Rural India

Haryana Countryside

I have spent the last 4 days driving through the countryside of Haryana. This is probably the hottest time of the year with temperatures easily reaching levels of 46 to 50 degrees. The earlier crop ( rabi season which is from October to February) has already been harvested and the soil is prepared for sowing of the Kharif Crop. Miles of brown ploughed fields are visible as far as the eye can see.

Farm ready for sowing

A very common sight in fields of Haryana is the Blue Bull or the Nilgai Antelope. These animals have a life span of 20 to 30 years and live around scrubby grass lands and open jungles. Many Hindus consider the Nilgai a sacred and holy animal which has made the government ban the hunting of these animals. This has resulted in a overpopulation of these animals which is a major cause of damage done to crops in this region. Controlled hunting of these animals could probably solve this problem of overpopulation.
Herd of Blue Bulls in the fields of Hissar District

Countryside Views

Aravali Hills Saved

Supreme Court to the rescue of the Aravalis

The Supreme Court of India came to the rescue of the Aravali Hills by banning all mining and other commercial activities on these ranges. This blanket ban effects all mining activities of both major and minor minerals including mining of stones and earth for construction. The ban applies to the hills in the Gurgaon and Faridabad region spread over 450 sq mtrs and is applicable till action plan is put into place by the Haryana Government to restore these hills to health. Due to the heavy mining and deforestation that has taken place in these hills over years , huge craters have been left in places where hills stood and the entire ecosystem has been disturbed. So far no action has been taken by the Government for restoration and reclamation of these hills.

This timely action of the courts will go a long way in preserving the ecosystem and restoration of these hills.

Aravalli Hills

Driving out of Delhi into Haryana through Gurgaon or Faridabad and onwards into Rajasthan one comes across a series of broken rocky hills. These are the Aravalli Ranges that extend to almost 800 Kilometres. The northern end of the range begins from Delhi and extends upto Palanpur in Gujarat near Ahmedabad.

The portion of the Aravallis in Delhi and Haryana are a series of isolated hills and rocky ridges.

These are shots of the hills near Alwar.

The range has vegetation as it extends westward and is at its highest at Mount Abu.