The Crossbill News Desk
Delhi’s air pollution reached alarming levels during and after Diwali, with several parts of the capital recording ‘severe’ air quality and PM2.5 concentrations many times higher than the World Health Organisation’s recommended limits.
Against this backdrop, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has claimed that firecrackers traditionally used during the festival helped eliminate insects and pests and purified the atmosphere.
Speaking at a Diwali gathering in Nagpur on Tuesday (November 10), Bhagwat said that traditional firecrackers were free of the harmful chemicals found in those used today.
“The firecrackers of earlier times were not made using chemical substances as they are today. Their smoke helped kill insects and pests, particularly around the harvest season, and in a way, purified the atmosphere,” he said.
Delhi recorded its fourth-highest daily average PM2.5 concentration of the year on November 8, making it one of the most polluted Diwali days in a decade, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
He also argued that lighting lamps with ghee or oil had an impact on the surrounding air.
“When lamps fuelled by ghee or oil were lit, they created a particular kind of air in the environment. There was science behind these traditional practices,” he said, invoking the phrase Vatavaran shuddh, jeevan shuddh (a clean environment leads to a pure life), news agency PTI reported.
Bhagwat called for an environment-friendly Diwali, urging people to understand the purpose behind traditional customs instead of observing them without knowing their significance. He also described dharma as a force that brings society together and said women often understand it more deeply than men.
The pollution levels recorded in Delhi around the festival, however, presented a stark contrast to Bhagwat’s claims about the environmental benefits of traditional celebrations.
According to The Hindu, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 370 at 9 am on Monday (November 9), a day after Diwali, placing the city in the ‘very poor’ category, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
The Times of India reported that the capital’s average AQI on Diwali was 376, while PTI said it had settled at 371 by 10 am on Monday, with smog and fog enveloping large parts of the city.
Several localities, including Chandni Chowk, ITO, Rohini, Mundka and Delhi University’s North Campus, continued to record ‘severe’ air quality even after the festival.
“99 out of 100 most polluted cities in the World are in India right now,” the official account of AQI India, a private air quality monitoring platform, said in a post on X.
The hourly pollution readings were considerably worse than the citywide averages. Data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), cited by The Hindu, showed that PM2.5 levels at Punjabi Bagh reached 993 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) at 4 am on Monday, around 66 times the World Health Organisation’s 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³. Vivek Vihar recorded 873 µg/m³ at 2 am, while R.K. Puram registered 924 µg/m³ at 10 pm on Sunday.
The sharp deterioration in air quality once again brought the health and environmental consequences of Diwali pollution into focus, as large parts of the national capital continued to grapple with hazardous levels of particulate matter.
Against this backdrop, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat has claimed that firecrackers traditionally used during the festival helped eliminate insects and pests and purified the atmosphere.
Speaking at a Diwali gathering in Nagpur on Tuesday (November 10), Bhagwat said that traditional firecrackers were free of the harmful chemicals found in those used today.
“The firecrackers of earlier times were not made using chemical substances as they are today. Their smoke helped kill insects and pests, particularly around the harvest season, and in a way, purified the atmosphere,” he said.
Delhi recorded its fourth-highest daily average PM2.5 concentration of the year on November 8, making it one of the most polluted Diwali days in a decade, according to an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
He also argued that lighting lamps with ghee or oil had an impact on the surrounding air.
“When lamps fuelled by ghee or oil were lit, they created a particular kind of air in the environment. There was science behind these traditional practices,” he said, invoking the phrase Vatavaran shuddh, jeevan shuddh (a clean environment leads to a pure life), news agency PTI reported.
Bhagwat called for an environment-friendly Diwali, urging people to understand the purpose behind traditional customs instead of observing them without knowing their significance. He also described dharma as a force that brings society together and said women often understand it more deeply than men.
The pollution levels recorded in Delhi around the festival, however, presented a stark contrast to Bhagwat’s claims about the environmental benefits of traditional celebrations.
According to The Hindu, Delhi’s 24-hour average Air Quality Index (AQI) stood at 370 at 9 am on Monday (November 9), a day after Diwali, placing the city in the ‘very poor’ category, according to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) data.
The Times of India reported that the capital’s average AQI on Diwali was 376, while PTI said it had settled at 371 by 10 am on Monday, with smog and fog enveloping large parts of the city.
Several localities, including Chandni Chowk, ITO, Rohini, Mundka and Delhi University’s North Campus, continued to record ‘severe’ air quality even after the festival.
“99 out of 100 most polluted cities in the World are in India right now,” the official account of AQI India, a private air quality monitoring platform, said in a post on X.
The hourly pollution readings were considerably worse than the citywide averages. Data from the Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC), cited by The Hindu, showed that PM2.5 levels at Punjabi Bagh reached 993 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m³) at 4 am on Monday, around 66 times the World Health Organisation’s 24-hour guideline of 15 µg/m³. Vivek Vihar recorded 873 µg/m³ at 2 am, while R.K. Puram registered 924 µg/m³ at 10 pm on Sunday.
The sharp deterioration in air quality once again brought the health and environmental consequences of Diwali pollution into focus, as large parts of the national capital continued to grapple with hazardous levels of particulate matter.
Comments (0)
Leave a Comment