalis, which have degraded over the years due to mining and construction, comes at the cost of tropical rainforests in Great Nicobar. In Nov 2022, the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) had cleared the decks for a mega project to build an international airport, a shipment port, a power plant and a township over 160sq km of land, over 80% of which are forests on the island. Compensatory afforestation to make up for this loss of forest in Nicobar was decided to be carried out in the Aravalis, some 2,400km apart. The process to identify Aravali land for compensatory afforestation began in Feb 2023.
		+
		+	The five districts, which have been included in the plan, are Gurgaon, Nuh, Rewari, Mahendergarh and Charkhi Dadri. Till now, 22,425ha have been notified as ‘protected forest’ and 1,928ha will get the tag soon.
		+
		+	In Gurgaon, 1,194ha have been notified. A total of 11,118ha got the protected tag in Nuh, followed by Rewari (3,582ha) and Mahendergarh (6,530ha). An additional 1,306 ha in Gurgaon, 24ha in Mahendergarh and 596ha in Charkhi Dadri will get the tag soon.
		+
		+	Any non-forest activity such as construction, cattle grazing and pasturing, fishing, hunting is barred in these areas. Exceptions are only allowed if the forest department gives its permission.
		+
		+	“We will also notify the remaining 1,647ha of land to achieve the target. We are also in the process of finalising the proposal for restoration and compensatory afforestation action plan. This will be submitted to the forest ministry for final nod,” said a forest official.
		+
		+	The notification will be a fillip to Haryana’s recorded forest area. According to a Forest Survey of India (FSI) assessment in 2021, the state has 34,500ha of recorded forest cover, but another 1.3 lakh ha are not officially tagged, keeping them out of the purview of any protection.
		+
		+	The state is fast losing forest cover. The same report by FSI had noted that Gurgaon alone lost 247 ha of forest cover between 2019 and 2020.
		+
		+	In Gurgaon, the notified Aravali forest areas under the swap are spread across six villages — Ghamroj, Alipur, Tikli, Sakatpur, Gairatpur Bas and Aklimpur. Another 34 villages in Rewari, 68 villages in Nuh and 53 villages in Mahendergarh have also got protected land. Earlier, these areas were owned by village panchayats, and thus the forest department was unable to protect them from getting encroached.
		+
		+	Meanwhile, activists questioned how compensatory afforestation in Haryana would help reduce the environmental impact of the loss of greenery in Nicobar. “Why has govt not included Faridabad’s forest areas in the notified land? Several real estate firms have bought land in the Faridabad Aravalis. Why is govt not trying to save those areas?” asked Vivek Kamboj, an environmentalist.
		+
		+	Responding to this, a forest official said they didn’t include the Faridabad Aravalis as there wasn’t a suitable continuous tract of forest land for afforestation.
		+
		+	[[Category:Fauna\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
		+	ARAVALI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:India\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
		+	ARAVALI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:Name\|ALPHABETARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
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		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|ARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
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		+	[[Category:Places\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
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	=Court judgements=		=Court judgements=

← Older revision		Revision as of 20:09, 8 July 2023
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	In its report, CEC said illegal mining was going on in 15 districts in Rajastan and districts of Alwar, Dungarpur and Sikar were worst affected. It said illegal mining was going on over an area of 115.34 hectares. It said the majority of mining leases in the state had been granted in “clusters”. The court posted the case for October 29 to examine compliance of its orders.		In its report, CEC said illegal mining was going on in 15 districts in Rajastan and districts of Alwar, Dungarpur and Sikar were worst affected. It said illegal mining was going on over an area of 115.34 hectares. It said the majority of mining leases in the state had been granted in “clusters”. The court posted the case for October 29 to examine compliance of its orders.
		+
		+	==Hundreds of hillocks flattened, sandstorms reach NCR/ 2023==
		+	[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/hundreds-of-aravali-hillocks-flattened-sandstorms-reaching-ncr-study/articleshow/100751783.cms Shoeb Khan, June 5, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	JAIPUR: Scores of Aravali hills have vanished in the past 20 years due to unchecked mining and urbanisation, threatening the flora and fauna of one of the world’s oldest mountain ranges and leaving the path open for sandstorms from the Thar desert to hit the national capital region (NCR) and western UP and increased conflicts with animals, warns an ongoing study on the state of the hill range. The findings have come in a research of the Central University of Rajasthan (CURaj), which has identified over 31 hills in the upper Aravali range that have disappeared in the last two decades, besides “hundreds of hills” in the lower and middle levels.
		+
		+	“The systematic disappearance of hills at the upper level was recorded in Naraina, Kalwar, Kotputli, Jhalana and Sariska with heights of 200 metres to 600 metres above sea level. However, the count of vanishing hills at the lower and middle level, with heights between 50 to 200 metres above sea level, has yet to be completed. All I can share now are the preliminary results which are very alarming,” said L K Sharma, head of department of environmental science, CURaj.
		+
		+	The denudation has led to man-animal conflicts as leopards, chinkara and sambhar deer, which find home in the hills, enter human settlements. Rare plants like neel, chonakurinji and karun kurinji also face wipe-out threats.
		+
		+	[[Category:Fauna\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
		+	ARAVALI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:India\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
		+	ARAVALI RANGE]]
		+	[[Category:Name\|ALPHABETARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
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		+	[[Category:Pages with broken file links\|ARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE
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	==1975 – 2019==		==1975 – 2019==

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:41, 19 June 2023
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	In its report, CEC said illegal mining was going on in 15 districts in Rajastan and districts of Alwar, Dungarpur and Sikar were worst affected. It said illegal mining was going on over an area of 115.34 hectares. It said the majority of mining leases in the state had been granted in “clusters”. The court posted the case for October 29 to examine compliance of its orders.		In its report, CEC said illegal mining was going on in 15 districts in Rajastan and districts of Alwar, Dungarpur and Sikar were worst affected. It said illegal mining was going on over an area of 115.34 hectares. It said the majority of mining leases in the state had been granted in “clusters”. The court posted the case for October 29 to examine compliance of its orders.
		+
		+	==1975 – 2019==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=18_06_2023_001_021_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, June 18, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	Gurgaon : Between 1975 and 2019, nearly 8% of the Aravali hills have disappeared, says a study of the ranges across four states, projecting the losses to rise to around 22% by 2059 if “explosive” urbanisation and mining continue at the current pace, reports Ipsita Pati.
		+
		+	Delhi-NCR, according to the researchers, will be at the heart of both the cause and effect of this loss. The Aravalis, the study infers, are most vulnerable here, and as more hills get flattened, they will open a “gateway” for the Thar desert to expand towards the national capital area,which implies a more dusty and arid landscape, a rise in pollution levels and more erratic weather patterns.
		+
		+	===Details===
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=18_06_2023_008_006_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, June 18, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Impact of mining on Aravali.jpg\|Impact of mining on Aravali <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=18_06_2023_008_006_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, June 18, 2023: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+
		+	Gurgaon : Nearly 8% of the Aravali hills have disappeared between 1975 and 2019, says a study of the ranges across four states. Researchers from the Central University of Rajasthan (CURaj) studied satellite images and landuse maps between 1975 and 2019 to come up with estimates. Their paper — titled Assessment of Land-Use Dynamics of the Aravalli Range — was published in the journal Science Earth Informatics this January.
		+
		+	Data analysed by researchers showed that 5772. 7 sqkm (7. 6%) of the Aravali ranges was flattened in the 44-year period they studied. Of this, nearly 5% (3,676 sqkm) of the hills was converted into barren land and another 776. 8 sqkm (around 1%) into settlements. The projected loss by 2059 of total Aravali area is 16,360 sqkm, according to the report.
		+
		+	In this time period, the average deforestation rate was 0. 57% annually, the study’s lead researcher Laxmi Kant Sharma told TOI. If this continues, the landscape in swathes of north India will become arid and desertification will set in, according to the study.
		+
		+	“…change from 1975 to 2019, which shows that the Aravali range is passing through significant deterioration, where biodiversity loss is prominent… These deteriorated hill gaps have opened a gateway for desertification in the northeast part of Rajasthan to Delhi,” the study says.
		+
		+	A total of 2,269 hills make up the Aravalis that extend from Gujarat to Delhi, via Rajasthan and Haryana. The hills and the forests of the ranges are natural barriers to the expansion of the Thar desert. Unchecked mining for stones and sand has been accelerating the rate of damage to the Aravalis over the decades. In October 2018, a central empowered committee appointed by the Supreme Court informed a bench of Justices Madan B Lokur and Deepak Gupta that one-fourth of the Aravali ranges in Rajasthan (31 out of 128 hills in the state) had disappeared over a 50-year period because of illegal mining.
		+
		+	In adjacent south Haryana,despite the Supreme Court banning mining in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Nuh in 2009, it continues to make gashes in the ranges, operating through an entrenched network.
		+
		+	Last July, a Haryana Police DSP was crushed to death by the driver of a truck carrying illegally mined stones in Nuh. Earlier this week, a government team was attacked by 10-12 stick-wielding men at Sancholi village in Sohna.
		+	The CURaj study says 1,852 sqkm of the Aravalis is currently being mined in nine areas – Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari, Jaipur, Alwar and Ajmer. There are 4,150 mining leases, of which just 288 have environmental clearance, the study notes, citing data released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in a report in 2017.
		+	Sharma, who is also the head of department of environmental science at CURaj, said that by the estimates of the study, 3. 5% (2,628. 6 sqkm) of the total Aravali area will be used for mining by 2059.

	[[Category:Fauna\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE		[[Category:Fauna\|AARAVALI RANGEARAVALI RANGE

@@ Line 339: / Line 339: @@
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-=Damage=
+=Damage, the extent of=
 ==‘Damage to Aravallis scary’: SC==
 [https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/damage-to-aravallis-scary/article24929009.ece  Krishnadas Rajagopal, SC orders demolition of illegal structures, September 11, 2018: ''The Hindu'']
@@ Line 401: / Line 401: @@
 In its report, CEC said illegal mining was going on in 15 districts in Rajastan and districts of Alwar, Dungarpur and Sikar were worst affected. It said illegal mining was going on over an area of 115.34 hectares. It said the majority of mining leases in the state had been granted in “clusters”. The court posted the case for October 29 to examine compliance of its orders.
 =Desertification=

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← Older revision		Revision as of 13:57, 25 February 2023
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	Sources said that the revenue department wants to ensure that the drains and streams, which carry rainwater to the lake, are not blocked. ‘‘We have included this in the consolidation scheme so that the natural water supply to the lake is not disturbed. Though consolidation would be finalised soon, land owners would have to get approval for anything they do on their land,’’ said a senior revenue department official.		Sources said that the revenue department wants to ensure that the drains and streams, which carry rainwater to the lake, are not blocked. ‘‘We have included this in the consolidation scheme so that the natural water supply to the lake is not disturbed. Though consolidation would be finalised soon, land owners would have to get approval for anything they do on their land,’’ said a senior revenue department official.
		+
		+
		+	=Stone age carvings=
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=06_02_2023_001_006_cap_TOI February 6, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+	[[File: Stone carvings near Badshapur tethar.jpg\|Stone carvings near Badshapur tethar <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=06_02_2023_006_014_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, February 6, 2023: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
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		+
		+
		+	Gurgaon : The trove of history that the Aravalis hold has widened with the latest discovery of stone carvings that archaeologists say date back to the Paleolithic period or the Stone Age, reports Ipsita Pati.
		+	The petroglyphs discovered in Badshapur Tethar village of Sohna include graffiti, and hand and footprints of humans and animals engraved on quartzite rocks. The site is atop a hillock and 6km fromMangar, where cave paintings believed to be from the same period were discovered in 2021.
		+	==Details==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=06_02_2023_006_014_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, February 6, 2023: ''The Times of India'']
		+
		+
		+	Gurgaon : Archaeologists have made a new findings of stone carvings in Aravalis. The carvings seem to be older, experts said. The Paleolithic era spans from about 25 lakh years to 10,000 BP (before present, the carbon dating marker that archaeologists use with 1950 treated as the base year).
		+
		+	Spread across a 2km radius, the latest site was discovered recently by Sunil Harsana, an ecologist and wildlife researcher. He informed the archaeological department about what seemed to be carvings from the Stone Age and requested a thorough examination of them. On Sunday, a team of archaeologists confirmed that the rocks indeed dated back to the Paleolithic period.
		+
		+	“Several tools and equipment used to make them were found at the site as well. Though the rocks have withered away with time and because of exposure to harsh weather conditions, the carvings are clearly visible,” Harsana told TOI.
		+
		+	The journey to the site is arduous. After an 80-minute trek, which involves negotiating thorny bushes that cling to the trail, sharp rocks and slippery pebbles, this correspondent reached the top of the hill where the rocks bearing the petroglyphs lay scattered.
		+
		+	There might have been, and could still be, more treasures waiting to be discovered in ancient ranges. Much might have been lost to mining, ground to dust in the cavernous pits carved into the hills. But on some of the pristine stretches, experts don’t rule out more such discoveries.
		+
		+	“These findings are remarkable examples of Indian prehistory. They mark the progress of human civilisation. I believe the carvings are more than 10,000 BP old. But the exact date can be ascertained only after a survey,” said Banani Bhattacharyya, deputy director of the Haryana directorate of archaeology and museums. “This gives us a chance to see how the earliest of humans developed tools. Most of the carvings are of animal paws and human footprints. There are some basic symbols, which had presumably been kept for some special purpose,” she added.
		+
		+	Divay Gupta, an adviser to the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), said, “These petroglyphs are highly significant, considering their antiquity can go to prehistory. These can be territorial, or used for ancient games or record-keeping. It is, however, difficult to date them exactly or ascribe them a definite function at the moment. But further studies should be done on them. ”
		+
		+	Officials in the archaeological department said they would soon carry out an extensive survey of the area. “Yes, we are aware of the findings. This region is a cradle of human civilisation. If we look at the Saraswati-Sindhu civilisation, its full cycle began in this belt. There is evidence of pre-Vedic and Vedic existence as well. We will carry out surveys for further research,” said MD Sinha, the principal secretary (archaeology and museums).
		+
		+	Paleolithic paintings havebeen discovered in the region earlier. In 2021, the archaeological department discovered a 5,000-hectare site in Faridabad’s Mangar, where cave paintings were found along with rock shelters and tools.
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		+	Among the items that were found were pebbles and flakebased tools, hinting at a site where stone tools were manufactured — this ‘Acheulean’ industry was the first tradition of standardised tool-making, according to archaeologists. They also believe that the stone paintings could be the largest in the Indian subcontinent. In 2021, carvings similar to the ones discovered on Saturday were found in Kot village of Faridabad. There were also graffiti of birds, animals and human footprints.  The Aravalis have been a subject of pre-historic research for several decades. In 1986, stone paintings were discovered in Anangpur area of Faridabad. A total of 43 sites were traced then, prompting researchers to start surveys of the area every now and then.
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	=Wildlife=		=Wildlife=

← Older revision		Revision as of 17:25, 23 December 2022
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	Black day for environment, say activists & Oppn. Govt calls it a much-needed move		Black day for environment, say activists & Oppn. Govt calls it a much-needed move
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		+	=Court judgements=
		+	==NGT: 2013-22==
		+	[https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=13_12_2022_005_004_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, Dec 13, 2022: ''The Times of India'']
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		+	[[File: The Aravalis, Rulings of the NGT- 2013-22.jpg\|The Aravalis/ Rulings of the NGT- 2013-22 <br/> From: [https://epaper.timesgroup.com/article-share?article=13_12_2022_005_004_cap_TOI Ipsita Pati, Dec 13, 2022: ''The Times of India'']\|frame\|500px]]
		+
		+	Gurgaon : A landmark journey at the National Green Tribunal (NGT) that began nine years ago with a TOI report, morphed into a petition, and led to several significant measures to protect forest areas in Aravalis, including Mangar, drew to a close this month. It left the vulnerable hill ranges significantly better fortified against any onslaught of illegal construction.
		+
		+	Wrapping up proceedings on December 9 in a case that came to be called Sonya Ghosh vs State of Haryana, the NGT directed the Haryana and Rajasthan governments to set up a monitoring committee and conduct periodic reviews till all encroaching construction is removed from protected Aravali land in three Haryana districts – Gurgaon, Faridabad and Nuh – and Alwar in Rajasthan on land classified as ‘gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable hill)’.
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		+	The tribunal also askedthe chief secretaries of both states to ensure compliance with the directions.
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		+	Among the most significant outcomes of the NGT proceedings was the deletion of the term ‘gair mumkin farmhouse’ from revenue records by the Gurgaon administration in 2020 and their replacement with ‘gair mumkin pahar’ (uncultivable hill). The term, which found its way insidiously into the records, allowed farmhouse owners to circumvent provisions of the Aravali Notification 1992 that recognises ‘gair mumkin pahar’ as protected land.
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		+	The NGT admitted Sonya Ghosh’s petition on December 12, 2013. But the start of proceedings predated the petition. On January 7 that year, the tribunal took cognisance of a TOI report on illegal construction on forest land in the Aravalis, titled ‘How private players grabbed forest land in the Aravalis’, and sought a response from the Haryana government.
		+
		+	The court followed that up by ordering a stop to non-for-est activity and a survey of forest land in three affectedvillages – Kot and Mangar in Faridabad and Roz Ka Gujjarin Gurgaon – before admitting an impleadment applica-tion by Ghosh that winter, Aagney Sail, the petitioner’s counsel, told TOI.
		+
		+	The first judgment in the case came in 2018, when the NGT declared that any construction on land covered by the Aravali Notification is illegal and directed the Haryana government to restore the forest in encroached areas like Raisina Hill in Gurgaon. “Construction on forest land or areas covered by Aravali Notification is illegal, and such forest land has to be restored… any construction raised on the forest area or the area otherwise covered by (Aravali )notification without permission of the competent authority (after the date of the notification) has to be treated as illegal and such forest land has to be restored,” the NGT stated in its ruling.
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		+	The NGT gave the Haryana government two months to set up a committee and three months to identify all forest land covered by the Aravali Notification. The committee was,however, formed only in July 2019.
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		+	Demolition notices were issued to farmhouses, but in most cases, this wasn’t followed up by an actual demolition.  The deletion of the term ‘gair mumkin farmhouse’ in May 2020 removed the shield farmhouses had despite being illegally built.
		+	Though the terminology had no impact on the ownership, it did away with equivocation that ‘gair mumkin farmhouse’ created and brought the land in question under the clauses of the Aravali Notification to disallow any ‘non-forest’ activity.
		+	Demolitions in Raisina in compliance with the NGT order have only recently begun.  Disposing of the petition on December 9, an NGT bench of chairman Adarsh Kumar Goel, judicial member Sudhir Agarwal and expert members A Senthil Vel and Afroz Ahmad asked the Haryana and Rajasthan government to continue with remedial action in accordance with the law. “Having monitored the mat-ter for almost 1o years, the encroachers having been identified and the states of Rajasthan and Haryana having constituted their monitoring mechanism, it will be appropriate to direct that further remedial action may be taken by the states of Rajasthan and Haryana in accordance with law,” stated the judgment.
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		+	The tribunal noted that government departments had worked to remove encroachments in their jurisdiction and submitted actiontaken reports. Over the nearly 10 years, there were 71 hearings of the case in the NGT.
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		+	According to a forest department survey, at least 500 farmhouses have been built illegally on Aravali land in Gurgaon, concentrated in areas like Gwalpahari, Abheypur, Gairatpur Bas, Sohna, Raisina and Manesar. A detailed list of these constructions was submitted to the NGT in the Sonya Ghosh case last year. The report also had details of the total area occupied by them and their locations.
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	=Damage=		=Damage=