By: Astha Raghav 

DIWALI and one can hear the sounds of firecrackers exploding from all directions. People of all age groups are fascinated with firecrackers, which form a prominent part of the Diwali celebrations. Firecrackers are known to cause air pollution as well as noise pollution and are extremely harmful for senior citizens and small children.   Pets such as dogs and cats also suffer on account of firecrackers as animals have a more sensitive sense of hearing than humans. 

Firecrackers can cause hearing loss, high blood pressure, sleeping disturbances and sudden exposure to loud noise can cause temporary or permanent deafness or even result in heart attack. 

Diwali is the biggest festival of India and its sanctity should not be blown away in smoke. This festival of goodwill can be celebrated in a number of ways other than bursting firecrackers.

Let each one of us take a pledge THIS DIWALI to “SAY NO TO CRACKERS” and invest in a safer and greener future. Diwali is the festival of lights and we must enlighten our lives with the sparkle of joy and goodwill, forget past grievances and look ahead towards a brighter and happier future.

Over the years several Bollywood celebrities have vowed against bursting crackers during Diwali and some have made good use of social media to raise awareness regarding the ills they cause not just to the environment but also humans and animals. In 2017, actress Alia Bhatt started the #PoochOverPataka campaign as she couldn’t bear to see her pet suffer due to the noise pollution. Anushka Sharma followed it with #PAWsitive. Each year, several artists speak of their concerns over health, pollution and the amount of waste bursting crackers causes.

“I remember as a boy I used to love firecrackers and I’m not going to be ashamed of that. But now I believe the time of crackers is over,” actor Boman Irani told MAIL TODAY. “One should understand that. Environmentally, for older people, for dogs, for your own lungs, for all the money that could have been put to better use Even the noise I can’t stand anymore. I find it tough to find a positive, except for the sparkling colours they give.”

Actress Isha Koppikar agreed and said celebrating a “green” Diwali is an excellent idea. “Instead donate your old stuff to the needy people, avoid plastic for gifts packaging, make rangoli with flowers, flour or rice products, gift herbal products or a plant. Buy earthen lamps or diyas and avoid using decorative electric lights. This Diwali let the Earth breathe,” she said.

But as they say charity begins at home and The Family Man actor Sunny Hinduja makes sure he doesn’t burst crackers and encourages his nephew and niece not to do it either.

“I was in Indore one Diwali with my brother and bhabhi, and I came home from the hostel to celebrate with them. I remember we were trying to burst what was known as the Laxmi Bomb’ but it wouldn’t light and we were scared because we had heard horror stories of it suddenly bursting when you went near it. So we waited for a long time and when I did go to check, it literally burst in my face,” recalled Hinduja. “If you don’t burst crackers on Diwali, it doesn’t mean you are breaking tradition. Traditions are made by us and it’s time we evolve, considering pollution, cutting down trees global warming, so much is happening. So even if it’s not such a big contribution from our side, we shouldn’t burst crackers and tell others not to do it either. That’s our responsibility as good citizens.”

Thank You!

By: Astha Raghav 

Public transportation contributes to a healthier environment by improving air quality and reducing oil consumption, and through better land-use policies. It also helps to expand business development and work opportunities. And, it is critical for emergency situations requiring safe and efficient evacuation. In terms of energy consumption, public transportation is better than individualtransport in a personal vehicle. In England, bus and rail are popular methods of public transportation, especially in London.

Public transportation is reducing energy consumption and harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) greenhouse gas emissions that damage the environment. Traveling by public transportation uses less energy and produces less pollution than comparable travel in private vehicles.

The increase in the number of cars and bikes has added to various pollution problems. The smoke emitted from vehicles has made the cities living gas chambers. The new policies of economic liberalisation has opened doors for the multinationals and the cars of various companies have become status symbols of the upper middle class. The amount of harmful gases in the air is alarmingly on the rise. They affect our eyes and lungs, giving rise to all kinds of cardiovascular and respiratory diseases.

We, as the responsible citizens of India, must take steps to reduce these man-made problems and start using public transport as much as possible. The introduction of Metro Rail is a boon to the commuters as it saves time and money. These days, public transport have been made safe and secure. They are comfortable, clean and a cheaper alterative to personal vehicles for all office goers. Even the services of the Government road transport is good with GPS and A.C. installed for the convenience of the passengers.

Using public transport would definitely save fuel, reduce harmful gas emissions, further reducing one’s carbon footprint and eventually the causes and effects of global warming.

By: Astha Raghav 

Better surveillance by law enforcing authorities is also required.  The last but the most effective would be to compulsorily teach self defense techniques to girls and women in schools, colleges, offices and residential colonies. 

 By: Astha Raghav 

Coaching institutes have mushroomed in every nook and corner of all major cities over the past few years. These so called “temples of learning” are exploiting the young minds just for their financial grains. The misleading advertisements given by these Institutes act as  Magnets to attract the innocent, inexperienced students, who are seeking for sincere counseling and proper direction.

Coaching institutes have only one purpose while teaching their students: to get them to IITs, NITs or AIIMS, GMC, etc. Such beliefs and ideologies being inculcated in students at such a young age seriously compromise their prospects of being an effective member of the society in the future. We all are aware of how fancy coaching for engineering and medical courses are running all over the country. But I am not concerned about those foundation courses, rather for a seven-year-old child carrying 7kg heavy bag on his back and going to a coaching class.

Coaching has became an inevitable part of student life; be it second standard or 12th standard students. Earlier it was for those who found a school is not enough for clearing their doubts in studies. But now it’s religiously important to join a coaching institute.

Students pay thousands of rupees in school just to get the tag of a prestigious school and get the attendence marked. But what is the point of spending so much money that could not even clear the basics of the majority of the class?

Coaching is not only making parents’ money wash away like waves but also ruining the creative and thoughtful minds of a child. Nowadays, PM Modi is stressing very much over developing one’s skills. Perhaps that coaching for child below ninth standard is itself ruining the skillful mind of a child. They get everything cooked and served, every note and all answers. “The search of an answer is the essence of education”, which children are losing day by day.

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p style=”border: 0px;color: #5c5c5c;line-height: 28px;margin: 0px;padding: 10px 0px;vertical-align: baseline”>The other dimension of the increasing dependency on coaching is the lack of attention of parents towards their child. Nowadays both the parents are earners of the house, which causes them to give less time to their child or you can say no time at all.
The need of the hour is to let the child search their answers on their own; let them be good learners on their own and let them be creative souls rather than making them robots whose whole day is spending in attending coaching and schools.

THANK YOU!