However, with tremendous joy and pleasure, Diwali gives birth to some environmental issues as well. The number of traditional crackers used every year contributes to a large segment of the yearly pollution percentage in India. People did come up with a lot of ways to prevent this. They initially planned on decreasing the use of traditional crackers. However, many people were against it, saying, “Diwali saal mein ek baar he aata hein.” 

It is indeed true that Diwali only comes once a year, so celebrating a silent and dull Diwali would definitely restrict the amount of joy and happiness that people acquire from this festival. 

So, keeping in mind the wants and needs of the general public and finding a way to protect the environment, people came up with brilliant alternatives for traditional patakas, namely, Eco-patakas. 

Eco-patakas are not only healthy from the environment, but it also helps the public to enjoy the festival to their fullest.

Some of the famous eco-patakas introduced to the public were:

• Eco-friendly Chakhri: It is a very brilliant alternative for traditional patakas as it emits gulal with ignited. 
• Electronic ladi: This eco-friendly electronic ladiyan looks similar to the traditional ladi cracker, however, it operates on low electricity, emitting light and the same sound as the traditional ladiyan cracker, and it does not emit any smoke.
• Electronic balloons: This eco-pataka is very similar to the electronic ladi. These balloon-shaped eco-patakas emit only light and no smoke or noise.

However, not everything that doesn’t emit smoke, noise, or light is eco-friendly. This can be explained well with the help of the story of a small 13-year-old boy named Daniel. Diwali has always been the most awaited festival for Daniel since he was 5 or 6 years old. Growing up, he studied the harmful effects of the traditional patakas on the environment and started getting concerned about it.

He was in a dilemma since Diwali has always been his favorite festival. He kept on searching for alternatives by which he could enjoy Diwali without adversely affecting the environment. One day, his friend Riyansh brought a unique item to school that immensely fascinated Daniel. It was a small paper ball-like object which pops soon as it hits a hard surface. Both Riyansh and Daniel enjoyed their time playing with that popping object by throwing it on the floor. 

This gave Daniel the idea that he should use this on Diwali as well. Accordingly, he bought a lot of pop-pop crackers on Diwali and played with them, enjoying the festival without guilt. Daniel’s elder brother Andre, a science student, noticed his little brother playing with those pop pops on Diwali. He tried to study the components of that cracker and noticed that the pop pops consisted of some chemicals such as silver fulminate, which is a harmful chemical, and is not permitted to use this chemical in crackers.

He immediately asked his brother to quit the use of this cracker. Daniel denied his brother’s request and argued that they are safe since the pop pops are made of tissue or cigarette paper and emit no smoke or light. He finally decided to agree with his elder brother when Andre explained to him the chemical components present in that cracker.

So this story of Daniel clearly supports the statement that not all crackers which do not emit smoke, light, or noise are safe.

So we must be careful while selecting the crackers and other items during Diwali. Let us join together to protect our environment and ourselves, and also enjoy Diwali to the fullest with the help of Eco-patakas.