The ‘green’ crackers you buy this Diwali are likely illegal

Why read this story?

Editor's note: On 29 September, the Sivakasi unit of the Tamil Nadu Fireworks and Matchbox Workers’ Union organized a protest. Meant to draw attention to the state of workers in the city’s firecracker industry, it was called the “Great Demonstration”. The workers’ woes are linked to the Supreme Court’s orders. In 2017 and 2018, it had banned the manufacture and sale of joined firecrackers (laris) and those containing toxic chemicals. A well-intentioned initiative, it was meant to pave the way for eco-friendly “green” crackers. But it led to factory suspensions, job losses and wage cutbacks in Sivakasi. “And it still did not stop the manufacture of banned crackers,” says B.N. Jyotimani, president of the Sivakasi unit of the union. “It only drove them underground.”  The protest was a call to fix the fallout of these orders. The union has four principal demands: increase wages, exempt the fireworks industry from environmental regulations, stop the arbitrary closure of factories and take action against officials involved in bribery. The last one, Jyotimani explains, is actually a demand to stop the production of illegal crackers. “A …