Srinagar, Dec. 21 -- India's oldest mountain range does not collapse overnight. It erodes quietly-first in maps, then in laws, and finally on the ground.

For more than two billion years, the Aravalli Range has stood across western and north-western India, witnessing the rise and fall of civilizations, empires and cities. Long before policy documents, courtrooms or mining leases existed, these ancient hills shaped climate, guided water, held the soil together and shielded the land from the relentless march of the Thar Desert. Today, the Aravallis find themselves fighting for survival-not against nature, but against human interpretation of law.

Stretching from Gujarat through Rajasthan to Haryana and Delhi, the Aravallis are among the old...