India, Dec. 26 -- Around two weeks after the Supreme Court accepted an elevation-based Aravalli definition, the Union environment ministry held a meeting on December 8 to set in motion a process for states to begin delineating which areas in Aravallis qualify for a sustainable mining plan - critical groundwork that uses the contested definition and will establish the baseline for future mining permissions.

Documents from the meeting reviewed by HT show the environment ministry coordinated a framework where state governments will work with the Survey of India to map Aravalli areas "as per the definition accepted by the SC on November 20." This delineation work - identifying which landforms meet the 100-metre elevation threshold - forms th...