SMOKE FROM FIREWORKS MINOR COMPARED TO SMOKE FROM FARM FIRES

While the Chief Justice is right that a ban on farm fires cannot be enforced, the Supreme Court can definitely order that the Groundwater Preservation Act be repealed.

- ARVIND KUMAR

In late 2022, the Supreme Court dismissied a petition seeking a ban on farm fires, with Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud asking the petitioner, "So, we ban it? You think, it is going to stop then? Can we enforce such a ban against every farmer across Punjab and Uttar Pradesh? Let's have some genuine solutions." Just days earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to grant an urgent hearing to another petitioner challenging the Delhi government's ban on fireworks.

In that case, the Supreme Court stated, "Let people breathe clean air...spend your money on sweets."

The hope that banning fireworks during Diwali would result in clean air in Delhi even as farmers in Punjab were allowed to burn the crop stubble in their fields without interference calls for a proper analysis of various sources of smoke. Although smoke contains carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other gases and particulate matter, one of the main ingredients of smoke is carbon dioxide, and it is reasonable to assume that comparing the amount of carbon dioxide released by various sources will tell us about the quantity of smoke that originated from various sources.