{"id":1466,"date":"2016-07-20T18:50:07","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T18:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=1466"},"modified":"2016-07-20T18:50:07","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T18:50:07","slug":"diwali-firecrackers-banned-delhi-pollution-supreme-court-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

W<\/span>e were in Delhi for the historic Supreme Court <\/p>judgment<\/a>\u00a0that imposed time limits on bursting firecrackers during Diwali. As of now, the sale and manufacture of crackers are banned across the country except the ones specified by the Centre. Moreover, according to the judgement, crackers can only be burst from 8 pm to 10 pm and not during the day. As soon as the news broke, Delhi began to flood. Our first thought was that they\u2019d overdone substances at their Hauz Khas electro-classical spoken-word gig the night before, but they soon realised that the people of Delhi were actually crying a river over the judgement.\n\nCompletely befuddled by this paradox, we consulted PK Pachauri, the foremost climate-change scientist in India. At first, Pachauri also seemed distraught by the no patakha judgment, until we gently explained that the \u201cpatakha\u201d the court was referring to, was not the term of endearment Delhi men used for attractive women.\n\nRegaining his composure, Pachauri explained the flooding to us: \u201cSee, the judgment has changed everything for this city. Due to a sudden improvement in the quality of the air they breathe, everyone\u2019s brain has gone into toxic shock. This is an apocalyptic state, because Dilliwalas can\u2019t take it anymore. The first attack on their emotional well-being was the imposition of the odd-even formula. And now the clear sky has had an adverse effect.\u201d\n\nArmed with this stunning piece of information, we decided to take stock of Delhi as a cracker-less wasteland. The first person they met was the multi-hyphenate, IIT-IIM grad and generally smart person Chetan Bhagat, who said that he missed the thick smog<\/a> with his morning tea.\n\nW&B next encountered a group of young adults who were protesting at Jantar Mantar by furiously playing cards and chain-smoking hookahs. When asked about this novel way of protesting, they said that this was the last alternative and that there was no other way for them to get rid of their parents\u2019 black money. In any case, they\u2019d encountered massive losses by prematurely buying Delhi\u2019s most popular Diwali accessory: the face mask.\n

But the ban has hit Delhi\u2019s most prominent community, the Punjabis, the hardest.<\/blockquote>\nUnable to purchase any crackers, the community has decided to burn actual money. \u201cEvery year, when we would burn our 1000-ki-ladi at 2 am, our unsanskari neighbours would tell us to burn our notes instead,\u201d said one broken man. \u201cLast year, we had to do it because of demonetisation. Now we are used to it,\u201d he said, before dissolving in tears.\n\nThe rest of the city too was completely out of character. No one pulled out a gun at us at the traffic signal, and no one asked them whether they knew someone\u2019s father. At the time of filing this report, we were considering submitting a petition to the Supreme Court, pleading them to put an end to this monstrosity, and save Delhi\u2019s soul.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We visit Delhi after SC’s judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":1467,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[2537,334,2538,186,2539,2540,2541,2542,2543,2544,978,2545,2546,951,2547,2548],"class_list":["post-1466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-disarre","tag-death-by-breath","tag-delhi","tag-delhi-pollution","tag-diwali","tag-diwali-firecrackers","tag-diwli-2017","tag-firecrackers-banned","tag-firecrackers-banned-in-delhi","tag-firecrackers-in-diwali","tag-firecrackers-pollution","tag-pollution","tag-pollution-in-delhi","tag-smog","tag-supreme-court","tag-supreme-court-bans-crackers","tag-verdict"],"yoast_head":"\nEXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arr\u00e9\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-20T18:50:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1520\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arr\u00e9 Bench\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arr\u00e9 Bench\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9 Bench\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3162a11ec8fc96b1945b22a7db113076\"},\"headline\":\"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-20T18:50:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466\"},\"wordCount\":496,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1540275563.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"death by breath\",\"delhi\",\"delhi pollution\",\"Diwali\",\"diwali firecrackers\",\"diwli 2017\",\"firecrackers banned\",\"firecrackers banned in delhi\",\"firecrackers in diwali\",\"firecrackers pollution\",\"Pollution\",\"pollution in delhi\",\"smog\",\"Supreme Court\",\"supreme court bans crackers\",\"verdict\"],\"articleSection\":[\"DisArr\u00e9\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466\",\"name\":\"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1540275563.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-20T18:50:07+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3162a11ec8fc96b1945b22a7db113076\"},\"description\":\"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1540275563.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/1540275563.jpg\",\"width\":1520,\"height\":850},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?p=1466#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9\",\"description\":\"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/13.201.39.237\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3162a11ec8fc96b1945b22a7db113076\",\"name\":\"Arr\u00e9 Bench\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/27785a75876f863a9969da540f665bb7d59053f4669b2653c29a6ffd987bcfbb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/27785a75876f863a9969da540f665bb7d59053f4669b2653c29a6ffd987bcfbb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/27785a75876f863a9969da540f665bb7d59053f4669b2653c29a6ffd987bcfbb?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arr\u00e9 Bench\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.arre.co.in\\\/?author=30\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects","description":"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects","og_description":"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466","og_site_name":"Arr\u00e9","article_published_time":"2016-07-20T18:50:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1520,"height":850,"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arr\u00e9 Bench","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects","twitter_description":"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arr\u00e9 Bench","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466"},"author":{"name":"Arr\u00e9 Bench","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/3162a11ec8fc96b1945b22a7db113076"},"headline":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects","datePublished":"2016-07-20T18:50:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466"},"wordCount":496,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg","keywords":["death by breath","delhi","delhi pollution","Diwali","diwali firecrackers","diwli 2017","firecrackers banned","firecrackers banned in delhi","firecrackers in diwali","firecrackers pollution","Pollution","pollution in delhi","smog","Supreme Court","supreme court bans crackers","verdict"],"articleSection":["DisArr\u00e9"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466","name":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-20T18:50:07+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/3162a11ec8fc96b1945b22a7db113076"},"description":"We visit Delhi after SC's judgement that banned the sale of crackers and imposed a two hour time limit on bursting green crackers. Even the idea of clean air has sent everyone\u2019s brain into toxic shock.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg","width":1520,"height":850},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?p=1466#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EXCLUSIVE: Firecracker Ban Ke Side Effects"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#website","url":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/","name":"Arr\u00e9","description":"In every person lies a creator and in every creator, an enterprise.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/#\/schema\/person\/3162a11ec8fc96b1945b22a7db113076","name":"Arr\u00e9 Bench","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27785a75876f863a9969da540f665bb7d59053f4669b2653c29a6ffd987bcfbb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27785a75876f863a9969da540f665bb7d59053f4669b2653c29a6ffd987bcfbb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/27785a75876f863a9969da540f665bb7d59053f4669b2653c29a6ffd987bcfbb?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arr\u00e9 Bench"},"url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/?author=30"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1540275563.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arre.co.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}