The Aravallis are the country's natural heritage and have great ecological value, the Congress on Tuesday said, as it wondered why the Modi government was "hell-bent" on redefining the mountain range and for whose benefit.
The Congress on Tuesday mounted an attack on the Modi government over the redefinition of the Aravalli hills, even as the Union environment minister sought to play down concerns over mining and development.
Ramesh's comments came in response to recent clarifications issued by Union Minister for Environment, Forests and Climate Change Bhupender Yadav following widespread criticism and protests.
“The very recent ‘clarifications’ given by the environment minister on the Aravallis issue raise even more questions and doubts,” Ramesh said.
“Aravallis need substantial restoration and meaningful protection. Why is the Modi Government hellbent on redefining them? To what end? For whose benefit? And why are the recommendations of a professional organisation like the Forest Survey of India being deliberately ignored and set aside?”
Ramesh, a former environment minister himself, challenged the government’s assertion that mining is permitted in only a negligible fraction of the Aravallis. Yadav has said that just 0.19 per cent of the Aravalli area is currently under mining leases. But Ramesh argued that this figure is misleading.
“The minister says that only 0.19 per cent of the 1.44 lakh sq kms of the Aravallis is presently under mining leases, and this already amounts to 68,000 acres, a vast swath,” Ramesh said. “However the 1.44 lakh sq kms figure is deceptive — it spans the entire landmass of the 34 Aravalli districts identified by the Ministry in four states. This is the wrong denominator.”
He said the correct base should be the actual area within these districts that falls under the Aravalli range. “If the area under the Aravallis is used as a base, then 0.19% will turn out to be a very huge under-estimate,” Ramesh said, claiming that in 15 of the 34 districts where data is verifiable, the Aravallis account for about 33 per cent of the total landmass.
According to Ramesh, there is “no clarity whatsoever” on how much of the Aravalli area will be excluded under the revised definition and opened up for mining and other forms of development.
He warned that if local profiles are used as a baseline, as suggested by the minister, “many 100+ metres high hills will get excluded from protective cover”.
“With the revised definition most hilly tracts of the Aravallis in the Delhi NCR will get opened up for real estate development adding to environmental stress,” he said, also criticising the Centre’s parallel move to redraw the boundaries of the Sariska Tiger Reserve to allow mining. Fragmenting what is essentially an interconnected ecosystem would damage its ecological value, he added.
Responding to the criticism, Yadav on Monday accused the Congress of spreading “misinformation” and reiterated that mining can be carried out legally in only 0.19 per cent of the Aravalli area.
The government maintains that the revised definition brings clarity and balances environmental protection with development needs.
At a press briefing, he said the Narendra Modi government remains "fully committed" to protecting and restoring the Aravallis.
"The Congress, which allowed rampant illegal mining in Rajasthan during its tenure, is spreading confusion, misinformation and lies about the issue," the minister alleged.
The controversy has spilled onto the streets. Over the weekend, peaceful protests were held in cities such as Gurugram and Udaipur, with residents, farmers, environmental activists and lawyers voicing concern over the court-backed definition.
Neelam Ahluwalia, a founder member of the People for Aravallis group, told the BBC that the new definition risks undermining the range’s role in “preventing desertification, recharging groundwater and protecting livelihoods”.
“The Aravalli range should not be defined by height alone, but by its ecological, geological and climatic role,” environmental activist Vikrant Tongad told the BBC.
In November 2025, the Supreme Court accepted a uniform legal definition of what constitutes the Aravalli Hills and Aravalli Range on the recommendation of a committee led by the Environment Ministry.
Under this definition, an "Aravalli Hill" is a landform with an elevation of at least 100 metres above its local surrounding terrain and an "Aravalli Range" is a cluster of two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other.