NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said that a crackerless Diwali should be a people’s movement, not our initiative, slamming the commercialisation of festivals. A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant, while hearing the suo motu case on air pollution in Delhi-NCR, said “restrictions alone would not solve the crisis”.
The court also flagged bumper-to-bumper traffic in the city and questioned authorities on anti-pollution measures. The Centre’s counsel attributed the rise in pollution to the festive season and increased movement of people.
“We keep talking and making statements, but the point is that the AQI is already touching 400,” the CJI remarked.
The city recorded its worst pre-Diwali pollution spike since 2019, as per an analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). The city was also the only megacity among five assessed to record a monthly average PM2.5 concentration exceeding daily National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) in October.
The SC bench observed that stricter restrictions alone would not yield results, noting, “No restriction is going to work. The more orders we pass, the more violations will multiply.” It stressed that a cracker-free Diwali could not be imposed through government orders but had to emerge as a people’s movement.
Questioning the growing commercialisation of festivals, the CJI asked why people could not return to traditional ways of celebrating Diwali, which was meant to be a festival of lights rather than smoke. Justice Joymalya Bagchi also backed the observation. The CJI pointed out that gift exchanges had increasingly become a symbol of social status among the affluent, contributing to waste and pollution.
The CJI said that those with greater purchasing power contributed more to the problem. He also noted that Diwali was an important period of livelihood for people dependent on seasonal work and said their interests must be considered. The bench urged the Centre and state governments to educate farmers about the environmental and economic consequences of stubble burning, observing that they would be more willing to abandon the practice once they understood its costs.
CREA said, stubble burning has contributed to the worsening pollution, with its share in Delhi’s PM2.5 levels increasing during the onset of the peak burning season. Manoj Kumar, analyst at CREA, said, “Stubble burning contributed up to 5.3% to Delhi’s PM2.5 concentrations in October 2026.
With the onset of the peak stubble-burning period in November, its contribution increased, reaching 16% on 4 November. For comparison, the contribution peaked at around 22% in November 2025 and 38% in 2024. The contribution from stubble burning is expected to decline sharply after November.”
AQI today
Delhi’s AQI remained in the ‘very poor’ category for four consecutive days, according to CPCB data. On Friday, the average AQI crossed the 400 mark at 35 of 59 city stations.