New Delhi, March 2 -- After traveling 700 kilometers across India's oldest mountain range, the 'Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra' reached Delhi on Monday, stressing its demand for the complete scrapping of a "regressive" definition of the endangered range proposed by a committee spearheaded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
Environmentalist Neelam Ahluwalia said that the Aravallis have been "bleeding" for decades due to deforestation, licensed and illegal mining, and real estate development that has razed hills and poisoned aquifers. The ancient range requires strict protection rather than "senseless definitions" designed to exclude the majority of its areas from legal safeguards, she said.
The movement's core demands in...