Oct 31, 2024 05:08 AM IST
Given how anti-firecracker appeals are all too quickly painted as attacks on Hindu faith and culture, it is important to generate a consensus that sees firecrackers as a pollution problem
There is a growing realisation that firecrackers and associated pollution darken Diwali, the Hindu festival of light. A just-published study found PM 2.5 pollution in many North Indian cities, tracked from 2017 to 2023 based on government air quality monitoring data, surged close to nine times the National Ambient Air Quality Standards on Diwali night. This pollution dissipated soon after, pointing at firecrackers’ unique stamp on air pollution. It helps put in perspective how source-apportioning challenges — the festive season also sees stubble burning in many north Indian states even as weather conditions worsen ambient air quality — are often dragged in to silence those calling for reducing firecracker usage. Firecracker pollution, medical experts say, is tied to existing respiratory complications getting aggravated among patients apart from new cases getting triggered around the festival.
Thanks to rigorous awareness campaigns, primarily among school children, and numerous directives from the courts, the use of firecrackers has perceptibly fallen in many pollution hotspots in the country, including the national Capital and abutting cities. However, the illegal sale of crackers flourishes despite Delhi’s annual bans, apart from the legal sale in neighbouring states. Compliance with green directives from the government is minimal, as is enforcement by law agencies.
Given how anti-firecracker appeals are all too quickly painted as attacks on Hindu faith and culture, it is important to generate a consensus that sees firecrackers as a pollution problem. Downplaying firecracker pollution by comparing it with everyday pollution (vehicular emissions, road, and construction dust) also needs to be called out, given the staggering spike of PM 2.5 pollution caused by the former and the longevity of specific toxic chemicals released. It is necessary that we celebrate Diwali as a festival of light, and not of sound, and consider the needs of the vulnerable among us.
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