Overview
- Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said only 0.19%–2% of the ~1.44–1.47 lakh sq km Aravalli area is eligible for mining and reiterated that mining is banned in the Delhi/NCR stretch.
- The Supreme Court on November 20 accepted a uniform definition that treats a hill as ≥100 metres above local relief and a range as two or more such hills within 500 metres, including the land between them.
- The court-ordered framework bars new mining leases until a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining is prepared, requires Survey of India mapping, and mandates clearances including from ICFRE.
- Environmentalists and opposition parties held protests in Gurugram and Udaipur and warned the height threshold could exclude ecologically important tracts, with legal experts urging judicial review.
- The government said the new criteria apply only to mining decisions, not real estate or other development, while critics challenged the Centre’s area calculations and the 0.19% figure as misleading.