If you haven’t been living under a rock, we’re sure you must’ve heard about a certain “writer” claiming that banning crackers on Diwali is like banning Christmas trees on Christmas, in response to the SC’s decision to ban the sale of firecrackers. Let us tell you why you shouldn’t agree with his claim. In the kind of environment we’re living in right now, trust us, bursting crackers is the last thing we need.
Blinded by traditions, we’ve always thought of Diwali as the festival of lights wherein crackers are burst as part of the celebrations. But why do we turn a blind eye to all the harmful consequences of it all? Bursting crackers comes with its fair share of disadvantages that outweigh the advantages, any day! In fact, there are no advantages at all. There’s so much more to Diwali than just the crackers. Here are a few legitimate reasons why you should reconsider bursting crackers this Diwali...
Child labour
If you just google “child labour fireworks industry in India” you’ll see an array of articles about what this hazardous industry is doing to the children. Over the course of working in cracker factories, these children develop skin diseases, suffer from lung failures and are exposed to toxic chemicals. When you purchase crackers, you’re funding the industry. You don’t want to be paying for that, do you? Bursting crackers may give you temporary joy, but it’s scarring children permanently.
Excessive smoke
Amidst all the pollution we’re already facing, imagine having firecrackers that cause excessive smoke and the amount of smoke just doubles up. The fireworks emit a large number of toxic particles that can be responsible for causing damage to our lungs. By bursting crackers, you’re encouraging air pollution, contributing to excessive smoke and causing health problems.
Harming animals and plants
There’s a lot of damage to other living beings that bursting crackers is responsible for. Trees, plants, animals etc,. suffer from this and if you burst crackers, you’re unknowingly contributing to something that’s beyond inhuman. You should also always keep an eye out for people harassing animals by tying crackers to their tails and take necessary action against them!
Fire accidents
Never play with fire. If you remember your mom quoting this to you when you were a kid, and you’re still bursting crackers, you’re potentially putting yours and other people’s lives in danger. If you argue and say that you’re always careful, you must also know that these things are super unpredictable, and it’s always advisable to take precautions.
Contributing to waste
Post a night of bursting heavy crackers, if you pay attention to the roads, you will notice the roads full of cracker waste and these materials are often non biodegradable. By bursting crackers, you’re polluting the environment you’re living in and there are many long term side effects of this! There are so many places in India where there is no official means to get this garbage cleaned up.
We bet you’ve heard /read all of the above points many times in your life, but we genuinely hope you implement these and try celebrating Diwali with a different approach - by not bursting crackers or even encouraging it! We promise at the end of the day you’ll be able to sleep better knowing that no matter in what capacity, at least you were able to contribute to the environment’s well being!
Image Credits: Ipleaders.in, outshade.com
Written by Vaishnavi Thakur on Oct 12, 2017