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Jan 02, 2026
Dr Ryan Baidya

A Solar Shield for the Aravallis: Turning Protection into a Performance Contract

India can’t police the Aravallis to safety forever. It must redesign incentives so legality becomes the most profitable land-use outcome. The Aravallis are among the oldest mountain systems on Earth, running from the Delhi ridge through Haryana and Rajasthan into Gujarat, an ecological backbone for north-west India. Yet the range is steadily being eaten away by legal and illegal mining, encroachment, and the infrastructure that follows extraction—roads, ramps, pits, and dust. Periodic crackdowns make headlines, but they rarely change the underlying equilibrium: illegality remains profitable, enforcement remains episodic, and responsibility remains fragmented. The problem has also become legally and administratively brittle. When the very definition of what constitutes the Aravallis becomes contested, regulators struggle to act with clarity, and violators exploit grey zones. In late December 2025, the Supreme Court kept a controversial Aravallis-related direction “in abeyance” and moved toward fresh expert consideration, an important reminder that enforcement cannot rest only on interpretive battles over lines on a map. A durable strategy must do something harder than “crack down.” It must redesign incentives so that lawful actors occupy and defend vulnerable zones, while the public gains measurable ecological protection and local communities gain tangible benefits. That is the logic behind a proposal that may sound unconventional but is in fact deeply practical: deploy solar power—specifically dual-use agrivoltaics where appropriate—not as a standalone energy project, but as a protection instrument for the Aravallis’ degraded and mining-pressure landscapes. From policing to a protection economy Illegal mining is not simply a crime; it is a business model. It succeeds where (a) returns are high, (b) monitoring is low-frequency, (c) penalties are negotiable, and (d) authority is split across departments and jurisdictions. The standard response, raids, seizures, and short bursts of enforcement, does not fail because officials do not work. It fails because the system is designed to revert. What would it look like to create a competing business model, one that is lawful, investable, and financially committed to keeping mining out? The answer is to create Aravallis Solar Conservation & Livelihood Zones (ASCLZ): carefully mapped belts in low-lying, degraded, and high-pressure areas around the range (not core habitats) where solar is permitted only under a stringent conservation license. The license is not a subsidy. It is a contract that turns private capital into a deterrence and restoration machine. The core innovation: the Conservation Performance License At the heart of the model is a Conservation Performance License (CPL)—a time-bound land-use license whose commercial value depends on verified protection outcomes. The CPL’s design is what makes the concept credible: A large performance bond held in escrow, with automatic drawdown triggers if illegal mining is detected within the licensed boundary, if monitoring is tampered with, or if restoration obligations are repeatedly breached. Continuous MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) using satellite change detection, drone verification, and field inspections—structured as audit-grade evidence with a chain-of-custody. Drone surveillance and deterrence: making illegality stressful and unprofitable Illegal mining survives by staying mobile, exploiting low-frequency monitoring, and disappearing before enforcement arrives. ASCLZ should therefore add a continuous drone layer, integrated with zoning maps, GPS geo-fences, and day–night sensing, to create near-real-time visibility over mining-pressure belts. Drones cannot be bribed or intimidated, and they provide a persistent record of heavy equipment movement, unauthorised access routes, excavation scars, and stockpiles. Deterrence comes from certainty and speed. Each verified drone detection should automatically produce a time-stamped, geo-tagged evidence packet and trigger a predefined response cascade: immediate control-room alerts, dispatch of rapid-response teams, temporary site closure orders, and escalation under the CPL (including bond drawdown and penalty initiation where applicable). When operators know that entry into restricted zones is quickly detected, documented, and followed by unavoidable financial and legal consequences, with outcomes visible on the public dashboard, the incentive to return to the Aravallis collapses. A penalty ladder that escalates from cure periods to monetary penalties to suspension, termination, forfeiture, and blacklisting for severe events. Mandatory community benefit-sharing (a ring-fenced village fund, local employment and skilling commitments), audited and transparently disclosed. This architecture changes the incentive structure: the operator earns money only by protecting the land. If mining happens, the operator loses money quickly and risks losing the license. That is how one converts an “enforcement problem” into a “performance contract.” Why agrivoltaics strengthens legitimacy Solar infrastructure can become controversial when it is seen as land grabbing or commons enclosure. In the Aravallis context, where grazing, fodder, and seasonal use of commons are livelihood lifelines, this is not a minor issue. The program, therefore, needs a design default that reduces land-use conflict: agrivoltaics, or agri-PV, where the land continues to support grazing or compatible crops beneath and around raised panel structures. A growing body of India-focused work emphasises that agrivoltaics only works if standards are explicit: definitions, allowable land use, continuity requirements, and monitoring that prevents “dual-use” from quietly becoming solar-only by attrition. A credible Aravallis program should therefore adopt measurable rules (for example, minimum active agriculture/grazing continuity where agrivoltaic designation is used), plus annual audits combining remote sensing and field verification. The non-negotiable: zoning that protects core ecology This is not an argument for solar across the mountains. A serious Aravallis program must begin by drawing a hard line: core ecology is inviolate. No solar in protected forests, sensitive habitats, or critical wildlife corridors; no solar that fragments recharge zones. The proposal’s zoning model is simple: Core / Inviolate: no solar, no mining Buffer / Defensive ring: degraded foothills, abandoned quarry belts, mining-pressure edges—eligible for CPL Community livelihood belt: agrivoltaics-first designs with community agreements and continuity obligations This zoning discipline matters for two reasons: it protects nature, and it builds political durability. A program perceived as a disguised land diversion will not survive. Institutional design: one authority, one dashboard, one set of triggers Because the Aravallis cross state lines and departmental mandates, the model requires a dedicated delivery mechanism: an Aravalli Protection and Solar Authority (APSA)—statutory or an empowered inter-state entity—with clear authority over zoning notifications, tendering, monitoring, escrow/bond administration, and fund management. APSA’s legitimacy would rest on its transparency: public dashboards that show site boundaries, alerts, inspections, penalties, restoration progress, and audited fund flows. In a context where discretion enables rent-seeking, dashboards and audit trails are not cosmetic. They are anti-corruption infrastructure. Procurement design: reward protection, not just price No policy survives if procurement is flawed. If tenders reward only the highest premium or the lowest tariff, the outcome will be predictable: corner-cutting, symbolic restoration, and weak monitoring. India already runs tariff-based competitive bidding frameworks for renewables, with evolving guidelines and amendments. The Solar Shield model does not need to reinvent energy procurement. It needs to overlay conservation obligations through the CPL and award licenses using a quality-and-cost-based selection approach, such as a two-envelope evaluation with minimum technical thresholds. Recent reporting on tender governance underscores why bid design and timelines matter; rushed processes can distort outcomes and invite capture. A credible scoring rubric should heavily weight: conservation/MRV capability, restoration credibility, agrivoltaic continuity (where relevant), community benefit-sharing, and grievance systems—then price. In other words, the “best bidder” is the one most capable of delivering verified protection at scale, because failure here is not just commercial; it is ecological. A pragmatic pilot: prove the model, then scale This is not a proposal to blanket the Aravallis with panels. It is a proposal to target the belts where illegal mining is most persistent and most damaging. A serious pilot could include three site typologies across states: (i) abandoned quarry rehabilitation, (ii) degraded commons defensive ring, (iii) agrivoltaic livelihood belt. Within twelve months, the pilot should publish hard metrics: incidents detected, time-to-response, penalties triggered, restoration milestones met, community fund receipts, and audited spending. If the data shows a meaningful reduction in illegal mining pressure and credible livelihood gains, the program scales through cluster tenders. If it does not, the design is corrected before expansion. This is how we move from a persuasive idea to a disciplined public policy instrument. What citizens should demand If India is serious about saving the Aravallis, citizens must demand enforceable design, not slogans: No solar in core habitats—publish exclusion maps. Performance bonds with automatic penalties for illegal mining and encroachment. Public dashboards with audit trails—alerts, actions, penalties, restoration progress. Ring-fenced village benefit funds with transparent receipts and social audits. Independent annual audits tabled publicly. The Aravallis do not need one more cycle of outrage followed by erosion. They need a stable protection economy where legality is financially stronger than illegality, and where protection is monitored, priced, and enforced through contracts that cannot be bargained away.

Dec 31, 2025
Siddhartha Dave

Interview with H.H. Spiritual Sovereign Jainacharya Yugbhushan Suri Maharaj Saheb For VK-4.0

VK-4.0 marks the fourth and most expansive edition of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ki Oar, Jyot’s flagship civilisational conclave series. Scheduled to be held in Mumbai from January 16th to 22nd, 2026, this week-long engagement unfolds at a moment of profound global transition—what Bharatiya thought recognises as Sankraman Kaal. As inherited political, legal, and economic frameworks strain under the weight of contemporary crises, VK-4.0 seeks to revisit the idea of the world as one family, not as a rhetorical ideal, but as a governing principle rooted in ethics, interdependence, and collective well-being. Through rigorous dialogues, curated panels, and an immersive exhibition experience, the conclave explores how ancient Indian wisdom can engage meaningfully with contemporary challenges in law, governance, and geopolitics. VK-4.0 is being shaped through active institutional partnerships and intellectual collaboration with leading national and global think-tanks and knowledge institutions, including the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), India Foundation, Nalanda University, Maharashtra National Law University (MNLU), the Bar Council of India–affiliated bodies such as Bombay Bar Association and Bombay Chartered Accountants' Society (BCAS), and the National Institute of Mass Communication and Journalism (NMICJ). These collaborations reflect the conclave’s intent to bridge civilisational thought with policy, law, diplomacy, and academic inquiry, ensuring that the conversations emerging from VK-4.0 are both philosophically grounded and institutionally robust. Guiding VK-4.0 is a distinguished advisory committee comprising eminent practitioners of statecraft, diplomacy, law, and strategic affairs. The committee includes Ambassador Harshavardhan Shringla—Member of Parliament, former Foreign Secretary of India, and Chief Coordinator of India’s G20 Presidency; Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, India’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Justice B. N. Srikrishna, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and Shaurya Doval, Director, India Foundation. Their collective experience anchors the conclave in lived governance realities while enabling a forward-looking exploration of ethical leadership in a transitioning world order. At the spiritual and civilisational core of VK-4.0 stands His Holiness, Spiritual Sovereign Jainacharya Yugbhushan Suri Maharaj Saheb—one of the 79th descendants of Bhagwan Mahavir Swami and a rare scholar-saint whose erudition spans all six Bharatiya Darshanas alongside contemporary disciplines such as law, science, economics, and geopolitics. Since his renunciation in 1979, Pandit Maharaj Saheb has engaged deeply with the evolution of the global order, perceiving early on that many threats to Bharatiya religions and cultures originate not merely from local factors but from entrenched global power structures. His extensive, though largely unpublished, research into the de jure architecture of the world order reflects a lifelong commitment to protecting civilisational continuity during times of transition. This interview, situated within the larger framework of VK-4.0, brings together spirituality, statecraft, and civilisational inquiry. Pandit Maharaj Saheb reflects on Sankraman Kaal, the moral failures of the contemporary world order, and the enduring relevance of Dharmic principles in shaping law, governance, and geopolitics. It invites readers to move beyond inherited paradigms, to question the foundations of power, and to re-imagine a world order where restraint tempers authority and Dharma guides leadership. Q1. Maharaj Saheb, the theme for VK-4.0 is Sankraman Kaal — an age of transition. How do you interpret this transition from a spiritual-civilisational perspective? A: Every era experiences moments when accumulated ideas, systems, and structures begin to outgrow their usefulness. Sankraman Kaal is such a moment for the world, where external progress has accelerated, but structures holding them are old and unyielding. The transition is not merely political or economic; it is fundamentally moral and spiritual. Humanity is being asked to shift from an era of domination and extraction towards one of responsibility, restraint, and interdependence. Ancient principles such as rule of justice, vasudhaiva kutumbakam, provide a compass to navigate this turbulent shift. Q2. You have studied not only Jain Darshan but all six Darshanas of Bharat. How can these diverse philosophical frameworks guide global leadership today? A: The six Darshanas are six disciplined viewpoints to realise the summit of truth. When read together, they teach a leader to be holistic rather than unilateral. A statesman or policymaker who internalises these viewpoints will not reduce governance to power alone. He or she will understand consequences, diversity, and the long arc of ethics. Q3. You have deeply researched the evolution of the modern world order from the Norman conquest of England to the decolonisation of Hong Kong. Why did you feel this research was urgently needed? A: Because the threats facing Bharatiya society do not arise only within India—they are embedded globally. If the world order has been shaped by conquest, hierarchy, and legal fiction built over centuries, then its effects naturally percolate to cultures that value non-violence, pluralism, and self-restraint. Unless we understand how these systems were designed, we cannot protect the spiritual heritage of Bharat. My research was an attempt to see the full historical architecture of power, not its surface expressions. Q4. The VK-4.0 exhibition critiques the present world order for fostering imbalance and mistrust. How can visitors approach this exhibition meaningfully? A: Visitors should enter the exhibition not to confirm their assumptions but to widen their vision. The purpose is not to blame the past but to understand how inherited systems were constructed. When one recognises that global frameworks were shaped by a few empires for their benefit, one naturally begins asking deeper questions: What is justice? Who defines progress? What is the role of Dharma (Duty/Responsibility) in world affairs? This reflection is the beginning of empowerment. Q5. In the legal and constitutional panels, we examine fundamental rights, constitutional morality, and governance. What is your message on this? A: A Constitution is fundamentally a moral contract. It succeeds when it safeguards the dignity of the last person, restrains the powerful, and inspires citizens to participate in collective welfare. When a society forgets the moral foundation behind its laws, legal debates become technical and soulless. The rule of justice and morality ensures that rights are matched with duties, freedoms with self-discipline, and governance with compassion. Q6. Our geopolitics panel revisits Rajneeti as an ethical statecraft rooted in ancient wisdom. How does Dharma guide statecraft in a time of global transition? A: Dharma teaches that statecraft is not manipulation—it is responsibility. Rajneeti becomes ethical when a leader understands four truths- Power without restraint becomes violence. Sovereignty is incomplete without morals. Decolonisation is not merely political—it is intellectual and psychological. Interdependence is natural, but exploitation is not. In Sankraman Kaal, nations must revisit these principles to create a world order that is fair, stable, and just. Q7. Many see your teachings as uniquely blending ancient spiritual wisdom with modern scientific and political analysis. How do you maintain this balance? A: A spiritual teacher must not close his eyes to the world. Religion does not demand ignorance; it demands awareness. When I study physics or economics, I try to locate what its fundamental timeless principles are according to scriptures and what are in use today. When we integrate ancient Darshanas with contemporary sciences, we gain a holistic understanding of reality. Without this integration, science becomes directionless power. Q8. You have often warned that threats to Bhartiya civilisation originate in global structures. What steps should Bharat take? A: Three steps are essential- Intellectual decolonisation—Bharat must reinterpret global systems through its own civilisational lens, not borrowed frameworks. Cultural confidence—culture that emphasises Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam and Integrity must not apologise for their values. Strategic engagement—Bharat should participate in global institutions with clarity about its interests, not with diffidence or mimicry. Protection does not come from isolation but from enlightened confidence. Q9. Finally, what message would you like to offer to the participants of VK-4.0? A: You are entering a space that encourages deeper questioning. Do not treat Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam as a slogan; understand it as a worldview. The world becomes one family only when each member respects the dignity and spiritual freedom of others. During this Sankraman Kaal, Bharat has a responsibility—not to dominate the world, but to guide it towards balance. If you learn to combine knowledge with compassion, and power with restraint, you will carry forward the true spirit of this conclave.

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A Solar Shield for the Aravallis: Turning Protection into a Performance Contract

Interview with H.H. Spiritual Sovereign Jainacharya Yugbhushan Suri Maharaj Saheb For VK-4.0

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