Cracker conundrum

Why in the News

The Air Quality Index (AQI) in several north Indian cities turned “severe” on Diwali night, after the Supreme Court (SC) temporarily relaxed the ban on firecrackers. Sensors in Delhi and its outskirts reported PM2.5 (fine particles small enough to lodge deep in the lungs) above 1,000, reopening the question of how crackers should be regulated.

What did the Court decide, and what evidence is it waiting for?

1. Temporary relaxation: The SC eased its ban on crackers for the festival. Its order last week accepted that emissions harm health but sought quantitative evidence of what Diwali emissions do.
2. Proof nearly impossible: Direct, causative evidence of this kind is almost impossible to furnish, because cracker smoke mixes with every other source in the same air.
3. Late decision: The cracker season begins a fortnight before Diwali. An earlier ruling would have given stockists time to stock “green” crackers, designed to emit less.
4. The takeaway: By demanding proof that cannot be produced, the Court let a predictable pollution spike recur.

Why is the crackers’ share of pollution hard to isolate?

1. Winter weather: Slackening winds and post-monsoon dryness trap particles from vehicles, industries, construction dust and stubble burning. Crackers add to air that is already degraded.
2. Recurring Diwali spikes: Delhi’s five-day average AQI has risen around Diwali in each of the last three years, most recently from about 350 to 376.
3. Share cannot be separated: The timing of these spikes fits a cracker contribution. Their exact share cannot be split from other emissions and weather effects.

Do ‘green’ crackers solve the problem, and can faith override health?

1. Lab-only gains: CSIR-NEERI, the national environmental research institute that developed green crackers, says they cut emissions by only 30% to 45%, and only under strict laboratory conditions.
2. Percentages hide totals: A percentage cut says nothing about the total particulate matter released. The post-Deepavali AQI reflects that total.
3. Faith linked to crackers: The Court treats bursting crackers as part of religious observance. It only nominally accepts that religious custom cannot override health.

Challenges

1. Policing sales: The Court acknowledges the huge difficulty of policing cracker sales across thousands of outlets, but does not address it.
2. Illegal supply: The Court was told an absolute ban would encourage “illegal crackers from across the border”.
3. Unverifiable labels: Buyers cannot easily tell a certified green cracker from a conventional one.
4. Livelihoods: Cracker manufacturing supports many workers. Eg. The industry cluster at Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.

Way Forward

1. Early final verdict: The Court should pronounce a final view on crackers well before Deepavali 2027, not in the festival week.
2. Time-bound policy: It should lay down the contours for the government to limit the manufacture, sale and bursting of crackers on a fixed timeline.
3. Total-emission standards: Certify green crackers on total particulate output, not only on percentage reduction.
4. Season-long action: Curb vehicle, industry, dust and stubble emissions through the whole winter, not just around Diwali.

Conclusion

Crackers add a festival peak to air already trapped by winter weather, and the Court’s wait for causal proof has allowed that peak to return each year. Whether it settles the question with a binding, time-bound framework well ahead of the next festival season is the decision to watch.

Key numbers

1. Delhi five-day average AQI, Diwali 2024: about 298 before, 358 after.
2. Delhi five-day average AQI, Diwali 2025: about 259 before, 315 after.

Back2Basics: Air Quality Index (AQI)

1. What it is: Launched in 2014, the AQI turns readings for eight pollutants into a single number with a health message attached.
2. How it is set: A sub-index is computed for each pollutant, and the worst sub-index becomes the reported AQI.
3. Six bands: The scale runs from Good through Satisfactory, Moderate, Poor and Very Poor to Severe, which begins at 401 on a scale topping out at 500.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2015, GS1, 12 marks] Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata are the three mega cities of the country but the air pollution is much more serious problem in Delhi as compared to the other two. Why is this so?”