The burning of crackers in Diwali been a debatable topic for quite some time. The adverse effects upon the environment and ultimately upon human health can be traced from the burning of these crackers and is something which is a proven fact; something which one cannot turn a blind eye to.
In the wake of such a situation, the Supreme Court in the ‘Arjun Gopal and Others vs. Union of India and Others’ had ordered for a regulated manner of using firecrackers during Diwali in Delhi and NCR region as there was wide-scale pollution which was leading to diseases and deterioration of air quality. Moreover, India is a high carbon emission country. In the case of premature deaths, one in every five case is the result of the depletion of the environment. The phenomenon is not only due to factories or large scale industries. Household wastes such as burning solid fuels etc are also a reason. Moreover, India has some of the most polluted cities in the world like Delhi, Raipur etc. The air, water depletion is at an alarming rate and the misery does not end there.
There are certain groups who had opposed the decision then as the moot point was that bursting of crackers was associated with religion and would deprive them of their rights. This is a very bogus idea. This time around, the concept of ‘green crackers’, has come up which is a brainchild of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI). The basic idea behind floating this comparatively friendly cracker was to reduce emissions as these crackers apparently don’t contain banned chemicals such as lithium, arsenic etc and are said to release water vapour which doesn’t allow dust particles to rise and in a way curb it from settling in the air.
This year has been no less than a catastrophe and it is a known fact that corona has taken a toll on everything. But if one has to talk about a particular body part taking a toll then it has to be the lungs and the respiratory system mostly. This clearly means that this cannot be taken lightly and any further damage to the human lung through firecrackers is going to be just another nail in the coffin that would leave the recovered patients exposed.
Hence the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has come up with an order where it has taken stock of the seriousness of the situation and has opined that the adverse effect of firecrackers releases copious chemicals that would aggravate the conditions of the Covid-19 patients. Hence it has come up with directions to regulate the use of crackers such as allotting specific timings for buying and bursting the crackers. And it has further streamlined timings on Diwali, Chath Puja, Christmas and New Year such. It has fixed a window timing: such as for Diwali from 8 am to 10 pm crackers can be used. And it has made this compulsory for cities with ‘poor’ air quality; Guwahati falls under this bracket based on the Air Quality Index report (AQI) and hence the Pollution Control Board of Assam (PCBA) has taken a similar vouch.
But why should one follow the orders? Especially in times when the authorities are not vigilant? Most of the people get a kick out of breaking the law. It is not about today but also for the future that we start the process because the situation is alarming which can be observed from the fact that Ozone layer was also given its due share of importance as can be inferred from the fact that India was a member of the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer(which traps the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun), 1985 and the Montreal Protocol on Substance that depletes the Ozone Layer, 1987 and its London Amendment, 1990 and hence the Indian government has shown efforts to combat the said problem that arises as a result of air pollution by reducing the emission of greenhouse gases and reduction in the use of ozone depletion substances with the help of freezing their production or by phasing them out.
Has climate change become the next new? Yes, it not only takes a toll upon the environment but also human health, as per the said United Nations Climate Change Report entitled Climate Change Impacts Human Health, health risk related to climate change are on the rise worldwide. The report says that coordinated effort worldwide could help prevent some of the worst impacts of climate change on health. The report also provides an insight into certain major issues such as there are groups which are highly susceptive to climate-sensitive health impacts such as with children, elderly, pregnant women, and also marginalized people engulfed with acute poverty. The problems related to climate change would also lead to numerous new diseases and would also lead to malnutrition and undernutrition as evident in continents such as Africa, Asia etc.
The government of Assam has taken a stand related to the environment state action plan on climate change (SAPCC), and has adopted principles ensuring the sustainability of water resources as well as agricultural systems, protection and conservation of forests and bioresources, making habitats climate-resilient, ensuring energy sufficiency and efficiency and for the implementation of the same various measures such as phase-wise planning and different bodies have been bestowed with different assignments to ensure proper implementation of the same. The condition of Assam remains very much moderate, humid, and with adequate rainfall with a large green cover. Advanced technology such as regional climate model ‘PRECIS’ is used as a rainfall indicator, or the riverbank stabilization plotting approaches for river bank stabilization, maintaining embankments, flood early warning systems etc which is beneficial for places such as Majuli where experts, ecologist predict that the very near future it will be completely submerged.
This time around local bodies and NGOs such as Aranyak and Ellora Vigyan Mancha have started carrying out awareness drives across the state. Further, organizations such as Kanon have planned to distribute saplings as a form of ‘green awareness’ to spread the word of an eco-friendly Diwali and they plan to start their drive from the Silpukhuri area of Guwahati. This time around, as it will be a silent Diwali, it is a very good opportunity to help the people of Hira community/potter class by purchasing Diyas or ‘Chaki’ as is known in Assam which is made out of clay and is biodegradable and eco-friendly and also helps the people engaged in firework industry - for example the Barpeta firework industry - where revenue generation will not be the same as yesteryears with corona having already injured them on a lot of fronts and especially financially, through crowdfunding and also the government should also provide incentives.
However, the industries should try and move to ‘green crackers’ because if we do not make a paradigm shift now as green crackers are the way ahead. And the public in general should have the decency and basic civic sense and abide by the protocols which may if not solve but minimize the dreadful effects of corona.
(The author is currently practicing as an Advocate in Gauhati High Court. The views expressed in the article are his own.)
