Diwali is around the corner and the debate has already been set, whether the decision by Supreme Court on the crackers ban was good or bad? According to my knowledge, Diwali is more a festival of light than pollution.
Every year Delhi gets the hardest hit the next morning after Diwali witnessing the hangover. On October 9th, 2017 the three-judge bench in Supreme Court reinstalled the ban on firecrackers sale in Delhi-NCR, suspending all licenses that permit the same.
It is not the first time the ban is declared but last year in November 2016, such ban was imposed to test whether it cuts the deadly pollution levels seen in Delhi during and after Diwali or not. The level of particulate matter less than 2.5 microns, one of the most keenly observed pollutants, had risen as much as 14 times the normal on the night of Diwali last year where residual crop burning also had a major role. In fact, odd-even car days was one such failed policy adopted by Delhi government to curb pollution.
Promulgating the idea of cracker ban 10 days prior to the festival has led many manufacturers stumbled. Obviously, retailers began to house the supplies for Diwali which lay just ahead, not knowing they’d run into a fresh ban. Moreover, there is an error stating the SC verdict which bans the sale of crackers but does not ban the use of these crackers! The so formed catch-22 situation would have been solved if the Supreme Court had ironed out the obvious glitches before delivering its verdict.
The ludicrousness of the matter is reshaping the issue as an Anti-Hindu conspiracy. Considering it as a political gimmick and blaming the authorities for playing with the religious sentiments of majority Hindus. To reach to a certain height one needs to be open-minded and people of contemporary India needs to swallow that pill.
Realizing good alternatives in place of bursting crackers would please Lord Ram better than to see people suffering from respiratory or skin diseases. One may switch to plant a sapling because banning crackers alone won’t solve the problem. Or we could seize the abuse done to the children in the cracker factories during the months of manufacture. Spread more light in other’s life and bring happiness to them. Have a Happy, prosperous and an ECO-FRIENDLY Diwali.
