Indian law students are reporting for JURIST on law-related developments in and affecting India. This dispatch is from Sambhav Sharma, JURIST’s Deputy Dispatches Editor and a law clerk at the Supreme Court of India. He files from New Delhi.
It is that time of the year again when smoke blankets major parts of India, especially the capital of Delhi. And just like every year, the air quality has worsened around the festival of Diwali. India, along with the world, celebrated Diwali on 24th October. The festival of lights, as it is popularly referred to, is greeted with celebration throughout the country, especially within Hindu communities. However, one vice attached to the festivities of Diwali is the bursting of firecrackers, which can produce considerable smoke.
Last year, JURIST covered the Supreme Court proceedings where the bench comprising the then-Chief Justice NV Ramana, Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Surya Kant came down heavily on the Centre and the Delhi State government for the lack of action taken against firecracker-bursting around Diwali, leading to severe pollution in and around Delhi. Unfortunately, this issue has become recurring, with concerns about the air quality rising every year, only to be brushed under the carpet after a few weeks of hue and cry.
This year, just like previous years, the air quality in Delhi and various parts of India has taken a massive dip. On opening the weather application on my phone as I write this, I see that the air quality is ‘very poor’ in Delhi, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 339. During evenings, it worsens from ‘very poor’ to ‘severe’. This, while alarming, seems to have become the new normal, especially for Delhiites, with no fix in sight.
To clarify, it is not the case that the government does not try to nip the issue in the bud. On Wednesday, 19 October, in light of the already worsening air quality in Delhi due to several reasons such as stubble burning in neighboring States, the Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai proclaimed that people who buy and burst firecrackers in Delhi during Diwali would be fined INR 200 and could face imprisonment up to six months. This followed the earlier ban on production, sale, use of firecrackers, including green crackers, which the Delhi government imposed till January, 2023. However, I am surely not the only person who can attest to the fact that this Diwali, like every year, firecrackers were bought and used rather liberally. This points directly at the lack of law enforcement because let’s face it, locating those who are bursting firecrackers is not exactly an uphill battle, with the loud noise and smoke emissions clear as day. I feel that a certain level of complacency has crept into the law enforcement bodies. Either that, or they willfully ignore the large quantities of firecrackers being sold, purchased, and used in Delhi.
The problem does not end here. While decreasing air quality is a major concern for Delhiites, another issue is the action taken by the authorities after Diwali. Every year, once the damage has been done, the authorities suddenly rise from their slumber and start imposing sanctions and measures to control the worsening situation. This is done in the form of, inter alia, banning construction work in Delhi. Anticipating that the AQI might fall to 400, that is, ‘severe’ condition, Delhi Environment Minister Gopal Rai on Sunday, 30 October announced that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Delhi has decided to implement the Commission for Air Quality Management’s (CAQM) order, imposing a ban on construction and demolition activities in the national capital. Further, to apparently shrug off the responsibility and accountability of the current air quality, he blamed the air condition on the diesel buses that enter Delhi from the State of Uttar Pradesh. While I already felt that the government should have taken preemptive measures to ensure that the air quality is not affected due to the festivities and control the use of firecrackers, the fact that it now chooses to further refuse to accept its fault is despicable.
What we also often fail to acknowledge is the hardship faced by the daily wage workers in Delhi, especially the ones involved in construction activities. While it is easy to stop all construction and demolition in Delhi as a measure to curb pollution, the government forgets that there are many who live on the earnings from these activities. Due to the halting of construction in Delhi, these daily wage workers are robbed of their only source of income, thereby forcing them to desperately look for other sources, which is not easy, relocate, or perish. This action also violates the workers’ right to earn a livelihood, all because of the government’s inaction to control an inevitable problem.
While the intention of the government is unclear, what I can gauge is the lack of planning, preparation, and enforcement of laws. What good are the policies if they are not properly enforced? How will banning sale and use of firecrackers benefit the population if there is no one to keep a check on the violations? And most importantly, how can we ask the people to be accountable for their actions when the government itself refuses to acknowledge its fault and rather blame their inadequacies on governments of other States?
At this point, I am writing not as a journalist or a lawyer, but as a disappointed citizen who has lost faith in the Delhi government and law enforcement mechanisms. If we are compelled to raise this issue every year, only for it to be forgotten soon enough and brought up again when the crisis revisits, is there even a point?
