India should rely on itself to tackle the environmental challenges it must

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. That changing the behaviour of populations is a nigh-impossible task was visible, once again, during Diwali. The enormous media attention over the last couple of decades and judicial actions regulating the type and quantity of crackers that can be used have had very little impact on the actions of governments, unfortunately, and of society as well.

When political leaders themselves ignore a key institution, posit environmental action as anti-religious and undermine established scientific research on the deadly effects of a ‘temporary’ surge in pollution levels, it is not surprising that profit-seeking cracker sellers and people—who are healthy and prioritize enjoyment, turning a blind eye to the suffering it causes others—respond this way. As cracker control has many similarities with anti-smoking efforts, which have seen legislative action going back much longer, it is useful to see the experience from this perspective. Smoking-related morbidity and mortality are attributable to direct or near-direct action, unlike air pollution or climate change.

Globally, of the 8.7 million people who died prematurely from smoking in 2019, over 7.5 million were direct smokers and the rest passive smokers (IHME Global Burden of Disease report 2023). Concerted action by the scientific community, civil society organizations, different arms of government and the media has managed to significantly mitigate the threat of tobacco use. While the proportion of India’s smoking population has fallen from 50% in 2000, it was still at 27 % in 2020.