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Madhav Gadgil, India’s veteran ecologist and a foremost figure in environmental causes, breathed his last at 11pm on January 7, 2026. He was 83 years old.
Down To Earth (DTE) spoke to him on January 2 about his opinions regarding the Aravalli issue and the Supreme Court order accepting the new definition of the hills as recommended by the central government panel.
He was unwell and had suffered a fall, hurting his leg in the process. “I am unable to read properly, but I can talk,” he said. But his commitment to sharing his views on the environment remained strong. He took short breaks between calls and asked DTE to call back again at intervals of 10 minutes or four minutes and repeated each time, ‘do call me again’, before hanging up.
Over a 40-minute conversation, he gave his views on the Aravallis and experiences with governments over the decades.
The apex court stayed its decision regarding the hills on December 29, 2025.
Gadgil was of the firm view that the central government often uses its institutions to misinform citizens or suppress information that may trigger resistance. On the Aravallis, he said the Centre used the Forest Survey of India (FSI), Geological Survey of India (GOI) and Soil Survey of India (SOI) to bring a definition that suited it the most.
“Our (Gadgil and other researchers) studies from the field have often differed from official government data. This difference has always been deliberate, and we wondered where the problem might be. We found out that such differences occurred where the results might be not acceptable to the government,” Gadgil told DTE.
He cited the example of his field study mapping the Nilgiris in the 1990s. A detailed measurement of the hills revealed that government agencies reported lower ground levels that would suit development more than conservation.
The veteran ecologist also spoke about the section of the Western Ghats in Maharashtra. He noted that the FSI had often suppressed information on how development in the region and extraction of resources would impact local residents adversely.
Gadgil referred to his last book and autobiography titled A Walk Up The Hill: Living With People And Nature in 2023. Development, said Gadgil, is often made binding on people. He added that conservation issues addressed by state forest departments are not those that concern people on the ground. But they enforce conservation as it suits them from the top.
He asserted that development and conservation should always be by the people and governments should adopt a bottom-to-top approach on environmental conservation.
“The experiences of the people on the ground should be used in planning conservation. We have seen such success through the Silent Valley Project by MK Prasad which now remains a well-protected biodiversity-rich national park,” he recalled.
Going back to the Aravallis, he warned that initiating mining on a wide scale in the region would set a precedent for the government to implement the same in other parts of the country.
“The government has surplus ways of justifying its actions, mainly the need for resources and development,” he said, expressing disappointment that the mining of rocks and its environmental devastation and impact has not been reported properly in India.
“The Aravalli mining precedent will be used a blueprint for other parts of the country, and its evidence will come forth. More mining areas will be opened,” he observed.
Gadgil said that tribals and people dependent on forests would be impacted the most. “We have seen the Surajgarh mining case in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra, which is a sacred site for Gond tribes. But these locals were suppressed, violated and stripped of their democratic rights for mining,” he recalled.
He alleged that the state government also mixed data on districts to identify Community Forest Rights areas with higher forest cover to deprive tribals and forest dwellers of the rights. “The justification given then was that the tribes had agreed and supported the mandate, which was not true,” he had said.
The ecological rights of tribals should be left alone, said Gadgil.
