Situated in the northwest of India, the Aravalli Mountain plays a crucial role in preventing desertification, regulating the climate, recharging the groundwater and maintaining biodiversity. But now, due to activities like illegal mining, deforestation, real estate encroachment and pollution, the region is facing severe ecological degradation. To save the environment of the region, there are two types of people spreading environmental consciousness and practising ways to save the mountain ranges. On one side, there are the environmentalists, NGO founders and university students/researchers who practice their environmental knowledge based on scientific approaches and statistics which inform others about the ontological and epistemological dynamics of current environmental disaster in the region. On the other side, there are instances where communities of people are willing to save the Aravalli region based on their religious purposes and traditional environmental beliefs.

This paper aims to explore the nuanced conversations between scientific knowledge and environmental beliefs in interplay to save the Aravalli region. The dialogue revolves mainly around responses to governmental policies like the dilution of the PLPA (Punjab Land Preservation Act), reframing of the NCZ (Natural Conservation Zone) and the NCR Draft Plan 2041. Using the lens of cultures of science, this paper investigates how scientific knowledge interacts with the deep-rooted cultural and religious repertoires of the Aravalli area. In doing so, my discussion will include images from protests, published/released interviews of NGO founders and research findings of scholars working on the Aravalli region.