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From India's largest newsroom, 
I'm Arun George and this is the 

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Times of India podcast. 
Nearly two months before Diwali,

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the Delhi government announced 
that it would retain a ban on 

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fireworks in the city for this 
year as well. 

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BJP MP Manoj Tiwari promptly 
went to the Supreme Court 

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seeking that the ban be lifted, 
only to have his petition 

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dismissed. 
To top it off, he was chastised 

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by the Supreme Court, the. 
Supreme Court said do something 

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for people and if there is a 
ban, there is. 

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A ban if you want. 
To bust crackers go to a. 

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State where there is. 
No ban. 

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The debate over a ban on 
fireworks is now an annual one 

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in parts of India when the 
religious sentiments of 1 

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Community are weighed against 
the health concerns of the 

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entire region. 
We're bringing back this episode

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we'd done a while back in which 
we looked at the issue of 

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firework bans and they fall out.
Deepavali itself means a row of 

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lights. 
It is a festival of lights. 

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It's not the festival of 
fireworks. 

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Fireworks itself came to India 
at a much later stage, you know,

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through trade from China and 
other places. 

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And and a lot of the critics of 
the ban of firecrackers often 

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say that you're looking at, 
you're banning firecrackers, but

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you're not banning these other 
things that cause air pollution.

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But that's not really true. 
India actually spends billions 

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of dollars in trying to make. 
Transport fuel cleaner to to 

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install solar panels and all of 
that. 

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So, and those are things we 
cannot do without. 

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You know, we cannot do without 
moving around. 

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We cannot do without turning on 
the, you know, switch and having

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electricity. 
But you can avoid firecrackers 

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because they're not an integral 
part of the economy. 

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That was our little pre Diwali 
fireworks. 

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We hope you enjoyed it and that 
that would be the extent of your

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engagement with them. 
Deceptively enjoyable, the 

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fatakas and the full juries have
a deadly aftermath, especially 

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in North India which anyway 
battles extreme air pollution. 

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In today's podcast, we discuss 
how fireworks came to India. 

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Is it possible to get greener, 
more environment friendly 

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option? 
And what are the lacks of 

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people, mostly poor, who are 
associated with the 

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manufacturing of fireworks? 
With more and more states 

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banning fireworks, what becomes 
of these people? 

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Firecrackers manufacturing in 
India dates back to the 

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beginning of 20th century. 
So one of the main reasons I 

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think Shivakashi and this region
called the Virudhu Nagar 

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district now. 
Might have been a pioneer 

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because it doesn't have much 
rain. 

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It's an aerate as you know, it's
a rain shadow region. 

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So the dry conditions favored it
started with matchbox making. 

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So you know, the World War or 
the Second World War, 1939. 

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That was the time when, till 
then, you know, the British were

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kind of importing fireworks for 
whatever celebrations 

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festivities they had. 
Basically, I think from the UK, 

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or maybe you're from Germany. 
But after the World War this 

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import stopped, so indigenous 
fireworks got a boost. 

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And Shivakashi, probably because
Madras was already with the 

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British and Shivakashi was not 
too far away. 

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That's that could be the 
probable reason, and given the 

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climatic condition, Shivakashi 
was a good candidate. 

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For this so from right from 
1940s, we have had these 

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companies which got into 5 words
speaking Some of the some of 

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them who have been making 
matchboxes shifted to 5 words 

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because it was more lucrative. 
So I think that's the history 

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and ever since there was no 
looking back till probably a 

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couple of decades ago, 
Shivakashi has been the leader. 

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It remains the leader when it 
comes to this industry. 

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You just heard my colleague Arun
Ram, resident Editor of Times of

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India, Chennai, and now my other
colleague Jaya Menon, who is 

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political editor of Ty Chennai 
and who is frequently reported 

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from the town of Shirkashi, 
gives us a lay of the land there

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and why tragedy haunts the by 
lanes that create the 

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instruments of our celebration. 
If you actually go into the 

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areas where the factories are 
located. 

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You will find that you know the 
entrances are like any other, 

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you know, establishment. 
It is when you get inside, you 

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find that you know it's like a 
vast space because there are 

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certain stipulations by the 
authority as to how the sheds 

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should be located, how many 
people should be working in a 

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shed. 
So you find that, you know 

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there's it's very well kept, 
very clean. 

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These are the very organized 
licensed factories. 

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Now when you go into Sivakasi 
and you know outside Sivakasi 

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rather where these villages 
where the cottage industries 

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thrive. 
In fact, I am told that at least

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50% of the industry is, you 
know. 

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Contributed by the cottage 
industries, that is where the 

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you know, the villages the 
families work towards, you know 

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are given assignments by the 
factories. 

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Not really legal, not licensed, 
but the you know they get a 

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better deal out of. 
They may not pay as much as they

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would have to if, you know, 
workers are sitting in sheds and

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working so. 
Cottage industry is a big 

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business and a lot of accidents 
happen there too. 

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In fact, when they finish their 
consignments, they keep it 

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inside the house. 
So they sleep along with these 

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sacks of senior body. 
They call it, you know, the 

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small crackers. 
There are 1070 licensed 

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fireworks manufacturers in 
Sivakasi, but many more 

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unregulated cottage industries, 
several of them operating from 

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people's homes. 
Even though the National Green 

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Tribunal has laid down safety 
norms, adherence to them is poor

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and deadly accidents in norm, 
says Jaya Menon. 

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Every year, at least a minimum 
of 10 to 15 people die in such 

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accidents. 
I'm giving a very minimal kind 

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of a figure. 
I'm trying to be a little, you 

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know, not exaggerate. 
Now there are also strict norms 

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as to how you store these. 
You know the kind of sheds that 

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are to be used, the kind of, you
know, ventilation and where it 

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should be located. 
So those kind of norms are also 

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there. 
None of them are followed. 

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Sivakashi and the district it 
falls under, Virudhanagar, are 

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in the rain shadow region and 
therefore arid. 

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With little by way of 
agriculture, poverty is rife and

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the fireworks industry. 
Checked it about 6000 to 10,000 

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crore is the mainstay for 
families, the business employees

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and unusually large number of 
women and children, Jaya Menon 

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tells Arun George. 
During the pandemic, what 

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happened was the mothers took 
the children along to the a lot 

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of women work. 
In fact, they say 45% of the 

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workers are women. 
So when the women go to work, 

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they took the children along. 
And of course it worked well 

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both ways. 
It was a win win situation for 

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the employers and for the women,
because the employers gave lower

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wages for the children. 
And for the women it was 

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additional income. 
And these children were not, I 

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mean, attending online classes, 
obviously, because they didn't 

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have the wherewithal, not 
neither the gadgets nor the 

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connectivity to have, you know, 
for them to participate in 

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online classes. 
So these children were taken 

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along by the mothers and they 
were actually found working with

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the women. 
Now they were there are raids, I

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mean there are frequent raids 
and all that, but always, you 

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know, there are, there's deals 
are struck on the ground, bribes

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are paid and even the, I mean 
the employers, if it's cottage 

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industry, the villagers pay 
bribes to the inspectors and the

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work goes on. 
What is happening the rest of 

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the year? 
And like, say, where are the men

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working in that sense? 
That's an interesting thing 

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because as soon as the Diwali 
gets over, work begins for the 

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next Diwali. 
So all through it is not just 

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Diwali. 
There are a lot of temple 

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festivals like Vinay, the 
Vinayga, Chaturthi in 

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Maharashtra, for instance. 
They are huge customers. 

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They're big customers for 
Sivakasi. 

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So through the year you have 
temple festivals happening 

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across the country, so there is 
never a lull in business. 

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So for Diwa, after Diwali 
finishes, the work starts for 

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the next Diwali. 
For the temples, festivals that 

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come, all through the other 
festivals that come, So it's a 

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continuous process. 
There's never a lull. 

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With the NGT ordered green 
crackers, a ban on fireworks by 

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states like Delhi, Orissa, West 
Bengal. 

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Plus the pandemic of the last 
two years, it is all clobbered 

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the fireworks industry, says 
Balaji TK. 

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He's part of the family that 
runs Sri Balaji Fireworks and is

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also the legal advisor to the 
Indian Fireworks Manufacturers 

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Association. 
From the 2015, we are facing the

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court case pressure from all the
sectors. 

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Because of the court case, we 
have lost huge amount of orders.

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Protection, capacity, marketing 
and everything. 

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And it has become a big issue 
for the people who have taken 

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the credits from the bank they 
couldn't repaid. 

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Many banks have liquidated the 
assets of many manufacturers. 

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The one point in that the 
Supreme Court case is another 

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big issue that has to be solved.
2nd is the state going again 

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with the band? 
Recently, the government of 

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Rajasthan, which had banned 
firecrackers, modified its order

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to allow for green crackers, a 
concept mooted by the Supreme 

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Court. 
But what exactly are green 

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crackers? 
How do they work and are they 

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effective in reducing air 
pollution? 

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Chennai TOIRE Arun Ram Vaysin. 
I think it's an oxymoron, the 

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green cracker only that even 
Neri and other scientific 

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institutions have agreed have. 
Even the manufacturers are in 

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agreement that no cracker can be
completely green. 

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It's like calling like a healthy
drink of 6 packs of whiskey. 

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The government and agencies like
Neri have decided, have put a 

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cap on the use of certain 
chemicals. 

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And the when when firecrackers 
are burst, the emissions, so 

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emissions have to be 30% less is
what the last decision was. 

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The court is still hearing this 
case. 

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It's going back and forth, but 
there is a general agreement 

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that a green cracker has should 
have an emission of 30% less 

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than the ordinary normal 
cracker. 

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When it comes to decibel levels,
the decibel levels have been as 

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high as one 5160, even around 
200. 

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Now it should not cross 125 
decibels. 

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So these are the broad criteria 
of a green cracker. 

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You know firecracker is is a is 
a concentrate of every 

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imaginable pollutant as we know 
the the biggest pollutants being

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barium and you know the 
emissions are sulfur dioxide, 

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carbon monoxide, You think of 
any bad thing in the air, a 

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firecracker has it. 
So there is no dispute over. 

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The environment, friendliness so
to say, of any firecracker when 

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you had a crisis in the national
capital, fireworks also probably

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00:12:33,830 --> 00:12:37,070
became a point of discussion. 
And wherever we could cut on 

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pollution, regular pollution, we
could not cut much. 

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Though there was a shift from 
diesel engines to petrol and we 

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00:12:43,190 --> 00:12:45,910
are still struggling with 
electronic automobile. 

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00:12:46,670 --> 00:12:50,750
But I think firecrackers was an 
easier target that way and 

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00:12:50,750 --> 00:12:53,530
rightly so. 
So that that problem was the 

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beginning of a legal tasking or 
a movement against biker 

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Packers. 
But I think parallelly there was

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solved also a people's movement 
especially driven by children 

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across the country. 
You know if you look at schools 

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00:13:07,530 --> 00:13:11,890
having campaigns against bike 
Packers, this whole fad, if I 

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00:13:11,890 --> 00:13:15,410
may also to go between without 
even understanding it, but in a 

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in a in a good way it has 
resulted in a higher awareness. 

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Balaji TK says that adapting to 
green crackers is challenging 

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00:13:24,750 --> 00:13:28,710
and expensive. 
It requires new formulation, but

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00:13:28,710 --> 00:13:30,830
he adds that the industry is 
trying. 

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00:13:32,030 --> 00:13:34,310
We're completely going for eco 
friendly crackers. 

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00:13:34,790 --> 00:13:38,830
The main question raised by the 
environmentalists and 

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00:13:38,830 --> 00:13:43,830
firecrackers is pollution. 
So to the point we can say the 

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00:13:43,830 --> 00:13:48,190
firecrackers in the not in the 
top 20 list of polluting 

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00:13:48,510 --> 00:13:51,690
industries. 
In the country and we are 

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00:13:51,690 --> 00:13:55,970
celebrating on one day and 
that's a unite uniting factor. 

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We celebrate on Diwali. 
It unites all the religion 

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00:14:01,610 --> 00:14:03,810
people and we celebrate on 
newer. 

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00:14:03,850 --> 00:14:06,410
It unites all the religion fact 
people. 

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00:14:06,690 --> 00:14:10,970
So it's it's even though it's 
challenging, it's not in the top

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00:14:10,970 --> 00:14:13,370
20 list. 
We have to consider the 

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00:14:13,370 --> 00:14:16,690
religious factors associated 
with the happiness. 

225
00:14:17,460 --> 00:14:21,300
We cannot completely accept the 
environments and the band of 

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00:14:21,300 --> 00:14:25,220
fireworks and these things and 
all it's some religious factors.

227
00:14:25,420 --> 00:14:29,260
Even the car is polluting more. 
The PM 2.5 and PM10 particles 

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00:14:29,260 --> 00:14:31,740
entered by the car is much more 
than anything. 

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00:14:32,580 --> 00:14:36,580
If you look at the sources of 
air pollution in any given year.

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00:14:36,970 --> 00:14:38,610
Or any given season for that 
matter. 

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00:14:38,930 --> 00:14:41,690
You will see that the largest 
sources of outdoor air 

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00:14:41,690 --> 00:14:45,410
pollution, ambient air pollution
are Rd. vehicles, industries, 

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00:14:45,410 --> 00:14:49,130
power generation, dust you know,
from construction sides and 

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00:14:49,130 --> 00:14:51,690
roads and so on. 
Additionally, there are, you 

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00:14:51,690 --> 00:14:55,450
know, other factors such as open
base burning or diesel generator

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00:14:55,450 --> 00:14:58,370
sets, or in the case of Northern
India, there's stubble burning 

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00:14:58,610 --> 00:15:01,930
as well, right? 
But if you look at, you know, 

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air pollution on the specific 
days where. 

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00:15:07,040 --> 00:15:10,840
Firecrackers are used on those 
days and the days surrounding 

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00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:14,000
it, the days following it. 
Firecrackers are definitely one 

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00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,040
of the biggest and most 
dangerous sources of air 

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00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:20,840
pollution or causes of health 
elements in that period of time.

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00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:24,520
So at those very high level of 
concentration, air pollution 

244
00:15:24,520 --> 00:15:27,280
from firecrackers is way more 
dangerous than any other source 

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00:15:27,280 --> 00:15:29,400
of air pollution on those 
specific days. 

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00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:33,760
Last year, my parents got COVID.
Just around Diwali, it was, you 

247
00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:35,920
know, a coincidence that 
happened at that point of time, 

248
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:39,760
and my dad's oxygen levels in 
particular started dipping. 

249
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:42,520
Luckily, there was a firecracker
ban, so there were very few 

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00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:45,560
firecrackers actually went off. 
But I was imagining if that 

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00:15:45,560 --> 00:15:48,680
time, if it was as bad as it had
been in the previous years, 

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00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:52,160
where, you know, the smoke just 
kind of gets stuck in the air 

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00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,120
and there's no way for it to 
leave and there's no way for you

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00:15:54,160 --> 00:15:56,880
to escape it either. 
What would have happened if if 

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00:15:57,240 --> 00:15:58,800
you know it was that bad last 
year? 

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00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:05,280
That Siddharth Singh, author of 
The Great Smog of India, a 

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00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,360
definitive account of India's 
troubles with air pollution. 

258
00:16:08,880 --> 00:16:12,200
He tells Arun George how 
abandoned fireworks can help 

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00:16:12,200 --> 00:16:16,840
clean up Indian skies. 
Firstly, bans on sales cannot be

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00:16:16,840 --> 00:16:19,680
effective the way that they're 
being done currently, right? 

261
00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:23,840
These bans are often announced 
just a few days before Diwali, 

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00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:26,640
or a few days before the any 
given day when you're going to 

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00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,260
be using it. 
And that causes obviously 

264
00:16:29,540 --> 00:16:34,220
financial harm to manufacturers 
as well as sellers, retailers, 

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00:16:34,940 --> 00:16:38,020
they become very hard to 
implement something when the 

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00:16:38,180 --> 00:16:41,060
goods that, you know, the stock 
of firecrackers is already in 

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00:16:41,060 --> 00:16:44,180
the marketplace. 
So it's very easy for it to leak

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00:16:44,180 --> 00:16:46,660
out from there and find its way 
into people's homes. 

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00:16:47,300 --> 00:16:49,380
You know, secondly, if they're 
banned in one location, for 

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00:16:49,380 --> 00:16:52,020
example one city, but not in the
neighborhood, neighboring cities

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00:16:52,020 --> 00:16:54,580
or neighboring states, then of 
course you know there's no 

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00:16:54,660 --> 00:16:57,820
restriction for people to travel
and and you will find 

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00:16:58,180 --> 00:17:00,460
firecrackers being used from 
beyond that. 

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00:17:00,460 --> 00:17:05,700
I think a far more effective 
approach would be to combine a 

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00:17:05,700 --> 00:17:08,770
more. 
I guess national, regional ban 

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00:17:09,170 --> 00:17:12,569
with alternatives so that people
still feel involved on those 

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00:17:12,569 --> 00:17:15,490
particular days. 
You know there are in other 

278
00:17:15,490 --> 00:17:19,410
parts of the world, for example,
you have community fireworks, 

279
00:17:19,690 --> 00:17:21,730
right? 
So instead of everyone buying 

280
00:17:21,730 --> 00:17:26,089
and you know, therefore lighting
fire crackers, perhaps at a 

281
00:17:26,450 --> 00:17:29,610
social level, at at the level of
neighborhoods or villages or 

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00:17:29,610 --> 00:17:32,650
even cities, they can be 
specific locations where people 

283
00:17:32,650 --> 00:17:36,380
can congregate. 
And you know they can be certain

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00:17:36,380 --> 00:17:39,780
types of firecrackers used that 
are perhaps less damaging. 

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00:17:39,900 --> 00:17:42,580
Secondly, you know in in China 
and other parts of the world 

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00:17:42,580 --> 00:17:44,340
they have now started using 
drones. 

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00:17:44,580 --> 00:17:49,260
So, so imagine a night sky of 
drone displays where there are, 

288
00:17:49,620 --> 00:17:52,580
you know, grand and majestic 
sites to be seen. 

289
00:17:53,020 --> 00:17:56,020
I I assume that such kind of 
alternatives would keep people 

290
00:17:56,020 --> 00:17:59,260
engaged and and therefore 
providing an alternative along 

291
00:17:59,260 --> 00:18:02,060
with the ban would be something 
that would be far more 

292
00:18:02,060 --> 00:18:04,780
effective. 
Bad air quality impacts all of 

293
00:18:04,780 --> 00:18:07,060
us. 
It impacts, you know, even the, 

294
00:18:07,100 --> 00:18:09,620
in fact it impacts the person 
who's lighting the firecracker 

295
00:18:09,620 --> 00:18:12,380
more than anyone else. 
So I'm sure they would be 

296
00:18:12,380 --> 00:18:15,700
understanding only if we were to
have a dialogue as opposed to, 

297
00:18:16,060 --> 00:18:20,780
you know, to to extremely 
unplanned and disruptive changes

298
00:18:21,020 --> 00:18:24,340
at the last minute. 
But the transition to a 

299
00:18:24,340 --> 00:18:28,420
firecracker free country is not 
coming anytime soon and it is 

300
00:18:28,420 --> 00:18:30,580
fraught with environment to the 
one side. 

301
00:18:31,030 --> 00:18:33,750
And livelihood of hundreds and 
thousands of people on the 

302
00:18:33,750 --> 00:18:37,790
other, says Arundram. 
Political parties have to take a

303
00:18:37,790 --> 00:18:42,590
populist, if not a populist, A 
sympathetic attitude towards 

304
00:18:43,350 --> 00:18:46,390
firecracker makers. 
So if you see Tamil Nadu Chief 

305
00:18:46,390 --> 00:18:49,270
Minister MK Stalin, an appeal to
those States and Chief ministers

306
00:18:49,510 --> 00:18:51,830
who had banned even Green 
trackers. 

307
00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:56,000
And Rajasthan was the first one 
to obliged so. 

308
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,360
This is this is the political 
aspect of it so. 

309
00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:01,480
But the problem remains that for
many decades we have not been 

310
00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,480
updating our fireworks industry 
to be less polluting, or rather 

311
00:19:05,480 --> 00:19:08,120
more technology oriented. 
To give you a classic example, 

312
00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:12,280
slightly strained from the main 
topic, it is also about the 

313
00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,250
accidents if you look at it. 
The number of accidents, if you 

314
00:19:15,250 --> 00:19:18,330
look at it, has gone up after 
probably 2000. 

315
00:19:18,690 --> 00:19:21,490
This is the reason I feel is 
because that was a time when 

316
00:19:21,570 --> 00:19:25,290
Indian fire crack makers, fire 
firework makers, especially 

317
00:19:25,290 --> 00:19:29,930
shabnashi tried to shift from 
their conventional traditional 

318
00:19:30,810 --> 00:19:34,850
methods to adopt A kind of 
Chinese fireworks. 

319
00:19:35,130 --> 00:19:37,930
No, Chinese are the masters of 
viral techniques. 

320
00:19:39,250 --> 00:19:41,540
So. 
That was also the time when 

321
00:19:41,540 --> 00:19:45,100
there was a shift from more 
sound to more color. 

322
00:19:45,660 --> 00:19:50,260
But the problem was they brought
in a new sulphur based new 

323
00:19:50,260 --> 00:19:54,900
barium based bearing is the the 
best of colors chemicals. 

324
00:19:55,260 --> 00:19:58,740
But our industry most of it was.
Most of it was a cottage 

325
00:19:58,740 --> 00:20:01,140
industry did not know how to 
deal with it. 

326
00:20:01,140 --> 00:20:04,740
You know we had this own way of 
grinding certain chemicals which

327
00:20:04,740 --> 00:20:07,540
led to accidents. 
So this is. 

328
00:20:08,010 --> 00:20:11,690
This is a hallmark of 
Shivakashi, that how when the 

329
00:20:11,690 --> 00:20:14,290
demand went up with the profits 
went up with the number of 

330
00:20:14,290 --> 00:20:16,250
people depended on this industry
went up. 

331
00:20:16,570 --> 00:20:20,280
We did not catch up with 
technology and make things safer

332
00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:23,440
and less polluting and now I 
think there is no point of 

333
00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:26,920
return and we'll have to 
probably completely shift and 

334
00:20:26,920 --> 00:20:30,960
rehabilitate this population to 
a new industry or something 

335
00:20:30,960 --> 00:20:32,560
else. 
We'll have to think probably 

336
00:20:32,560 --> 00:20:34,880
out-of-the-box because 
agriculture in the conventional 

337
00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:38,520
way is not possible in such a 
great shadow region in the 

338
00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:40,360
coming days. 
In the coming decades I'm sure 

339
00:20:40,360 --> 00:20:43,520
that fireworks would altogether 
disappear. 

340
00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,760
As we have seen in some of the 
Far East countries and even 

341
00:20:46,760 --> 00:20:51,760
China, there are fireworks 
happening without even one 

342
00:20:51,800 --> 00:20:54,000
explosion. 
That is a virtual fireworks. 

343
00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:56,720
It would light up your sky, it 
would give you the effect of the

344
00:20:56,720 --> 00:21:00,320
light, sound, everything without
smoke, without emissions. 

345
00:21:00,600 --> 00:21:04,360
So when everything is going 
virtually, why should we invest 

346
00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,880
more on something which is 
endangering lives? 

347
00:21:11,950 --> 00:21:15,270
Today's episode was produced by 
Jayaraj Singh, Sunai Marathi and

348
00:21:15,270 --> 00:21:18,030
Anuja Singh. 
For a daily spotlight on people,

349
00:21:18,070 --> 00:21:20,870
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350
00:21:21,190 --> 00:21:25,630
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