Modi government has 'nearly signed death warrant' for Aravalli hills: Sonia Gandhi

New Delhi: Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that the Modi government has displayed a particularly "venal streak of cynicism" in relation to environmental protection and alleged that it has now "nearly signed a death warrant" for Aravalli hills.

She demanded that the government must withdraw the amendments it "bulldozed" through Parliament in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 as well as the Forest Conservation Rules (2022).

Gandhi said the government's declaration that any hills in the Aravalli range with an elevation of less than 100 metres are not subject to the strictures against mining is an open invitation for illegal miners and mafias to finish off 90% of the range which falls below the height limit set.

"The Aravalli range, which runs from Gujarat through Rajasthan and till Haryana, has long played a significant role in Indian geography and history. It has served as a barrier to the spread of desertification from the Thar Desert to the Gangetic Plains, guarded Rajasthan's proudest forts such as Chittorgarh and Ranthambore, and served as the cradle of spirituality for communities across northwest India," Gandhi said in an article published in The Hindu.

"The Modi Government has now nearly signed a death warrant for these hills, already denuded by illegal mining," she said.

Gandhi pointed out that on the northernmost end of the Aravalli range, the national capital has embarked on its annual smog season this month.

"A hazy mist of dust, smoke and particulate matter has been settling down on millions of citizens as they go about their daily lives breathing in toxic air. Even as the smog becomes a part of our yearly routine, research increasingly shows that it is a full-scale, slow-motion public health tragedy. Estimates of the human toll of this pollution go as high as 34,000 deaths in just 10 cities annually," Gandhi said in her article titled "Dismal state of India's environment".

Last week the news headlines reflected yet another evolving tragedy when the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) reported that 13%-15% of tested groundwater samples in Delhi contain uranium beyond the permissible limit for human consumption, she said.

"Shamefully, water samples from Punjab and Haryana reflect even higher levels of uranium contamination. One does not need to dwell on the frightening health implications that regular consumption of such water for daily activities can have on impacted populations," the former Congress president said.

These news items cannot be seen disparately as they are each causes and consequences of a crisis that has engulfed India in the last decade - a deep-seated and continuing disregard for the environment in government policy making, she said.

"Ever since coming to power, the Modi government has displayed a particularly venal streak of cynicism in relation to environmental protection, combining its proclivity to encourage the reckless exploitation of natural resources with a callous disregard for consequences on the environment," Gandhi said.

The Forest Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2023 exempted large categories of land and projects from forest clearance rules, easing diversion for other purposes, she claimed.

Gandhi further alleged that the Draft Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) notification 2020 sought to dilute public hearings, expand exemptions and reduce compliance reporting.

The Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) Notification 2018 eased construction rules along India's shorelines, opening ecologically sensitive coastal areas and fishing communities' habitats to commercial real estate and industrial activity, Gandhi said.

"The Environment Ministry has more often been in the news for circumventing due process and weakening regulations rather than implementing them or taking proactive measures to halt the slide," the Congress leader said.

Another emerging trend has been an insidious tendency to pit the environment against the local communities that protect it, when politically convenient for the government, she said.

The Forest Survey of India has been mischievously attributing the loss of forest cover over the last decade to the implementation of the Forest Rights Act, 2006, Gandhi said.

"Shockingly, even the Minister concerned has echoed the same claims. In June 2024, the National Tiger Conservation Authority called for the eviction of almost 65,000 families from tiger reserves across the country," she said.

"It was not just a breach of the spirit of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 which mandates that all relocations must be voluntary; it was also unnecessarily inimical, ranging the environment against local communities," Gandhi said.

"India needs a new deal for the environment. First, we must resolve to do no further harm. We must halt the large-scale deforestation that is planned or currently underway across the country: in Great Nicobar, in north Chhattisgarh's Hasdeo Aranya, and in Madhva Pradesh's Dhirauli.

"We need to crack down on the rampant illegal mining in the Aravalli range and other eco-sensitive regions such as the Western Ghats. We need to put an end to the indiscriminate destruction of mountains in the Himalayan belt which has exacted a heavy toll on human lives these past few years," Gandhi said.

She said on a policy level, there is a need to urgently review the laws and policy changes of the last decade which have "led us down this disastrous path".

"The Modi government must withdraw the amendments it bulldozed through Parliament in the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980 as well as the Forest Conservation Rules (2022) - which are anti-Adivasi and allow the clearing of forests without consulting those who live there," she said.

The blatantly illogical and dangerous practice of providing post-facto environmental clearances to big corporations that violate environmental laws -- one of the Modi Government's few home-grown policy innovations --cannot continue, she asserted.