This Diwali, in its attempt to reconcile the festivity with environmental responsibility, the Supreme Court has approved ‘green firecrackers’ – an oxymoron if there ever was one. 

These ‘green firecrackers’ promise the same glittery spectacle, the same noisy fanfare, but with fewer pollutants. On paper, they are the compromise between tradition and environmental responsibility. The Supreme Court’s decision is being framed as a “win” for the environment – we’re told these crackers produce 30-40 percent less particulate matter than traditional ones and reduce certain harmful emissions. 

Marketed as safe, modern and responsible, they almost seem comforting to our conscience.

But a firecracker is, at its core, a chemical explosion that creates a puff of particulates, colour and noise. In a country where air quality routinely plummets to levels deemed hazardous by every international standard, green firecrackers do little more than provide a rhetorical fig leaf for indulgence.The debate surrounding their use is less about environmental consciousness and more about avoiding the reality that a tradition, however cherished, is exacting a heavy, measurable cost on our health. 

At the heart of this debate is the clash between cultural sentiments and scientific evidence. Diwali, Deepavali, Deepotsav, whatever your preferred name is, is a festival of light, joy, and familial celebration. 

For generations, bursting firecrackers has been woven into its narrative. Yet the continued insistence on creating colours and sounds using fire techniques ignores the evolutionary shift in our lives. The days of wondering at the magic of creating day like light at night are long gone, but somehow the practice trumps the incontrovertible facts of our lives.

Air pollution is no longer a background nuisance. It is a major public health threat, as tangible as diet, exercise, or smoking. Year after year, we read and ignore the increased patients in pulmonary wards of our hospitals. We ignore the reduced lung capacity of children in our cities, and have been doing it for almost a decade.

To understand what is at stake, we must look beyond the ephemeral spectacle. 

The science of smoke

Firecrackers release a complex cocktail of chemicals, including particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), heavy metals like lead, copper, compounds of barium, strontium and other irritants. 

These particles do not merely irritate; they penetrate deep into the respiratory system, exacerbate asthma or other bronchial problems, reduce our lung function and trigger oxidative stress – a biochemical imbalance in which reactive oxygen species damage cells faster than antioxidants can repair them.

Now, a green firecracker may indeed reduce some pollutants. But it still burns chemicals that contribute to PM2.5 and PM10 levels – particulates that enter our bloodstream. This assault on our respiratory systems produces reactive oxygen species in the body, overwhelming antioxidants, which tips the delicate balance in our bodies toward oxidative stress. 

This is not mere speculation. Studies conducted on PM2.5 toxicity, such as the work by Abhijit Chatterjee and colleagues at the Bose Institute, have shown that once pollution crosses certain thresholds – that is, around 70 µg/m³ – the body’s antioxidant defenses are overwhelmed, leaving cells vulnerable to reactive oxygen species. This imbalance impairs not only respiratory function but also cardiovascular health, cognitive performance, and immune responses.

Similar studies globally corroborate these findings. The Harvard School of Public Health has linked short-term PM2.5 spikes to increased hospital admissions and premature mortality. Research published in The Lancet demonstrates that prolonged exposure to fine particulate matter contributes to neurodegenerative disorders and reduced IQ in children. Every firecracker burst adds to this invisible yet cumulative toll.

And this problem is not confined to any one state or a city. Consider the capital of New Delhi, where Diwali is synonymous with a spike in pollution.

Every year, Delhi’s air quality tells the truth that no amount of greenwashing can hide. Monitoring data from previous years shows that PM2.5 concentrations often skyrocket to over 400 µg/m³ immediately after Diwali night – 10 times the “safe” annual limit defined by the World Health Organization. Short-term exposure at these levels is linked to acute respiratory distress, spikes in hospital admissions for asthma, and long-term decline in lung function, especially among children and the elderly.

Some Delhiites may laugh at the limits mentioned above, because we know that extreme days of pollution in the city double or even triple these levels.

No political will 

Meanwhile, the legal framework around firecrackers is clear – but impotent.

In 2017, the Supreme Court imposed a blanket ban on firecrackers in Delhi and the National Capital Region. The court’s order was unequivocal: air quality could no longer be sacrificed for ritualistic pyrotechnics. But the ban was ignored. Every year, the violators, which range from local households to street vendors, continue to burn firecrackers. Enforcement has been non-existent, fines are symbolic, and the judiciary’s authority has been reduced to rhetorical gestures rather than the effective deterrent it was meant to be.

This is precisely where green firecrackers enter the discourse as a symbolic compromise. By allowing so-called “safer” alternatives, courts attempt to reconcile public sentiment with environmental and health concerns. But symbolism cannot replace enforcement or accountability. Judicial orders, however well-intentioned, mean nothing without political will. And if we look at Delhi, that political will seems to be glaringly absent.

Take the response of Delhi’s Chief Minister Rekha Gupta to the Supreme Court’s acquiescence to green firecrackers. The Delhi CM has publicly endorsed the use of green crackers, framing it as a celebration of culture and tradition. Although the government is ostensibly supportive of environmental concerns, the rhetoric prioritises sentiment over science, health or precaution.Those who govern us are effectively signaling that maintaining tradition matters more than protecting citizens from measurable harm. 

It is telling that political leaders rarely highlight the empirical evidence that is readily available: the spikes in PM2.5, the stress caused by inhaled particulates, the long-term cognitive and respiratory impact on children and the elderly. Instead, the conversation remains framed around sentiment, nostalgia, faith and cultural identity. In other words, governance enables avoidance, while green firecrackers become a sacrificial scapegoat for collective denial.

The cost of denial

The question we must ask ourselves is uncomfortable: are we willing to pay for this cultural indulgence with the health of our children and ourselves?

Every firecracker represents a dose of toxic air, a compromise in lung capacity, a slight impairment in cognitive potential. Are we ready to trade our breath of fresh air for nostalgia and neon sparks in the sky? Think about it, we are stunting the cognitive abilities of our future generations for a flash of smoke and bangs.

Policy must respond to science, not sentiment. Annual limits, daily exposure caps, and city-wide emergency responses are meaningless if enforcement is selective. The sale and bursting windows stipulated by the SC are disconnected from the reality of how markets work, and more importantly, how people celebrate. If a blanket ban couldn’t be implemented, how does one ensure that the cracker use is confined to select hours of a day? How would one examine if the next bomb lit up by your neighbour was “green” or not green? Once it bursts, it’s gone, like passing gas in the wind, which also singes your nostrils but never gives away what delicacy created that potent mix.

The Bose Institute’s findings on toxicity thresholds highlight an urgent need for toxicity-based air quality standards, not mere concentration limits. Green firecrackers, in their current form, are a symbolic gesture - politically expedient, scientifically insufficient, morally questionable.

Ultimately, this debate is a mirror: it reflects a society unwilling to confront the costs of its rituals. Each year, the spectacle of lights masks a reality of toxic air, hospital admissions, and compromised human potential. True progress would require abandoning or radically transforming practices that harm us under the guise of tradition.

I love Diwali. This is not a call to extinguish the celebration of light and truth and love. The joy it represents need not be suffocated. Our innovation lies in celebrating safely, in honoring tradition without poisoning the next generation. 

But until the illusion of “green” firecrackers is exposed for what it is – a convenient scapegoat – the debate will remain an exercise in denial and a costly gamble with our health.

This is precisely why we run a year-long campaign called #FightToBreathe at Newslaundry. Because air pollution is a crisis for every single one of us. Support the campaign here.

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