No other Indian prime minister has caused retired bureaucrats to continue working as vigorously as Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Aghast over policy moves of the Modi government, retired bureaucrats have come together to form groups, comment on developments and write letters urging change of course.
There is one group of retired bureaucrats that closely monitors all elections in the country, and points to discrepancies in data released by the Election Commission of India; this group, under the title ‘Constitutional Conduct Group’ has also addressed letters to the government on issues of grave divergence from the provisions of the Constitution.
The government has responded by changing rules, empowering the Union government to deprive retired officers of pension, even without a reference in the matter by the state government, as required under the law of 1958, in case of “grave misconduct” or conviction of crime.
That has not stopped retired officers from expressing their concern. In the first week of February 2025, 37 retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and other retired IFS officers wrote to the prime minister, expressing grave concern over the degradation of the Aravalli mountain ranges, which in several pockets have been reduced to dust through rampant mining.
The retired officers of the Indian Forest Service, from Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tripura, and the Union Territory cadre, highlight the alarming destruction of the Aravalli range.
They cite the rapid expansion in mining, real estate development and deforestation, and demand an immediate response from the prime minister towards comprehensive conservation of the Aravallis.
The Aravallis are the oldest mountain range in India, and among the oldest in the world.
“Aravallis are India’s ecological and cultural heritage. Comprising some of the oldest geological features on the planet, the Aravallis hold the distinction of being one of the oldest mountain ranges on Earth with its origins dating back to almost 1800 million years. Some scholars have also dated the Aravallis to be 2500 million years old. Destruction of this fragile ecosystem is causing significant irreversible biodiversity losses, land degradation and decline in vegetation cover negatively impacting communities, cattle and wildlife living in the lap of the Aravallis,” stated Dr R.P Balwan, retired Conservator of Forest, South Circle Haryana who has authored a book on the Aravallis called ‘The Aravalli Ecosystems – Mystery of the Civilizations’.
The retired IFS officers state that the Aravalli Mountain Range, spanning Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi, are damaged beyond repair due to mining and construction activities.
“The mining mafia carries out the illegal quarrying of rocks with complete disregard to environmental norms for obtaining building materials to feed the hungry ever-expanding real estate industry in the National Capital Region of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. We understand that the mining fetches Rs. 5000 crore annually as royalty from mining companies but this revenue generation is at the cost of destruction of our rivers, mountains, forests. During 1972-75, the Aravalli districts in Rajasthan recorded 10,462 sq. km of area under various categories of forest. By 1981-84, the forest cover reduced to 6,116 sq. km,” they state.
The officers cite the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee, which in 2018 found that of the 128 hills of Alwar district in North Rajasthan that were sampled from a total of 2269, 31 had vanished! These hills existed in the Survey of India topographic sheets prepared in 1967-68.
The Committee recorded that illegal mining was prevalent in as many as 15 districts of Rajasthan with some of the worst affected areas being Alwar and Sikar.
The officers noted that satellite images of 2008-2010 were cited in the Central Empowered Committee report, which found that the extent of illegal mining in terms of percentage area exceeded 100% in many cases, especially in respect of smaller mines allotted for minor mineral.
The Committee recommended that Haryana and Rajasthan stop all mining activities immediately outside of the legally sanctioned mining lease areas and identify and prosecute those involved in such activities.
“This was never implemented with the vigour it requires,” said Mr Uma Shanker Singh, retired Principal Chief Conservator of Forest from Uttar Pradesh.
The representation also throws light on the objections of the retired IFS officers to the the zoo safari project in 10,000 acres of the Haryana Aravallis in Gurugram and Nuh districts.
“The primary purpose of any intervention in the eco-sensitive Aravalli region must be ‘conservation and restoration’ and not destruction that projects like the zoo safari will bring. A zoo or a safari is often considered not essential for wildlife conservation because while they can play a role in breeding endangered species, the practice of keeping animals in captivity in limited spaces can negatively impact their natural behaviours. The most effective conservation efforts focus on protecting natural habitats and addressing threats in the wild, rather than relying on captive breeding programs in zoos. For Haryana state having the lowest forest cover in India at around 3.6%, the Aravalli range is the only saving grace, providing the major portion of its forest cover. If left untouched, the Aravalli range would be enough to bring back humidity and sufficient rainfall in this dry region,” said Dr Arvind Jha, Retired PCCF from Maharashtra.
A copy of the letter sent by these forest officers has also been sent to the Union Minister and Secretary of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Director General of Forests and chief secretaries of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Delhi and Haryana, the four Aravalli states.
The 692-km Aravalli range, with its highest point at 5,650 feet, was key to preventing the spread of the adjoining desert into areas near these hills. During the 2018 hearing in the Supreme Court, when judges learnt that Rajasthan was earning Rs5000 crore annually from mining, the bench remarked that the lives of lakhs of people was in danger (through pollution), while a few mining companies benefited.
Carbon dating of copper and other metals mined in the region have shown that these date back to at least the fifth century BC – the Aravallis were formed when the subcontinent collided with the mainland Eurasian plate.
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*Freelance journalist
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