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Ex-MLA's death in Bharatpur spotlights nexus behind Rajasthan's Aravalli crisis
The mining business is big in Rajasthan, with the sector contributing about 3.4% of the state’s gross state domestic product (GSDP)
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JAIPUR: The fatal attack on former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker Atar Singh Bhadana in Bharatpur has once again thrust Rajasthan’s rampant mining crisis and the ecological degradation of the Aravalli range back into the spotlight.
Bhadana was allegedly beaten by villagers in Bhonda on October 11 and succumbed to his injuries at Jaipur’s Sawai Man Singh (SMS) Hospital following a continuing dispute with villagers over the passage out of the mine in Bharatpur district.
The violence is not an isolated flashpoint. According to the home department data, there have been over 200 attacks on forest officials and 122 on police officers between 2021 and 2025. During the same period, 71,322 cases of illegal mining were registered across Rajasthan between 2021 and 2025 -- with 40,175 of those cases concentrated in the 20 districts spanning the Aravalli region.
A multibillion business
The mining business is big in Rajasthan, with the sector contributing about 3.4% of the state’s gross state domestic product (GSDP), and the government aiming to raise its share to 5% by 2030, according to official data. In 2025-26, the mines department collected about ₹10,394 crore royalty revenue and targets to mobilise ₹14,001 crore for 2026-27.
Rajasthan produces 22 major and 36 minor minerals, and is a leading producer of lead, zinc, wollastonite, selenite, calcite and gypsum. The state has 148 leases for major minerals, 16,817 for minor minerals and 17,454 quarry licences. Mining covers about 0.68% of its geographical area and directly or indirectly employs around 3.5 million people.
The scale of the industry makes effective regulation critical. But the mining department’s monitoring wing has only 200 officials to oversee thousands of authorised leases.
The state’s mines director MP Meena acknowledged the problem. “We do have a shortage of resources and personnel. We take help of Border Home Guards to fortify our field operations," he said adding that the government was in the process of recruiting personnel against vacant posts.
Judicial interventions
The courts have repeatedly intervened in an effort to address illegal mining, particularly in ecologically sensitive areas. In 2014, the NGT’s Bhopal bench stayed mining and illegal stone crushing in Neem ka Thana, then part of Sikar district.
In 2018, the Supreme Court directed Rajasthan to immediately stop all illegal mining in the Aravalli ranges after a committee found that 31 of 128 hills had disappeared because of rampant illegal mining
There were reminders in 2020 too when the court told collectors and superintendents of police to step up.
In May this year, the top court issued a scathing rebuke of Rajasthan’s enforcement record, criticising its "wholly casual, indifferent, and indolent approach" toward illegal sand extraction in even the National Chambal Gharial Sanctuary.
The court also appointed an expert panel to establish a uniform definition of the mountain range to prevent mining companies from exploiting legal loopholes to flatten lower-lying hills. The committee has to evaluate previous height-based definitions and assess whether they leave lower-lying ecological corridors vulnerable to mining. The panel has to submit its report to the Supreme Court by November 30, 2026.
The state government has also deployed 200 Border Home Guards in the catchment area of Chambal River between Kota and Bundi and surveillance cameras have been installed to monitor movement of mining mafia.
Lucrative business, competing interests
Kishori Lal Kumawat, a Jaipur-based mining expert, said the insatiable demand for construction materials in expanding megacities in the National Capital Region (NCR) was also driving mining activity in the state.
Political influence and administrative complicity often allowed violations to go unpunished. In this context, he recalled how no action was taken when he complained against a former Congress lawmaker in 2022, alleging that a mine held in his son’s name was extracting more material than permitted.
Kumawat said illegal mining could take several forms, including extracting more material than permitted by a lease and mining beyond the boundary of an authorised area. He said elected representatives were often involved in collusion with officials from the transport, police and mines departments.
Meena said "wherever violations come to our knowledge, we take action. The government is making efforts to curb illegal mining."
Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi asked why there was no action against police and mines department officials for failing to act against the mining mafia.
Ecological damage
Experts worry that the ecological consequences are already irreversible. Prof LK Sharma at the environmental science department of the Central University of Rajasthan said heavy blasting between Jaipur and Ajmer has reduced natural peaks to low platforms, fracturing deep rock layers that replenish local groundwater.
According to the study, the Aravalli range between Jober to Kalwar had 15–18 peaks that were above 100 metres and considered a natural wall on the north west of Jaipur, protecting the city from hot winds and sandstorms. However, these peaks have been reduced to mere platforms of 10-20 metres.
It also pointed to reduction in groundwater recharge due to degradation of Aravalli range. Mining activity disturbs the aquifers by breaking open the rock layers and blocking natural channels.
Scientists said the environment impact assessment of mining rarely takes into account the impact on natural aquifers.
Kailesh Meena, an activist based in Bharala village in Sikar district, said the state pollution control board didn’t conduct adequate site inspections before issuing approvals to mining projects.
The human cost is equally severe. According to state government data, Silicosis, a lung disease caused by breathing silica dust in quarries, has killed nearly 7,000 miners and residents in Rajasthan over the past two decades. Over 23,000 silicosis patients receive get free medication from government hospitals.
The resistance
In the villages lining the Aravallis, people living near mines have tried to raise their voice. Kailesh Meena claimed that there was anger in these villages. “The Bhadana incident is the outpouring of anger of the villagers. Politicians and government officials are doing the maximum violations in mining and that is why every 30-40 km you will find there is opposition to mining by villagers,” the activist said.
Over the past one year, residents of villagers across the Aravalli such as Deepawas in Sikar district, Gudha, Hukampura, Chhapoli and Pacheri in Jhunjhunu district, Bansur in Kotoutli-Behror district and Pindwada in Sirohi district, and Sawai Madhopur, have held protests for several days against illegal mining.
“When the protest happens, illegal mining stops. But, it starts against after few weeks,” said a Rajasthan government official, posted in one of the mining rich districts.
Kailash, who has 24 cases registered against him, said activists who oppose mining were targeted through threats, violence and false criminal cases.
In Sikar’s Dunga Ki Nangal village, Om Prakash Verma, a Dalit farmer, described how illegal blasting damaged his house despite a formal closure order from the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) on May 18 on his complaint.
Verma alleged a group of men raided his house after his complaint and attacked women in his family. “On May 10, I was in the fields when a large group of men arrived at my house and attacked five or six women in my family, injuring them. I lodged a complaint under the SC/ST Act, but no one has been arrested so far,” he said.
Kumawat, however, acknowledged that some villagers also engage in extortion from leaseholders. “There have been instances of villagers taking money from leaseholders to allow illegal extraction and alert them in case of a raid,” he added.
