Breathing easy on Diwali

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board is honouring a girl from Narwana with a cash award for reporting her father for burning paddy straw in violation of the law. Whatever the repercussions for the family from the peculiar development, it at once underscores the gravity of the agro-environmental situation, and the conflict surrounding the issue in society. On the one hand is a health crisis for the population living in the region that is counted among those with the foulest air in the world, and on the other is inability of the farm sector to overcome the practice. Come Diwali, supposedly a festival of lights, and the health crisis aggravates to an existential crisis for children and the aged.

There are currently fires raging in farms across Punjab and Haryana, raising clouds of smoke, noticed most along highways as visibility is affected. This year, though, has been relatively better than the past few because of weather conditions. That is no cause for complacence. Punjab has turned a blind eye to the issue as the political executive does not want to discipline the farmers just ahead of elections. An effective solution, however, will come not from punitive action alone, but from developing new practices that make it worth the farmer’s while not to burn the residue. It causes harm to soil quality as well as air. But the current alternatives suggested by experts are beyond farmers’ means.

It is, however, that time of the year when we all want to celebrate life, and Diwali has come to symbolise that mood. The Prime Minister has used the occasion to urge the nation to express solidarity with its soldiers by sending them Diwali greetings. That is elevating the festival to a more secular plane, if not patriotic. But given the confused times we live in, a simple festival can give rise to passions that bring in everything from economy (Chinese crackers), patriotism and culture to religion. Be that as it may, it would be good if Mr Modi could add a direct appeal to all citizens to avoid crackers.