Delhi is Dying...

...and it has only itself to blame

The Story so Far

Delhi is breathing poison. If this continues, children in Delhi will die earlier and be born dumber. You can read about it here on our Instagram.

The usual culprits for the pollution are said to be stubble burning by Punjab farmers, industrial pollution, and vehicular pollution. But stubble burning is not a new phenomenon. Have industrial and vehicle pollution increased to such high levels? Why is Delhi suffering so much now? One key reason could be the destruction of the Aravalli Mountain ranges.

The Aravallis are a 670 km mountain range from Ahmedabad in Gujarat to Delhi. The mountains serve to stop the expansion of the western Thar Desert. The Aravallis are full of national parks, wildlife reserves, and forests. But, like most good things are unappreciated in India, so are the Aravallis.

A 2017 report by The Hindustan Times says that 40% of Delhi's Aravallis have been destroyed. The Aravallis are the city's green lungs, and as the city keeps destroying its lungs, it struggles to breathe.

A 2023 HT report says the Haryana government decided that the Aravallis don’t exist beyond Gurugram in the state. The mountain ranges and forests beyond this boundary are not the Aravallis, so they can be destroyed for “development.”

On July 20, 2023, the Haryana Forest Department declared 506 acres of Aravali forest in Rajawas village as protected forest. However, on the same day, the state's mining department auctioned off 119.5 acres of this newly protected land for mining. This contradiction highlights a severe issue in the state's environmental policies, as a piece of land was simultaneously declared protected and auctioned for mining.

What makes Haryana’s stance even worse is that it is India’s most forest-deficient state, with just 3.5% of the state under forest cover.

In August 2020, the Supreme Court intervened to halt illegal road construction in Haryana's ecologically sensitive Aravalli hills. This action followed media reports exposing the destruction of these hills to build farmhouses. A 2023 Times of India report said a recent study by researchers from the Central University of Rajasthan revealed that nearly 8% of the Aravalli range was lost between 1975 and 2019.

The 2023 HT report states, “Using other datasets, researchers have shown that 80% of the Great Aravalli range was covered with vegetation at the beginning of the 20th century, which decreased to 7% by 1998-2001.”

A 2017 Wildlife Institute of India report revealed a concerning trend in habitat loss across 23 districts stretching from Delhi to Gujarat. Between 1992 and 2015, this region witnessed a significant decline in natural vegetation, with 213 square kilometers disappearing. Additionally, 1,257 square kilometers of agricultural land were converted into urban areas. This rapid urbanization has severely impacted the region's biodiversity and ecological balance.

Delhi, Gurugram, and Faridabad, the most urbanized districts within the Aravallis, have also experienced the most significant loss of vegetation. These cities have lost 29%, 17%, and 15% of their 1992 vegetation cover. Despite their already urbanized state in 1992, these cities have continued to lose substantial portions of their forest cover.

Halting deforestation and initiating reforestation efforts is crucial to ensure the long-term habitability of these regions. However, the focus should be more than these heavily urbanized areas. Other districts with significant remaining vegetation also require urgent conservation measures to prevent further loss and protect the ecological balance of the Aravallis.

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So long!

Team Reading Room