Congrats…Well done, now that the Supreme Court is the policy maker. A fleeting pleasure of crackers causes health deterioration of millions mostly the aged and children which can’t be restored easily. But, why only Delhi? Other states ain’t worth it, Dear SC? So, the uncontaminated air is apparently not the need of every citizen and state as per the apex court.
I am neither a firecracker person nor very festive. But only and only if SC had banned Soan Papdi during the Diwali period with the political willpower then the cookie could have crumbled quite differently, you know?
I think we should also ban sweets – a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips, not to mention diabetes and coronary disease too. Can we also ban paper gifting, animal cruelty, solid and liquid effluents, liquor and tobacco? After all, we’re the largest democracy, aren’t we?
In fact, we need to ban movies too- they are tarnishing our society and culture besides decreasing our productivity levels. I have realized in all seriousness that what we really need is a central authority that instructs us how to our lives. Nah, don’t worry. We are still titled free and secular.
The plight of children working in these crackers factories could have also been considered, you think? Aren’t they important enough? Why ban the sale merely two weeks before and not the production and use itself and lose business worth Rs 1,000 crore? One marvels if the bearing on these businesses and countless livelihoods were thought through.
Nonetheless, just so you know firecrackers are just the click of a mouse away in this era. A week’s time is sufficient for firecrackers to reach the end customers.
Has SC also made sure about heaps of firecracker stocks that traders and shopkeepers are holding are not humbly ‘gifted away’? What is the rationality behind imposing a ban for 22 days and allowing the sale of something considered harmful thereafter?
Hallelujah to rise in smuggling of crackers from adjoining states to Delhi and the black market now. And, hey, illegally procured crackers are unsafe too? No? Are we ready for bigger hazards?
The bans on cultural practices have been in our faces recently, be the earlier rulings on Jallikattu, restrictions on the height of Dahi Handi ceremony and the controversy around usage of water during Holi, and now the ban on the sale of crackers during Diwali creates —have made it into pin cushion of religion.
Let me also remind you stubble burning in neighboring Punjab and Haryana where 35 million tonnes of the crop will contribute anywhere between 12 to 60 percent of Delhi’s air pollution. Set an alarm clock now.
I am totally in for well-intentioned regulatory procedures but a forceful denial always leads to an antisocial behavior. Enforceability is the issue.
Now that Supreme Court is finally on a roll, it can focus on plaguing issues like lack Of Education, Inequality, Neoliteracy, Labour Farming, Poverty and Population Explosion, Malnutrition, Marital rape, Unemployment, Health Care Industries, Policy instability, Industrial Sickness, and whatnot are often kept unaddressed to focus on the political narrative.
Conclusively, a prohibition on the sale of Diwali crackers was the coolest but possibly the least effective way out. Maybe a regulatory direction and complete ban on production would have been more fitting than a sudden blanket ban on sale?
You are anyway going to play with firecrackers because you know…you always do what you are told not to do. Don’t get arrested though. Good wishes, fellas.
