From being declared as the most polluted city by the WHO in 2014 to being downgraded to the eleventh position in 2016, Delhi has undergone tremendous changes in fighting air pollutants. With over 10500 deaths occurring annually due to pollutants, the Supreme Court of India decided to ban the sale of fireworks during 'Diwali', the festival of lights, on the occasion of which a majority of the country bursts fireworks to mark the victory of good over evil.

The decision of the Supreme Court was welcomed by the youth as well as many government authorities in Delhi. Mr. Vijay Panjwani, counsel of the Central Pollution Control Board said that the decision was a landmark one because 'Diwali is a festival of lights, not pollution'. Although the Supreme Court intends to check if the pollution levels have actually gone down post-Diwali or not, and then decide whether to continue this ban for the upcoming years.

Although a few sects of people argued that this ban was against the principles of freedom of religion, it should be kept in mind that diseases caused due to pollution are non-sectarian and this one world is all we have that we need to protect with whatever we can. 

This just goes on to show that the public in general need to be educated more about the harmful nature of air pollution and the alarming rate at which it is eating our cities. As mentioned earlier, the youth were in all support of this decision, which goes on to show the understanding and solidarity amongst them, but the older and albeit less educated generations need to understand that we need to rise about religion and fun to actually achieve victory of good over evil.

I hope that in the coming years, more such directives are taken by law enforcement agencies, governments and the public in general to protect our nature that has given us so much.