Alas, the festival of light has been mutated so much that "diya" gradually got replaced by candles and candles eventually replaced electric lamps and glitters. We are pacing up the ladder of modernization so fast that we are not even realizing that in this rat race we also picked up many other trends which is now eating up the entire ecosystem. The festival of light and prosperity has now become a festival of noise, hazards, accidents and choked up atmosphere.
I feel that there is NO .. absolutely NO reason left to keep the cracker culture still up. Time has changed and its calling us to change as well. India (or world) 100 years ago is not the same. The environment with various kinds of pollutants in it has become like a ticking time bomb which is ready to explode any day. And before I proceed with the answer in detail I would say that its not about Diwali or Hindus. Its about every indian. Its about every indian because festivals are just an excuse. We light up crackers on every indian festival including new year.
As a responsible generation we should think about preserving our environment so that the generations to come can enjoy and live the way we are living. So that the generations to come does not ends up cursing us for being selfish.
There are many ways of looking at this ticking time bomb issue but I will try to enumerate as many as possible.
Noise Pollution - Crackers that make a noise of more than 125 decibels at four metres distance from the point of bursting are banned by the law. Given here are the hazards posed by excessive noise pollution caused by crackers:
1. Hearing loss, high blood pressure, heart attack and sleeping disturbances.
2. Sudden exposure to loud noise could cause temporary deafness or permanent relative deafness
Cracker's create noise pollution upto 170 decibels. Its shocking because the ideal or normal level of sound of firecrackers must be below or around 80 decibels. Which means that the crackers available in market are almost twice as loud as what they should be. ENT specialists claim that damage to ear membranes due to a sound explosion which has intensity greater than 100 decibels is often irreversible.
Air Pollution - Air pollution levels in big cities are appalling at the best of times and are a growing cause for concern. The Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter (RSPM) - dust, fumes, smoke, and gases - is way above permissible limits in many of our big cities. This level sees a quantum jump during festivals, the main culprits being crackers, inflammable substances, and artificial colors. Air pollution can lead to lung cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, and allergies in adults. It can also cause acute respiratory infections in children. Suspended particulate matter can cause asthma, bronchitis, and other respiratory disease
> Sulfur dioxide can damage lungs and lead to lung disorders like wheezing and shortness of breath.
> Oxides of Nitrogen can cause skin problems, eye irritation, and cause respiratory problems in children.
> Chemicals used in crackers like lead, magnesium, cadmium, nitrate, sodium, and others can have various harmful effects.
Irate Animals - Animals have a far more sharper sense of hearing than the humans, the noise of crackers has a terrifying effect on them. Fireworks generate a noise level higher than the noise from gunshots and low-level flying jets. For animals, fireworks are no cause for celebration. Firework displays and celebrations bring confusion, anxiety, and fear into the animals, whether they are on the streets, in the farms or as pets in our house.
Health Hazards - Children and even adults in excitement often forget that these crackers are really hazardous. The smoke of fireworks consists of toxic dusts (particulate matter up to 10 micrometres in size) that easily enter the lungs and represent a real danger for those already sick as well as for the healthy.
Those most affected are children, the elderly, and those sensitive individuals with respiratory conditions. When you inhale smoke from firecrackers, it enters your breathing tube. The chemicals in the smoke irritate the breathing tube, causing inflammation (swelling). Careless and reckless handling of fireworks causes burn injuries of various degrees. As an estimate, minor or major injuries resulting from crackers on diwali increase as much as 200% during the Diwali week.
Property Damage - The property damage can be viewed in two ways
a) Direct - Reckless fire works often lead to damage to house or cars. These damage could be really frightening as many insurance companies do not pay for property damage due to carelessly induced fire.
b) indirect - Lighting crackers on diwali is like lighting fire to money. Its like you buy crackers worth thousands of rupees and then you set it on fire. Enjoy its noise and sparkle and its gone in air forever.
Overspending by consumers - In a country where every 1 out of 3rd Indian lives below poverty line, its really very depressing to see that on this day the consumerism enthusiasm in India reaches to its limit. The festival of light and prosperity now has become a festival of power display. The consumers are in a race of buying the most powerful, expensive and flamboyant fireworks. Sometimes parents buy even beyond their spending capacity to make their children happy.
Forced Child labor in disguise of cracker industry - This is an alarming situation across the country.
Apologies for the EXTRA LONG answer - but given the kind of intellectual readers on Quora, I thought this is the best platform to answer this question elaborately.
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