Pollution-free Diwali: Scientists to create electronic, reuseable firecrackers
What's the story
Scientists in India are developing electronic or e-crackers that will neither emit smoke nor be a fire hazard, in order to promote a smokeless and pollution-free Diwali.
They claim that a prototype of such a firecracker will be ready in the next six months.
Further, they are also working on developing a pollution-free variant of traditional firecrackers.
Here is more on it.
Details
The e-crackers will produce light and sounds like conventional crackers
The e-firecrackers will simulate the light, sound, and color of traditional firecrackers via small pods that will be connected with wires and twinkling LEDs.
"They will produce cracking and bursting sounds and lights but there won't be any smoke because there won't be any chemical combustion," one of the scientists said.
Backround
SC had banned sale of firecrackers in NCR last year
This comes in a bid to check the rising pollution in several cities, especially in North India.
The sale of crackers was banned by the Supreme Court in the National Capital Region in 2017, but there was a spike in pollution levels nonetheless.
Notably, countries like China have already developed a few firecracker variants that are non-polluting.
Scientists
The scientists belong to top Indian research institutes
The Union Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan urged scientists to develop such electronic firecrackers in a recent meeting on January 5.
The scientists working on this belong to top government-backed agencies and research institutes like the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the Central Pollution Control Board, the Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), and the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI).