Delhi NCR – 400+ AQI
 Uttar Pradesh – 390+ AQI
Gujarat – 170+ AQI
 Rajasthan – 200+ AQI
(Don’t get confused why I gave this Air Quality Index data here. You will know soon.)
So,
These are the few air quality indices of a few states of India, and till now, if you read the news, you know how severe it is getting with time.
Why isn’t the government stopping it?
Why are no actions being taken?
And mostly, why are the citizens of India not raising their voices?
You may laugh, but our caring government and the Supreme Court, after a long study and analysis, gave us something- a more skewed outcome.
The Supreme Court’s acceptance of a revised definition classifies only landforms rising more than 100 meters as “Aravalli hills”.
And that means that this technical redefinition could strip protection and habitat from nearly 90% of the range, as warned by environmental experts.
The Aravalli hills, ranging about 670 km, continuing from near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana and Rajasthan, and ending in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, are now invisible because the generational definition of Aravalli is completely changed.
And why this one decision became a subject of outrage is because of the impact it will cause- on the climate, the weather, environmental health, and human health.
To understand it better, we need to look at the impact of the damage done if this plan is continued- not on paper, not in courtrooms, but in real life, when air enters lungs and water comes out of the ground.
The Aravallis are not just “some old hills.” They are a natural shield. A dust filter. A climate buffer. They slow down desert winds from the Thar, trap particulate matter, regulate temperature, and help recharge groundwater across Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi NCR, and parts of Gujarat.
Simply, they quietly do the job that no government policy has managed to do properly.
So when you weaken the Aravallis, or cleverly redefine them out of existence, the impact is immediate. More dust. More heat. Less water. And yes, worse air.
Let’s take a look at the AQI I mentioned. Starting with the capital city, which is now turning into a graveyard- Delhi at 400+, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan crossing 200, this is not a coincidence or any race where the winner is the one with the highest AQI. Mind you, this is the data the main site showed; the real data is much bigger, but that is another topic.
These regions sit right along the Aravalli belt. As the hills disappear, dust travels freely. Add vehicle emissions, construction, stubble smoke, and congratulations, you’ve built the perfect recipe for breathable poison.
But instead of strengthening this natural barrier, the “solution” seems to be redefining it so narrowly that nearly 90% of it no longer qualifies for protection. Apparently, if a hill doesn’t rise more than 100 meters, it doesn’t deserve to exist- or at least, doesn’t deserve saving.
Nature, it seems, failed to meet the eligibility criteria built by mere discussions.
Supporters of the move insist there is “no dilution” and “no blanket permission for mining.” This sounds reassuring, the way “temporary inconvenience” sounds reassuring before a permanent problem arrives. Anyone who has seen how environmental clearances work knows how this story goes. First, protection is removed, followed by exceptions and projects.
Finally, after all this, press releases use mild words like “nothing can be done”.
Let’s talk about water, because air isn’t the only thing we’re running out of. The Aravallis are major groundwater recharge zones. Mining fractures rock systems and destroys underground water channels. Rajasthan already struggles with water scarcity, yet here we are, casually dismantling one of the few natural systems that help store it.
Planning for profit or annihilation?
Then there’s heat. Forested hill systems cool regions and stabilize weather. Strip them down, and heatwaves become harsher, rainfall becomes erratic, and floods and droughts start taking turns.
Climate change gets blamed- conveniently ignoring the local ecological destruction that made things worse.
What makes this entire episode more absurd is that the Aravallis are among the oldest mountain ranges in the world. They survived geological ages, but not modern paperwork. Millions of years of resilience failed to stand a revised definition and a reassuring press note.
My question to the court and the ministry is: why destroy something which you can’t build?
Something that is made by natural causes and exists for nature can’t be redone by you.
And if you can’t understand this simple thing, then you need to redo your homework. Sit back and think.
In the end, we are not losing hills because they are small.
We are losing them because our concern for the environment is even smaller, or almost dead.