UPSC Darpan

Environment & EcologyGS31 October 2026

Supreme Court rejects total Deepavali cracker ban, backs limited use of new green crackers

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The news

New Delhi. On Wednesday, September 30, a Supreme Court Bench of Justices M.M. Sundresh and P.B. Varale ruled out a nationwide firecracker ban for Deepavali, accepting CSIR-NEERI’s suggestion of a “limited and conditional relaxation”, The Hindu and The Economic Times report. CSIR-NEERI is the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Additional Solicitor-General Aishwarya Bhati said NEERI recommends “next-generation joined green crackers”, a string of crackers fired in sequence, made only by licensed makers, within a 125 dB(AI)/145 dB(C) peak noise limit and free of barium. NEERI’s tests show about 30% lower emissions than conventional joined crackers. “Total ban will hurt certain sentiments… At the same time, we will not allow a 24-hour bursting anywhere,” the Bench said. It will fix time windows after a pending CPCB report on barium crackers and decibel tests. The case is Arjun Gopal v. Union of India.

The chain in one line: Delhi’s winter smog peaks around Deepavali → Children’s petition in Arjun Gopal leads to sales bans from 2016 → Court accepts NEERI green crackers as a middle path from 2018 → Bans prove hard to enforce and festival sentiment hardens → Court rejects a total ban and moves to time windows and tested formulations

Static syllabus linkage

  1. Clean air is part of the right to life under Article 21. In Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar (1991), the Supreme Court held that the right to life includes the right to enjoy pollution-free water and air. The M.C. Mehta cases applied it to Delhi’s air, from CNG buses onward. In Arjun Gopal, filed in 2015 for three infants, the Court on October 23, 2018 allowed only improved and green crackers, banned joined crackers and barium salts, and set an 8–10 pm Deepavali window.
  2. Who regulates crackers: PESO, CPCB and CAQM each hold a piece. The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO) licenses the manufacture and storage of fireworks under the Explosives Act, 1884. The Central Pollution Control Board sets and tests emission and noise standards. The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas, a statutory body under a 2021 Act, coordinates winter action across Delhi and neighbouring States.

Why UPSC loves this

  1. GS3 “environmental pollution and degradation” meets GS2 on the judiciary’s role. Judicial governance of pollution recurs: courts set standards, timings and tests where executive agencies have not.

Prelims nuggets

  • Green crackers were developed by CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, with lower emissions than conventional crackers and without banned chemicals such as barium nitrate.
  • The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation licenses fireworks manufacture under the Explosives Act, 1884.
  • Subhash Kumar v. State of Bihar (1991) read the right to pollution-free air and water into Article 21.
  • The Commission for Air Quality Management in NCR and Adjoining Areas is a statutory body created by a 2021 Act of Parliament.

Analysis

  1. Lens — Tradition and social justice: the Court is trading a symbolic ban for an enforceable one. A total ban sounds strong but is widely ignored, so it protects lungs only on paper. Short windows and licensed green crackers ask less of people and are likelier to be obeyed. The cost falls on those the Bench named — the sick, the elderly and children. A careful officer would back the window but pair it with checks on illegal stock, because the compromise works only if conventional crackers disappear.
  2. Firecrackers are a short, sharp spike, not the main source of winter smog. Vehicles, dust and farm fires drive Delhi’s season-long pollution; crackers add a sudden peak on one still night. Time windows cap that spike, but fixing crackers without the winter calendar would be a gesture.
  3. Science-led orders are only as good as the testing behind them. Waiting for CPCB’s barium and decibel tests is sound, but the rules may then arrive close to Deepavali, leaving makers and police little time. Regulators must test before the season, not during it.

Possible Mains question

“Neither a total ban nor unrestricted use.” Comment on the Supreme Court’s approach to firecrackers in balancing Article 21 with festive practice. (10 marks, 150 words)

Model approach

  1. Directive — Comment. Give a reasoned opinion on whether the middle path works.
  2. Introduction — the Bench rejected a total ban on September 30. Name Arjun Gopal and NEERI’s 30% lower-emission crackers.
  3. Body — time windows target the one-night spike that bans failed to stop. Value addition: Subhash Kumar (1991) on clean air under Article 21.
  4. Body — the compromise fails without stock checks and timely CPCB testing. Draw a flowchart: NEERI formula → PESO licence → CPCB test → police check at sale.
  5. Conclusion — enforceable limits beat unenforced bans. Pair it with the winter calendar.

Administrator's brainstorm

As a District Magistrate in NCR, how would you enforce a two-hour green-cracker window on Deepavali night?

I would license only sellers with PESO-licensed, CPCB-labelled stock, and raid godowns for conventional crackers a fortnight before the festival. On the night, police and resident welfare associations would share a helpline, with fines announced in advance. Portable air and noise monitors would publish readings next day. Messaging should present the window as a shared limit, not a ban on the festival.