Glimpses of New Transforming India: Diwali Bash
Hi Friends...Happy Diwali to all of you.

I am going to write a new kind of blog in this series. This series name defines what we are going to deliver. My surrounding belongs to very pathetic and negative kind of people. Right from my beginning, I have seen so much negativity about many things like girl boy discrimination, Girl empowerment, Female foeticide, Pollution, Education gap, Communication problems, and the list goes on.
I am not a blogger but I am just writing down what is the reality of today^'s world.

Pollution in Diwali:

The first topic of Glimpses of New Transforming India is Diwali. My main motive is to get out of positive Vibes from the environment.

Air is already heavy with toxic muck before Diwali. There is no room for more pollution either in our air or in our lungs. Like the festival itself, the buzz around its pollution aftermath has also become an annual ritual. Are we serious enough not to make this festival an occasion to choke, wheeze, and suffocate our near and dear ones? Crackers not only spike pollution levels but also lace it with deadly cancer-causing substances. Is Delhi or any other city prepared to say no to crackers this year? After high-intensity cracker bursting the toxic smoke disappears within few hours but pollutants settle invisibly all around us. I was a responsible human being and resident of Delhi, The National capital completely avoiding any kind of cracker. We are ready to make this Diwali as cracker-free Diwali. Lightening all over and distributing sweets will be our core method for this Diwali celebration. But we agree not to use a single cracker for this Diwali and onwards.

Right now, the levels are very poor which according to an official advisory can cause respiratory illness on prolonged exposure and the effect may be more pronounced in people with heart and lung diseases. But at the severe level, even the general population will be impacted. From single born to elder, everyone will suffer, so we have to cut our cracker this Diwali. I am happy, people around the city are now aware of it but some of them still will use crackers for celebrating Diwali. We have to reduce that number for our generation and future prospects.

To some extent, the growing campaign and awareness have started to shave off the horrible Diwali peaks. During 2010-2013, the level on Diwali day could go 11 times higher than the standards. The 2014 and 2015 peaks were comparatively lower. But the levels are still unacceptable and very harmful. The double whammy is when much before Diwali, the Diwali traffic starts contributing harm, and nitrogen oxide levels skew.

The myth of only one day of fun:

The usual excuse for not saying no to crackers is that it is a matter of only one day and how can we deny our children the fun. But let us remember that after high-intensity cracker bursting the toxic smoke disappears within few hours but pollutants settle invisibly all around us in soil, vegetation, crop, and water. What we put out comes back to us through our food chain. Our air quality regulators never monitor these impacts as other governments do.

Globally, there are several iconic fireworks festivals that have generated clinching evidence. These are the Yanshui festival in Taiwan, Montreal International Fireworks, Lantern festival of New Year in Beijing and Shanghai, Guy Fawks night in the United Kingdom, and several such events in European cities among others. In Spain, they have found particles from crackers remain suspended in the air for over 20 hours causing very high exposure. Italy has found increased hospital admissions due to heart disease. Studies have found very high lung deposition during Chinese New Year.

If we are enjoying sparklers and glitters with our children then let us decode the chemical footprint of these crackers. Children are most exposed to cracker pollution. Children have a poor defense mechanism. Their ability to metabolize and detoxify environmental agents is different. Given their hyper level of physical activities, they inhale more volume of air than adults and therefore breathe more pollution. Equally vulnerable are the elderly, infants, and the ailing.

Crackers need carbon and sulfur to burn which produce a range of gases. To this, is added a large number of chemicals to act as stabilizers, oxidizers, and binders. These are deadly chemicals arsenic, manganese, sodium oxalates, aluminum, iron dust, potassium perchlorate, strontium, barium nitrate, and so on.

Most of the toxins accumulate in the body over time that in the long run trigger cancer.
So think about the impact of one night of fun in a city where the lungs of every third child are impaired. Set the regulatory terms and build awareness. Several governments around the world have tightened the regulatory noose around crackers.

Can we do this Diwali differently?

The growing public concern and outcry over foul air in Delhi and the bitter anger over the most polluted city tag will sound hollow if we do not get serious about convincing our family, neighbors, and the community to stop this deadly game. We also have to support the government to enforce rules. Enough of ostrich syndrome, we cannot look away anymore. The government has to act and take hard decisions.

Crackers should not be burst near sensitive areas like near hospitals and schools. Intensify public campaign to sensitize community: Leverage the network of schools, colleges, RWAs to maximize outreach. Involve the medical community and hospitals in Delhi to bring out health information in the public domain to sensitize the community. The campaign needs to promote the idea of community celebration and discourage household-level cracker bursting.

We are all looking forward cracker free Diwali. We cannot reduce this wonderful festival of light that breaks all barriers and binds communities, to scary annual statistics of foul air and ill-health. But we have to be very careful about our children. so enjoy the festival and stay blessed.

Thanks
Sourabhgupta.com