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Ecology & Environment
Mahesh

26/06/23 10:57 AM IST

Bringing the Aravallis back to life

In News
  • Tree species like sheesham, babool and others planted over 75 hectares of land that was previously mined illegally are helping restore greenery and bring back wildlife.
About Aravallis
  • 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.
  • The Aravallis date back to millions of years when a pre-Indian sub-continent collided with the mainland Eurasian Plate. Carbon dating has shown that copper and other metals mined in the ranges date back to at least 5th century BC.
Significance
  • The Aravallis act as a barrier between the fertile plains in the east and the sandy desert in the west. Historically, it is said that the Aravalli range checked the spread of the Thar desert towards the Indo-Gangetic plains, serving as a catchment of rivers and plains.
  • The Aravalli is rich in biodiversity and provides habitat to 300 native plant species, 120 bird species and many exclusive animals like the jackal and mongoose.
  • Aravallis have an impact upon the climate of northwest India and beyond. During monsoons, it provides barrier and monsoon clouds move eastwards towards Shimla and Nainital, thus helping nurture the sub-Himalayan rivers and feeding the north Indian plains. In the winter months, it protects the fertile alluvial river valleys from the cold westerly winds from Central Asia.
Destruction by Mining
  • The Aravallis spanning Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan have been infamous for stone mining to fuel the construction boom in the National Capital Region.
  • Since the early 2000s, numerous crusher units mushroomed to scoop up precious gravel or bajri using heavy-duty machines which succeeded in denuding the mountain range. 
  • More than 25% and 31 hill ranges of the Aravallis in Rajasthan had vanished due to illegal quarrying.
  • Loss of a great number of flora and fauna like leopards, striped hyenas, golden jackals, nilgais, palm civets, wild boar,
  • Many rivers originating in the Aravalli like Banas, Luni, Sahibi and Sakhi, are now dead.
Tackling Mining Menace
  • A multipronged strategy was adopted to choke the supply unit and stop the crushers from working.
  • Plantation activity started in 2019-2020. The local residents were involved in the exercise through meaningful dialogue.
  • Now, an area spanning 75.7526 hectares looks transformed. It is the result of eight months of hard work, accomplished in the presence of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary, a special force that guards the international border.
  • The security personnel camped in three tents pitched at the forest check post to ensure that the drive continued smoothly.
  • Armed with guns, they watched as 10,000 saplings of native tree species suitable for an arid area, such as babool, ronj churail, sheesham and ber were planted.
  • The area was also covered with the locally available moonj grass to provide livelihood options to the local residents.
  • The grass, which binds the soil, is used for thatching roofs as well as making brooms and handicraft and furniture items, such as the low stool or moodha and the popular changeri, a shallow round basket.
Source- DTE

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