Noiseless Diwali as most abstain from crackers

New Delhi: A majority of people, two in three households, have no plans to burst crackers this Diwali for several reasons including growing pollution and non-availability of crackers due to ban imposed by authorities, according to a survey by a community social media platform.

Around 42 per cent of households are in favour of some type of ban on cracker-bursting on Diwali while 53 per cent are not in support of any restrictions, the survey conducted by LocalCircles showed. Many households do not want to burst crackers because they believe crackers cause pollution and many consider it a wasteful spending, it said. The survey is based on responses from 28,000 citizens from across 371 districts of India.

Moreover, many households have lost a family member this year or have a family member still struggling with the Covid-19 pandemic or other ailments and hence not celebrating. Besides, there are others who are facing a financial crisis due to a lost livelihood, whose number is around 2-3 per cent, it added. "Coming to crackers, on an aggregate basis, 2 in 3 households will not burn crackers this Diwali.

This question in the survey received 9,363 responses," the survey said. The first question in the survey, having a sample size of 28,000, asked citizens about their plan to burst firecrackers this Diwali. "In response, the majority of 45 per cent of citizens said they will not be burning any crackers. However, there was 15 per cent of citizens who said that they will be burning green crackers and 11 per cent will just be burning sparklers but no crackers and six per cent will be burning regular crackers," it said.

Around five per cent said they do not have a choice as crackers are banned in their city/district, while 10 per cent could not reply and eight per cent said "not applicable" or do not plan to celebrate Diwali this year. In the survey, 42 per cent of households believed crackers are a wasteful spending in addition to the pollution they cause. However, a majority of 53 per cent said no restrictions need to be placed as crackers are not the root cause of pollution. While 28 per cent voted for a national ban on crackers, eight per cent were in favour of a State-level ban on crackers where pollution levels are high.