 Do you know, Tamil Nadu's chief minister, Mr. M.K. Stalin, wrote a letter to his Delhi counterpart, Mr. Arvind Kechriwal. In that letter, he mentioned about allowing firecrackers this Diwali in Delhi. Do you know why firecrackers are banned in Delhi? We are going to see about that in this video. So let's begin with the background of the issue. See, in 2017, the Supreme Court banned the use and sale of toxic crackers during the celebration owing to Diwali, Christmas, etc. This is on the basis of a petition filed by two infants. They pleaded for their right to life. So in response to that, the court dismissed arguments that bursting crackers was a fundamental right and an essential practice during religious festivals like Diwali. And it also held that the right to freedom of religion, Article 25, is subjected to right to life, Article 21. So the court said that, if a particular religious practice is threatening the health and life of people, such practice is not entitled to protect under Article 25. So this happened in 2017. Again, in December 2020, the NGT, that is the National Green Tribunal, they ordered that only green crackers which use less polluting raw materials would be permitted for Christmas and New Year in areas where the ambient air quality was in moderate or below category. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, NGT again prohibited the sale and use of firecrackers and the one who is worried about this order is the firecrackers companies. They argued that the ban was an impediment to their livelihoods. So in reply to this argument, the tribunal had reasoned that the right to business is not absolute under Article 19 1G and there is no right to violate air quality and noise level norms. So this is all about the background of the issue. So now let us see why Delhi is alone banning the burning of crackers. See the first reason is air pollution. To make matters worse, Delhi is cursed with poor geography as far as air pollution is concerned. See it has zero wins to carry away pollutants. That is the problem here. As we know that the capital city lies to the northeast of the Thardeset, to the northwest of the central plains and to the southwest of the Himalayas. Whenever winds arrive from the coast, they bring pollutants picked up along with them. All that pollutants gets trapped right before the Himalayas. So here the air pressure pushes from one direction and with the inability to escape quickly in the other, the particulate matter accumulates over the northern plains. See this accumulation and entrapment affects not only Delhi but the entire expanse between Punjab in the west to West Bengal in the east. Even this is a bowl that collects pollutants with only a narrow outlet for it to escape. That is what is happening in Delhi. So whenever vehicles emit pollutants and whenever a stubble is burned in the region nearby national capital region, this natural phenomenon along with the additional pollutants deteriorate the air quality of Delhi. Now to that list, burning crackers is also added, especially firecrackers. They are making Delhi a gas chamber. The issue does not stop there. This in turn causes health issues with prominent effects on children. Then animals also get affected due to noise pollution. So because of all these reasons, firecrackers are not allowed in Delhi. Now let us see the innovative impacts of the ban. First in the list is the loss to economy. See the Indian firecracker industry is the second largest in the world. As Sivakasi region in Tamil Nadu alone holds 85% of the manufacturing of firecrackers in the country, Tamil Nadu has legitimate concern about the fate of the firecracker industry. This in turn is affecting the livelihood for workers. Now the third impact is some still argue that the ban of fire workers infringes religious rights. So this leads us to the question of what can be done. See firstly, stricter implementation of environmental laws is a remedy. It is important for the government to organize anti-firecracker campaigns and discourage people from bursting firecrackers. Parents as well as children should be educated on the harmful effects of firecrackers and environmental laws should be implemented strictly. Secondly, there should be promotion of research and product development of green crackers as well. So these are all some of the important points that you have to note about why firecrackers are banned in Delhi. News articles related to environment or on the spotlight and to know more about environment related articles subscribe to Shankarayesh Academy YouTube channel. Thank you for listening.