PROJECT REPORT

Ecological importance of Aravalli Hills and Thar Desert

Multilateral Environmental Agreements

Professor R. Gopichandaran

Slot 7 PGDM (E) 2019-20

Submitted by
Anil Kumar Khedar
19PGDM05A004

NTPC SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Noida
 Table of Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. Literature Review 4
3. Gaps 11
4. Research Questions 12
5. Discussion 13
6. Way Forward 15
7. References 16
 Introduction

Aravalli hills are spread from Raiseena hills in Delhi housing the official residence of President
of Republic of India to Palanpur in Gujrat state. The hill is aligned from North east to south west
direction. It passes through Haryana and Rajasthan. The eastern side of the hill is dominated by
river plains while western to the hills lies the world’s most densely populated desert popularly
known as Thar Desert. Aravalli hills is spread over total length of around 800 kilometres. While
Thar desert is spread in area of 2,00,000 square kilometres. The thar desert is bounded by
Aravalli hills in east, Rann of Kutch in south, Indus plains in west and Punjab plains in north side.
The thar desert is also the hottest desert. The thar desert and Aravalli hills have become the
home to natural resources. Gypsum, Marble, Granite stones, Copper and zinc and petroleum
products are available in abundance in this part. It has fuelled the economic development of
the area. Although the desert is naturally not suitable for agriculture but with the introduction
of Gang Nahar (Gang Canal) and Indira Gandhi canal (formerly known as Rajasthan Canal), the
area has become the grain bowl. The Aravalli and Thar desert both are rich source of flora and
fauna. Many reserved and protected forest and national parks areas are spread over this
geographical region. It offers lot of opportunities for tourism related service sector. Many
seasonal rivers originate from Aravalli hills and are major source of water for drinking, irrigation
and other purposes. Luni is a major river which originates from Aravalli hills, passes through
desert area and sinks into the Rann of Kutch.

The region also offers multiple challenges to the development. Extreme temperatures in The
Thar desert reaches up to 50 degree Celsius. Churu and Falodi (Jodhpur) are the major
temperature hotspot. In winters mercury drops significantly in the reason. It is very difficult to
survive and work in the region due to such extreme temperatures. Water availability is also
poor although in some parts Indira Gandhi canal has improved water availability. But the canal
fed region in facing problem of Sam (problem caused by excess water flooding in the soil). Sam
is creating soil degradation. The rainfall in the region varies from 10-50 cm per year which is
very less from ground water table recharge. The gypsum layer underground is also hindering
the penetration of water into the underground aquifers. As more and more irrigation is being
promoted using tube well, the ground water table is depleting at a faster rate. Due to less
recharge, the TDS (total dissolved solids) content of the water is also increasing which is
harming biological life as well as materials. In earlier times (pre independence) various
traditional methods were being used to conserve the water and sustainable usage of the water.
But with increased access to modern amenities such as power and high capacity pumps, water
consumption (read unsustainable usage) has increased significantly.

The desert and attached hills are spread in the vast area and hence basic infrastructural
development is not at par with the plains. Also, due to international border with unfriendly
country, the development has remained restricted. Recently due to discovery of oil field in the
Jaisalmer and Barmer region has given new significance to the region. The region produces
almost 25% of India’s total crude production. Rajasthan government in partnership with
Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) is developing a modern refinery complex in the area for crude
processing.

Literature Review
The Aravali hills provide a natural barrier to the expansion of thar desert towards east.
Desertification is increasing due to many reasons such as damage to the forests, climate
change, soil erosion, overgrazing, unsustainable development, illegal mining activities etc. As
the population is growing unchecked, there is more and more pressure on natural resources.
To earn the more and more assets, people are not shying away from the illegal activities such
as stone quarrying, sand quarrying etc. all such activities are causing damage to top soil which
is capable of supporting the vegetation. Once the top soil is damaged, it is very difficult to
restore the same. The vegetation is also being taken away in unsustainable way for cooking
purpose. With increased population, there is demand for food has also increased significantly.
Increased development has increased the purchasing power of the people. This has caused
demand for exotic varieties of vegetables and grains. The demand for flash food has also
increased significantly. This has caused stress on land, water and environment as a whole.
Increased demand for flash and milk and associated products has caused the unsustainable
grazing in the fields. This is a major cause of increased desertification. Due to high daily and
seasonal temperature difference, high speed winds flow in the region. It causes weathering of
the rocks and soil. Due to erosion, top soil shifts from one location to other which causes
desertification. Due to climate change and global warming, the temperature rise is higher in
desert zones. It restricts the vegetation growth.
Conscious efforts are required to stop or reduce desertification. Humans need to use water in
more economical way, plant more trees, and avoid unsustainable development, stop illegal
mining activities. The lower strata population is facing more heat of desertification compared
to other people. In the region, a major share of population is dependent on agriculture and
animal husbandry for their livelihood. Desertification is impacting both sources in negative
ways. Government of Republic of India has established a dedicated research institute to fight
the desertification namely CAZRI Central Arid Zone Research Institute. the has been mandated
to tackle the desertification and soil degradation. It is undertaking research in the field of
sustainable farming the arid and semi-arid region s of the country and source of information
repository. The institute has made significant contribution in fighting with desertification and
development of drought and extreme climate resistant crops.

Desertification is not a regional issue but a global one. Some of the causes such as climate
change are also global in nature. United nations has provided the leadership in fight against
desertification through UNCCD. UNCCD (united nations convention to combat desertification ia
convention to fight against desertification and drought related mitigation efforts. Its objective is
to strengthen the international efforts and cooperation. As on date most of the countries (197)
are signatory to this framework. In order to increase the awareness against desertification, the
convention has declared year 2006 as  "International Year of Deserts and Desertification" its
recent cop 14 was held New Delhi in 2019 and adopted The New Delhi Declaration: Investing in
Land and Unlocking Opportunities. It is assisted by group of experts and it prepares the national
and regional plan for its fight against desertification . The Delhi declaration was focused on
acknowledgement of the fact that it is beneficial with respect to health and society to restore
the land damaged by desertification especially for the lower strata of the society. And help inn
fight against draughts and floods in long term. It will help in increasing the agricultural output.
The dry land ecosystem is considered as the most vulnerable ecosystem. India has announced
the target to restore 26 million hectares of degraded land by 2030.

The importance of Aravalli was accepted long ago by major institutions such as supreme court.
The honourable court has intervened multiple times for survival of this critical geological
feature. In famous M C Mehta verses Union of India case supreme court banned the mining
activity in the hills. The ban was not limited to the area for which petitions filed but to the
entire hill region with direction to the highest state officials (read Chief secretary of Haryana
and Rajasthan state) for conservation of the precious natural resource. The court gave
emphasis on the sustainable development and reiterated that no mining activity can be done in
any area with taking the remedial measures to prevent environmental degradation. While
justifying the ban court observed based on the data placed before it that there exist the vide
spread irregularities in the mining activities being carried out in the region. The mines are not
competent enough to obtain the environmental clearances. In order to increase the top and
bottom lines of the corporations involved in the mining activities, have gone below water table
and has carried out the mining activities. This has created multiple man-made reservoirs. These
entities are not making any efforts to ensure mandated tree plantation and follow the
environmental management plans. A report by the downtoearth.org indicates that although
natural water bodies are missing day by day, illegal and unscientific mining in Aravalli has
created new lakes. The underground water is being contaminated due to exposure to surface.
The report suggests that earlier there were thick forest in the entire Aravalli range which acted
as effective shield against desertification but now they are not effective enough. These artificial
lakes as result of over mining also caused drying of natural lakes such as Badhkal and Surajkund
lake due to punctured aquifers and disturbed flow in underground water system

Desertification also finds mention in the sustainable development goal. In the 15th goal it has
been mentioned as combat desertification and reverse land degradation. According to the NITI
Aayog estimate around 30% of the India’s land is either already degraded or facing immediate
danger of being declared so. NITI Aayog estimates that degraded land is causing loss of
equivalent to 2.5% of the country’s GDP. This is a huge loss. India is putting all required efforts
to combat desertification and land degradation. It is expected that by 2030, India will be able to
achieve degradation neutrality. The target is to restore more than 20-million-hectare land. This
is a very ambitious target. If India has to meet the target, she has to reduce the dependency on
forests for fuelwood, fodder and other minor products To combat the desertification
government is implementing various programmes such as National Mission for Green India,
NAP (National Afforestation Programme) and Integrated Watershed Management Programme
etc. State Governments are also taking up programmes such as social forestry, Jal Swavalamban
scheme of govt of Rajasthan, Aravalli afforestation programme by Rajasthan Government with
assistance from JICA etc.
We need to understand that land is a very vital natural resources which helps us not only to
grow the food but it also helps in other associated parts of the ecology such as water cycle
management, forest and other vegetation support system and thus helps in carbon cycle. A lot
of carbon is captured and stored in the form of humus. Conserving land and restricted
degradation can help in managing these services associated with land use. We can imagine the
importance of the subject matter as desertification was also a matter of discussion of Rio
summit in 1992.

Rajasthan suffers land degradation mainly due to wind erosion. Gujrat state suffers land
degradation issue because of the salts in the land (it includes both saline and alkaline). It
accounts for around 1/4th (26%) of the total loss due to land degradation. The figure is 22% for
the state of Uttar Pradesh. Report suggest that crop productivity loss due is land degradation is
attributable to water erosion (37%), Sodic soil (33%), saline soil (18%) and wind erosion (5%).
Of the total national loss on account of land degradation and land usage change, more than
4/5th is attributable to degradation while around 18% is attributable due to usage change. Half
of the total loss is due to loss of value in the forests. The report suggests that annual loss due
land degradation is much more than the total reclamation cost. So, India needs to act
immediately. Experts have difference of opinion regarding what constitutes wasteland and
what constitutes degraded land. This makes the policy formulation and implementation
difficult. UNCCD defines land degradation as a “reduction or loss, in arid, semi-arid, and dry
sub-humid areas, of the biological or economic productivity and complexity of rain-fed
cropland, irrigated cropland, or range, pasture, forest, and woodlands resulting from land uses
or from a process or combination of processes, including processes arising from human
activities and habitation patterns, such as: (i) soil erosion caused by wind and/or water; (ii)
deterioration of the physical, chemical, and biological or economic properties of soil; and (iii)
long-term loss of natural vegetation”.

According to UNCCD four anthropogenic activities as listed below are the major reasons for
land degradation:

A) Over- Cultivation
B) Overgrazing
C) Deforestation
 D) Poorly drained irrigation

According to UNCCD estimates every year 12 million Hectare land gets converted into desert
because of human intervention. May institutes has measured the area under land degradation
in India. Space Application centre estimates 96 million hectares as degraded. India has a
dedication National action plan to combat desertification which is aligned with UNCCD.

Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought does not impose negative externality on the
user or owner but also on the society as a whole. It has direct, indirect and economy wide
negative effects. Diao and Sarpong (2007) predict that land degradation could lead to 5.4%
increase in the poverty rate in 2015 compared to the case of no soil loss. UNEP in its first
estimate long back in 1980 estimated cost of desertification at 26 billion USD. Indirect impacts
on desertification includes siltation of rivers, reservoirs and canals.

The cost can be estimated in two different methods. In first method, it accounts the cost of
additional fertilizer consumed in order to maintained the same level of crop production based
on the assumption that degradation can be perfectly reversed using fertilizer. The additional
relevant cost so incurred is declared as the cost of land degradation. In the second method, no
additional treatment is done and the production is compared with the original condition of
land. The difference in the production is termed as the cost of degradation. Here the
assumption is of productivity in condition on un degraded land which is difficult to estimate.

In terms of the indirect cost, the airborne particles in sand storms due to erosion cause health
issues and burden on the infrastructure. In the desert areas, rail and road links gets covered by
the shifting soil masses and cause difficulty in using these assets. In overall terms we can safely
assume that DLDD effects in terms of productivity of farming, Livestock farming / Pastoralism,
Water quantity available & water quality, Dust storms, Biodiversity and Eco-tourism and
recreation. Different loss evaluation methodologies are used to measure these losses.

Other than these direct and indirect losses there are overall economic losses at macro level
such as increased food inflation and lower income specially for farmers and agriculture
dependent workers. Sedimentation of water bodies causes loss in irrigation potential and hydro
power generation. It leads further impact in terms of either non availability of key inputs or
increased cost of such inputs. Land degradation directly affects the social issues such as
migration, livelihood, food security and poverty. Empirical evidences suggest that policies
formulated are not enough to combat desertification and land degradation despite net positive
economic benefits of such policies.

Different causes of land DLDD

Physical degradation Chemical degradation Biological degradation

Erosion Leaching Loss of soil organic matter
soil organic carbon loss Salinisation loss of vegetation
compaction fertility depletion rangeland degradation
waterlogging acidification loss in biodiversity
nutrient imbalances

Land is considered as degraded when it is not able to support the associated eco system in long
term. According to the report titled “Macroeconomic assessment of land degradation in India”
Kerala, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh share the major impact due to
DLDD while smaller states such as Punjab, Haryana and Goa are minority impacted. There are
regional variations in the cost of land degradation. Share in GDP loss is also varying across
regions. Mythili and Goedecke, (2016) have calculated the cost of DLDD. It can happen in two
reference frame: 1) Due to action taken to combat the land degradation and 2) When no action
is taken. Cost of action happens when we try to restore the land quality i.e. establishment cost
of micronutrients and biome into the soil and lost opportunity. In case on inaction loss
estimation is done based on the yield loss in the crop in the given condition of degraded land. It
has been estimated based on the study that cost of inaction is 1.2 to 1.4 times more than that
of cost of action. A study by Reddy (2009) indicates that cost of DLDD is not affected by the
factors such as income level, population density while it shows inverse relationship with the
land productivity (i.e. higher the productivity less will be the loss due to land degradation).

Government of India has launched following programmes to combat the issue of

Desertification:

A) Drought Prone Area Programme (launched in 1973-1974)

B) Desert Development Programme (launched in 1977-1978)
C) Integrated Wasteland Development Project
First two schemes were later merged into the IWDP in year 2008 for better management and
implementation efficiency. The objective of the programme is to promote the sustainable use
of the land for reducing the cost and improve the productivity. Under the scheme
implementation, states have been given autonomy and power to decide the projects and
implementation strategy. Dedicated institutions have been setup for monitoring the projects.
Opportunity under MGNREGA has been leveraged to fight against DLDD. Afforestation, tree
plantation and horticulture in common and forest lands, road margins, canal bunds, tank
foreshores and land development activities in common land are being taken up to improve the
soil conservation and land improvement activities. MGNREGA mandates use of 3/5 th of its
budget to develop the productive assets. It has been estimated that approximately 1/4 th of the
budget is being used for land related asset development. Various programmes taken by the
governments has helped to improve the soil quality, increase in crop productivity and
employment generation.

AFRI (Jodhpur) has conducted a study to find the contribution of various regional plant species
in the arid regions. As the ground water level dropped particularly in Rajasthan, some of the
plants as Tamarix dioica, Prosophis juliflora, and Saccharum munja have adopted into the new
conditions. Some of them has contributed in further lowering the ground water availability. But
some of the plant species have helped in fight against excess water problem in canal irrigated
area such as Eucalyptus. Now a days, Eucalyptus is being planted in planned manner to tackle
the problem of SEM in Ganganagar – Hanumangarh belt and most of the Haryana and
Rajasthan. It has capacity to tolerate and mitigate water logging and soil salinity. In a separate
study, the institute has also studied the impact of various tree species in improving the soil
fertility and other characteristics that can be measured to estimate the productivity. . It was
found that performance of Ziziphus mauritiana species was found the best among horticulture
species, while Colophospermum mopane was the best in silvicultural species. The growth and
adaptability of specific species can also be used to estimate the land productivity and soil
healthiness. These species are indicators of the regional ecosystem. In western Rajasthan
desert land, land degradation map has been prepared for the worst affected districts namely
Churu, Bikaner, Hanumangarh Jaisalmer and Ganganagar by the land degradation. The map has
been prepared by the CAZRI. Satellite data has been used for this purpose.
Sustainable participatory management of natural resources to control land degradation in the
Thar Desert ecosystem study was done with objective to help arrest land degradation that is
compromising the functions and service of the Thar Desert ecosystem and the livelihoods of its
inhabitants and to decrease the trend and severity of degradation, improve biodiversity,
promote resilience to climate change including variability, and enhance the carbon stored at
above-ground and below-ground levels. The main achievements are that over 10,000 ha of
agricultural land has come under sustainable land management practices; 2,500 farmers
adopted coping mechanism for climate variability and change, improved land and water
management practices applied on 500 ha degraded coastal land; productivity in 90 ha of saline
land enhanced through land shaping; innovative SLEM approaches and techniques in
agriculture.

Gaps
Gray and Srinidhi (2013) has found that data available on land degradation, desertification and
drought are not comprehensive in nature. It brings the inconsistencies in the evaluation. It is
important to have a expert agency to decide on the standard protocol and procedure to
measure, record and evaluate the deficiencies and grade the degradation and desertification
level. Evaluation of quantitative advantages and disadvantages is tough to measure. Also, the
programmes are not evaluated on the project life assessment basis and are only tracked for the
active execution phase only. Due to this reason, after executions impacts and long-term cost
benefits are missing from the project evaluation studies.

India is a large country. All the welfare and infrastructure development programmes and
projects are overshadowed by the growing population. This is also true for the ecosystem and
ecology projects. With increasing population, also increases the requirement of cattle and
animals for food and milk requirement. It also has negative impact on the land assets of the
country. India is a developing country and its GDP is increasing at faster pace. Development
activities such as road construction, building construction also have conflicting impacts on the
programmes to improve the land quality. Different departments have programmes with
conflicting objective and thus reduce the positive impacts of such programmes. Government is
providing subsidy for installation of solar pump sets under KUSUM scheme but it will have
negative impact on the ground water table. These pumps will run for more hours than the
current 3 phase grid supply.

Animal husbandry contributes a big chunk in the state of Rajasthan. In the spread of Thar
desert and Aravali range, agriculture is not as thriving as other agricultural states such as
Punjab and Haryana and eastern Rajasthan especially Hadoti region comprising of Kota,
Jhalawar and Baran districts. So, farmers in this region practise mixed agriculture. Large
number of domestic animals are creating pressure on the already sparely populated biomass. It
posses a typical problem.

India has federal structure of administration where both state and central governments are
responsible for development of the area. But the distribution of subjects is very much vague in
nature. The boundaries of responsibility are not defined objectively. It creates its own problem
due to this administrative setup. Firstly, Central government is much more powerful in terms of
the tax revenue. There is certain type of tax which can only be imposed by the central
government. Distribution of taxes among states is not been objectively defined properly. After
implementation of GST, financial position of states has been further reduced. It has been
observed that when rival political parties are in charge at state and central level, there is
uncertainties in fund flow. Also, sometimes, the programme implementation and funding get
knee jerk with change of government after every 5 years. This has been witnessed in Rajasthan
in last 5 terms of the government. Major political parties are coming in power alternate years.
Also, during majority of the time there have been different parties are in governments at centre
and state level. JSA an important programme to fight DLDD got no funding and attention after
change of government. The exchequer funds are limited in nature and there are more pressing
demands for such funds to meet the basic needs of the larger population of lower strata.

Research questions

Based on the literature review following question arise:

1. How Aravalli is protecting the spread of Thar spread towards east?

2. Which anthropogenic activities are creating threat to the ecology of the region?
3. How sustainable development practices can help in maintenance of the ecological
balance?
 4. How climate change and local pollution is linked with the local ecology?

Discussion
Aravalli and Thar desert share boundary on the east of desert. Due to the geographical
features, high speed westerly winds flow. Desert has lose soil and along with sand create sand
storm. These sand storms shift the sand dunes. In the absence of Aravalli, they will further shift
and create desert in the ganga planes. So, it is safe to say that Aravalli is helping in a big way to
spread the desert towards the east. Many seasonal rivers originate from the Aravalli hills on
both sides. Luni is a major river which flows through the thar desert area and provide the life
supporting resource Water. It recharges the under-ground aquifers.

Aravalli is not a simple hill. It is treasure of minerals. Copper, Zink, Lead, Silver and Gold along
with all kinds of building materials and sand is found in abundance in the region. Being in the
proximity of national capital region has placed the hill and nature in danger. Fast expanding and
developing region has exploited the natural treasure in unsustainable manner. Study
conducted by the wildlife Institute of India (WII) has found that the green cover of the Aravalli
hills is losing fast and the region is being converted in barren land. It reduces the ability of hills
contain dust storms. It will cause increase in the dust pollution further in the NCR region. Dust
pollution along with climate change and excess urbanisation will lead to crisis.

The Thar desert has also been discovered with huge natural resources. Large deposits of
Gypsum and petroleum and natural gas have been found in the desert. Gypsum mining has led
in the growth of cement production. This has multi fold challenges such as contamination and
depletion of ground water on which most of the Rajasthani population is dependent, damage
to the top soil with accumulation of particulate matter and waste overburden of the mines,
damage to the natural flora and fauna of the region and thus creating the problem of reduced
productivity of the agricultural sector. Various kind of marbles and granite stones are found in
various regions of Rajasthan. These stones are in very high demand due to increase in per
capita disposable income and increasing materiality mind set in the humans. Production of
these stones is done in very unscientific manner which is causing multiple damage to the
ecology and environment. Supreme court has observed that damaged caused to hills is
irreversible and future generation will pay high price for the deeds of the current generation.
Sustainable development is the practice to use natural resources in a manner that it does not
cause any adverse impact on the usability of resources for future generation. Western ghats
are getting good level of ecological importance in comparison with Aravalli hills. Similar kind of
attention is required here also. Tarun Bharat Sangh in the region is putting lot of effort under
the leadership of water man Shri Rajendra Singh. The water level in the region where TBS is
operating has improved significantly. Many of the dead rivers have been revived. These rivers
have now become lifeline of the nearby villages. Crop productivity has increased and forest
have been developed in the region. Benefits are multi fold even for a single initiative such as
TBS. Similarly, the overburden of the open cast mines can be used in other activities such as
cement and construction. Construction industry is very big and have high impact on the ecology
and environment. Construction firms has to ensure the sustainability in their activities. Use of
fly ash brick, fly ash-based cement, recycled concrete and steel, recycling and reuse of water,
trained manpower, use of technology can help in combating the adverse impacts. Bamboo can
be alternative to steel for reinforcement purpose.

There is lot of scope for sustainability practices in agriculture. A large drive for rain water
harvesting infrastructure development is required to sustain the ground water recharge and
ensure the availability of sufficient water for drinking, agriculture, animal husbandry, agro-
forestry and industries. Use of neem coated urea and organic manure need to be promoted
and use of chemical fertilisers need to be discouraged. It will ensure availability of pure and
healthy food products, reduce the health damages due to high usage of chemicals in agriculture
thus reducing strain on the health infrastructure. Agriculture need to be supported
technologically. Farmers are facing problems such as residue handling. As technical support is
either non existent or capital intensive in nature which common farmers are not able to bear.
The short solution they find is to burn the residue. The crisis the man-made. The acts enacted
by Punjab and Haryana governments for water conservation has forced the delayed showing of
rice in month of June to July. This has reduced the time available between Kharif harvesting and
Rabi sowing seasons. Careful study is required to handle such kind of crises. Promotion of small
bio-methanation plant can provide multiple benefits such as savings in fuel costs, production of
good quality manure and save methane escape in the open. Other solution is to make available
the bio decomposer at affordable cost. These are the low hanging fruits which can increase the
soil productivity in the region and better environment to live. Efficient water usage techniques
such as drip irrigation and soil moisture conservation using low tunnel techniques can help in
increasing water usage efficiency and stop desertification, land degradation and drought
(DLDD).

The routine and activities are source of both local pollution and global warming. Tackling local
pollution is priority of local government and administration while tackling global pollution and
warming is taken care by international agreements and sovereign governments. Governments
shall act in cohesion in order to handle these activities. The developmental agencies need to
ensure the sustainability in their activities.

Way Ahead

Based on the understanding of subject matter, it is to be noted that major factors in the
ecological system of Aravalli is desert to prevent soil degradation and increase in forest cover.
State and union governments need to ensure proper policy measure with conflicting targets.
Implementation by Panchayati raj institutes has to be improved by involving local public and
stakeholders in implementation and monitoring. Awareness need to be improved so that less
literate people can also take informed decisions. Corporates in the region need to be more
responsible for ecology and environment protection. It has been found that not enough work
has been done on the measurement of the level of degradation of land and lose of forest cover
in the region. Quantification and measurement of degree of extent of damage are critical to
ensure to develop the MRV framework and measure the effectiveness of the programmes
taken out.
 References
Reference 1: Article on website
Mining effect: Aravalli gets new lakes
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/mining-effect-aravalli-gets-new-lakes-41145
accessed on 06.11.2020.

Reference 2: Article on website

Desertification
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zctymnb/revision/6
accessed on 09.11.2020

Reference 3:
official website of CAZRI, Jodhpur
http://www.cazri.res.in/
accessed on 10.11.2020

Reference 4:
official website of UNCCD
https://www.unccd.int/
accessed on 10.11.2020

Reference 5: Web report titled “Delhi Declaration’ at desertification summit: So near yet so far”
https://india.mongabay.com/2019/09/delhi-declaration-at-desertification-summit-so-near-yet-
so-far/
Published on 17 September 2019 accessed on 11.11.2020.

Reference 6: Supreme court judgement in M.C.Mehta vs Union Of India & Ors on 8 May, 2009
https://indiankanoon.org/doc/1188746/
accessed on 12.11.2020

Reference 7: Joint report by United Nations and NITI Aayog titled SDG India Index and
Dashboard 2019-20, 2019
https://niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/SDG-India-Index-2.0_27-Dec.pdf
Chapter SDG 15: Life on Land page 104-109

Reference 8: Web report titled “Arid threat: Study finds Aravalis are losing power to check
desert spread” published on December 3,2017
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/arid-threat-study-finds-aravalis-are-losing-
power-to-check-desert-spread/articleshow/61898672.cms
accessed on 14.11.2020

Reference 9: Web report “SC concerned about desertification, says damage to Aravalis
irreversible published march 2, 2019
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/68226543.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
accessed on 14.11.2020

Reference 10: Whole report

ECONOMICS OF DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADATION AND DROUGHT IN INDIA, Vol I:
Macroeconomic assessment of the costs of land degradation in India by MoEF&CC and TERI,
2018
https://www.teriin.org/sites/default/files/2018-04/Vol%20I%20-%20Macroeconomic
%20assessment%20of%20the%20costs%20of%20land%20degradation%20in%20India_0.pdf
accessed on 18.11.2020

Reference 11: Research Paper

Arnab Kundu, N. R. Patel and S. K. Saha Dipanwita Dutta (2017) Desertification in western
Rajasthan (India): an assessment using remote sensing derived rain-use efficiency and residual
trend methods, Springer Nat Hazards (2017) 86: p 297–313
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/310662335_Desertification_in_western_Rajasthan_
India_an_assessment_using_remote_sensing_derived_rain-
use_efficiency_and_residual_trend_methods
accessed on 10.11.2020