Rajasthan
Illegal Mining in the Aravalli Range
- 04 May 2024
- 3 min read
Why in News?
Recently, The Supreme Court verbally stated that illegal mining in the Aravalli range in Rajasthan should be stopped.
Key Points
- According to the court's amicus curiae (impartial adviser), the Rajasthan government tried to deceive the court by recognizing only mountains that were at least 100 meters high as belonging to the Aravalli Range, while not including shorter hills in the range.
- Aravalli is the only geographical feature that stops dry winds from coming to the Gangetic Plains that come from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- Aravalli is a natural barrier. Losing it will transform our weather into the arid, dry climate.
- The court in November 2023 had taken note of palaeolithic findings in the Aravalli and directed the Archaeological Survey of India to protect the site, which could even be part of national heritage.
Aravalli range
- The Aravallis of Northwestern India, one of the oldest fold mountains of the world, now form residual mountains with an elevation of 300m. to 900m. They stretch for a distance of 800 km. from Himmatnagar in Gujarat to Delhi, spanning Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi, the 692 kilometre (km).
- The mountains are divided into two main ranges – the Sambhar Sirohi Range and the Sambhar Khetri Range in Rajasthan, where their extension is about 560 km.
- These are fold mountains of which rocks are formed primarily of folded crust, when two convergent plates move towards each other by the process called orogenic movement.
Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
- ASI, under the Ministry of Culture, is the premier organisation for the archaeological research and protection of the cultural heritage of the nation.
- Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (AMASR) Act, 1958 governs the functioning of ASI.
- It administers more than 3650 ancient monuments, archaeological sites and remains of national importance.
- Its activities include carrying out surveys of antiquarian remains, exploration and excavation of archaeological sites, conservation and maintenance of protected monuments etc.
- It was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham- the first Director-General of ASI. Alexander Cunningham is also known as the “Father of Indian Archaeology”.
