The Supreme Court's ban over sale of
firecrackers in New Delhi until November 1 has activated enormous debates. The
environmentalists have welcomed the move but some sections of society feel
that there is a curb on local cultural traditions
There are two sides of the coin. Let
us look at both these sides-
Arguments favouring ban-
- Delhi's pollution is so bad in winter that it
has overtaken Beijing as the worst. Delhi's air quality is very poor and
rapidly worsening. True, air pollution levels had dangerously spiked after
Diwali last year and SC had imposed a ban on sale of firecrackers last
November – the apex court has reinstated that order.
-In 2016, the ideal PM
(particulate matter) of 10 had reached toxic levels of 999 (more than 10 times
higher than what is considered safe to breathe). This steep rise in pollution
levels happened suspiciously close to Diwali celebrations.
- This not only releases a deadly generation of
fumes into air causing extreme air pollution but also causes severe noise
pollution.
- Medical evidence suggests that severe air
pollution in Delhi is leading to multiple diseases and other health
related issues among the people. The city has seen an increase in
respiratory diseases like asthma, lung cancer, bronchitis primarily
attributable to the worsening air quality in the National capital.
- Foreign diplomats complain about the
sacrifices their children are making due to their posting in Delhi. Some
of them even refuse to get posted in Delhi
-In passing the ban
order, the court may have departed the conventional way of celebrating the
festival, but the choice was not a difficult one to make - since it concerned
with the lives of the people.
Justifying the ban on sale of
firecrackers, the court says that it needs to test, whether banning sale of
firecrackers during Diwali will have a positive effect or not on air
quality in Delhi.
- further, the cracker making is not well
regulated in India and Chinese crackers create number of safety
issues
- When the Diwali celebrations began in the mythology days, no cracker was invented and hence addition of crackers must be a subsequent event and not a original tradition
Arguments against ban-
- Are we not denying the joy and celebration
(that we enjoyed) to our children?
- - Are we not tinkering with the tradition?
- Is it not to be driven by a public debate
followed by legislation, which in turn has to be followed by action? Now
we take action first, before legislation or public debate. Is that fine?
-It should be noted
that the court has banned the sale of crackers in the National Capital Region,
but not their bursting. There is also no ban on buying crackers from outside
Delhi and bringing them to the city for use. This specifically affects Delhi's
cracker traders and in no way serves the purpose of minimising pollution, since
purchases can be made in border areas.
-With millions of vehicles emitting
gases into the atmosphere on a daily basis, would banning a single night of
Diwali festivities make that much of a difference?
-In fact, the two
largest sources of pollution in Delhi are road dust (38%) and vehicles (20%).
Plans to tackle these have not proved effective yet.
-Then there is the annual problem of
crop stubble burning in the neighbouring states of Punjab, Haryana and UP. With
no economically viable solutions worked out, the burning still continues.
Trucks not destined for Delhi continue to transit through the capital due to
lack of alternative routes. The need is for evolving holistic solutions
that address the root causes of the problem.
Where do we go from here?
- Do we try a community watching of cracker
burning carried out by licensed professional companies like USA? No, we
need not have to import our tradition from USA. Needless to add, USA may
have their crackers regulated but not their guns. Let us not try to
xerox copy their culture and fit into our tradition.
- We cannot question the tradition-
Whether something like this cracker burning added in the later stage
etc. This cannot be argued as the celebration and joy have been expressed
in some way over the years and questioning such tradition is a touchy subject.
- Then we need to respect the tradition but still find solutions for pollution.
What do we do?
We have to find pollution free crackers. It is a new
opportunity for start ups. Perhaps during the interim period, we may have to
allow limited hours for cracker burning. We have to engage the community and
evolve the acceptable way of burning crackers.
Happy Diwali.
God bless all.
