Editorial: We Need To Look Beyond The Diwali-Firecracker-AQI Axis

That the Air Quality Index (AQI), a complex measurement in a single unit of various pollutants in the atmosphere, was tracked closely on Thursday-Friday as the nation celebrated Diwali with firecrackers tells the growing significance – and correlation – to the festival. There was a time when people celebrated Diwali across India, even in the northern states, with loads of firecrackers taking the head off nights but no one worried about air pollution as much. This is not to suggest that we roll back to that time but to seriously – and fairly – consider the impact of firecrackers on the air we breathe given the thick layer of smog in almost every city and town across the country but none worse than Delhi-NCR and Punjab-Haryana.

The air quality in Delhi slipped to ‘very poor’ category, at 362, the morning after firecrackers festivities, according to data from SAFAR-India. This was worse than in 2022 when the AQI hovered around 312 but it is the trend over the past decade of AQI rising to hazardous levels after Diwali merriment that should cause concern. Mumbai did no better with the AQI which was a moderate 172 on Thursday afternoon hitting beyond 250-280 in places and 305 in Colaba despite the sea breeze cleaning the air. Even cities like Varanasi, Haridwar, and Jaipur reported smog on Friday morning.

The governments of Delhi, Punjab and Haryana attempted preventive measures by banning or restricting firecrackers days before Diwali festivities. It was too late because the production and distribution, perhaps the purchase by users too, had been done. A complete ban may be controversial but restrictions have to be applied early in the annual cycle of firecrackers at the production-distribution stage itself. The move also proved to be counter-productive because Hindu right-wing groups, quick to take offence, turned rebellious and burst more crackers.

Firecrackers are a problem but they are not the only factor leading to air pollution. It has been well established that construction dust, industrial and vehicular emissions, burning wood and other materials as cooking fuel, and to some extent stubble burning play their part in making the air quality poor to very poor, even hazardously severe. These are not factors that require action around Diwali but can be addressed comprehensively through the year and their contribution to bad air calibrated. If the data is available and governments take note early in the year, then it takes little effort to restrict construction or industrial emissions during two days of Diwali in the interests of better air. This approach is, unfortunately, lost in the haze; banning firecrackers is a knee-jerk act and it’s sure to raise the hackles of the right-wing.