Reviving the Delhi Ridge: 70 Lakh Trees, the Forest Act & the Aravalli ‘Green Lungs’

CURRENT AFFAIRS | 8 JULY 2026

A Green Push for the National Capital

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a mega drive to plant 70 lakh trees across Delhi and, alongside it, a dedicated campaign to revive the Delhi Ridge — the ancient rocky spine that gives the capital its “green lungs”. He was joined by Lieutenant Governor Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav and Union Minister of State Harsh Malhotra. The event marked a coordinated push by the Centre and the Delhi government to reverse decades of degradation of one of the National Capital Region’s most important ecological assets.

The plantation forms part of the wider ‘Mission 701 Lakh Plantation’ campaign, itself nested within the Centre’s ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ (“One Tree in the Name of Mother”) initiative, launched in 2024 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Delhi government has set itself an ambitious four-year target: to revive 6,300 hectares of Ridge forest and, crucially, to give that land firm legal protection so that the gains cannot be quietly eroded in the years to come.

What Exactly Is the Delhi Ridge?

The Delhi Ridge is the northern-most extension of the Aravalli range, among the oldest fold mountain systems in the world. Spread across roughly 7,777 hectares in four zones — Northern, Central, South-Central and Southern — it acts as a natural barrier that shields the city from the hot, dust-laden winds of the Thar desert, recharges groundwater and cools the urban microclimate. It is precisely this ecological service that earns it the description “green lungs of Delhi”.

The Ridge enjoys a specific legal status. Large parts of it were notified as a “reserved forest” in 1994 under the Indian Forest Act, 1927. That classification is significant: a reserved forest is the most strictly protected category under the 1927 Act, within which activities such as grazing, felling and encroachment are prohibited unless expressly permitted. The Ridge is overseen by a Ridge Management Board, constituted to coordinate protection and restoration across the four zones.

The Shape of the Programme

The scale of the plantation drive is considerable. It envisages 20.01 lakh trees, 37.07 lakh shrubs and 92.96 lakh bamboo saplings, together with the free distribution of 12.04 lakh saplings to citizens so that greening extends beyond forest land into homes, schools and neighbourhoods. A dedicated Green Delhi Portal has been set up to support the campaign, allowing residents to participate and track progress.

An important ecological dimension of the drive is the choice of species. Over the years, parts of the Ridge have been overrun by poisonous and thorny trees and by aggressive invasive species — most notoriously the vilayati kikar (Prosopis juliflora), a fast-spreading exotic that crowds out native flora and lowers the water table. The revival plan prioritises the planting of native species — banyan, neem, gular, arjun and jamun — which support local biodiversity, provide shade and are far better adapted to Delhi’s conditions. In a parallel measure aimed at protecting the Yamuna, the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been tasked with ensuring that no cow dung is allowed to enter the river.

Why the Ridge Matters

The Ridge is not merely a park; it is a piece of critical green infrastructure. As the Aravalli’s terminal outcrop, it moderates temperatures, filters dust and pollutants, and supports aquifer recharge in a city that is chronically water-stressed. Its degradation — through encroachment, invasive species and unregulated development — directly worsens Delhi’s air quality and heat, problems that dominate the capital’s public-health conversation each year. Reviving 6,300 hectares and cloaking the land in legal protection is therefore as much a public-health and climate-resilience measure as it is a conservation one.

A Test of Follow-Through

The launch is a statement of intent, but the real test lies ahead. Plantation drives of this scale succeed or fail on survival rates and sustained maintenance, not on the number of saplings put into the ground on day one. Removing entrenched invasives like vilayati kikar, ensuring native species take root, granting the promised legal protection to the revived land and keeping the Ridge Management Board effective will determine whether the “green lungs” are genuinely restored over the next four years. For students of law and current affairs, it is a live case study in how statute, constitutional principle and public policy converge on a single stretch of forest at the heart of the capital.

Native Species Versus Invasives: Why the Choice Matters

At the ecological heart of the revival lies a deceptively simple question: what should be planted, and what should be pulled out? For decades, the fast-growing vilayati kikar was planted across the Ridge precisely because it survived in dry, degraded soil. But its very hardiness made it a menace. It forms dense monocultures that shade out native undergrowth, offers little food or habitat to indigenous birds and insects, and draws down the water table. Restoring the Ridge therefore means the slow, labour-intensive work of clearing these invasives before native saplings can be established in their place.

The native palette chosen for the drive — banyan, neem, gular, arjun and jamun — is not sentimental. These species evolved with the region’s climate and wildlife: the banyan and gular are keystone fig species that sustain birds and pollinators; neem is drought-hardy and medicinal; arjun and jamun stabilise soil and moderate temperature. A forest rebuilt from such species is more resilient, more biodiverse and better able to deliver the ecological services — clean air, groundwater recharge, cooling — that make the Ridge valuable in the first place.

The Yamuna Connection

The programme’s reach extends beyond the Ridge to the river that defines the capital’s eastern edge. The direction to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to ensure that no cow dung enters the Yamuna is a reminder that urban ecology is a system: forests, rivers and the built city are interlinked. Organic waste washed into the Yamuna adds to its pollution load, worsening the foam and toxicity that periodically make headlines. Tackling that source, while simultaneously greening the Ridge, reflects an attempt at a joined-up environmental response rather than a single showpiece plantation. Whether these strands hold together in implementation is the question the next four years will answer.

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