Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated a shift to eco-friendly Ganesh idols for festive celebrations in his Mann Ki Baat address recently, amidst a raft of court cases calling for a ban on idols made of artificial materials. But state governments appear to be in no hurry to make festivals truly green. The use of Plaster of Paris (PoP) to make idols in Maharashtra has been agitated in the courts through public interest litigation since 2024. Yet, the state administration has adopted the disappointing position that no ban on PoP is possible this year. Moreover, idols larger than six feet are allowed to be immersed in natural water bodies, while artificial ponds have been created to immerse smaller ones. Pollution caused by idols made of synthetic materials like PoP and toxic paints is now a matter of national concern, and the scale of the environmental challenge is evident from the immersion last year of 1.96 lakh small idols and 7,000 large ones in Maharashtra alone. Karnataka has banned PoP idols in a forward-looking measure that advances the objective of the revised Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) guidelines of 2020; enforcement action there includes seizure of idols. There has been dereliction in Tamil Nadu in implementing the guidelines, prompting the National Green Tribunal to ask the administration, pertinently, why identified PoP idols should be allowed to be immersed in the sea. Bengal, with its vibrant Durga puja, has an eight-year-old ban on the use of thermocol and flimsy plastics, but enforcement remains weak. It is apparent that environmental concerns appear insignificant to states, and a ‘do nothing’ policy is considered expedient.
Religious sentiment and growing prosperity among sections of the community have raised the profile of festivals, making them more ostentatious, noisy, and environmentally unsustainable. The negative externality of pollution often extends far beyond state or national borders, and the waste materials dumped in the sea are transmitted to other countries. Microscopic plastics, for instance, are transported to far-off lands and are today found in uninhabited places such as the Himalayas and Antarctica. Governments must bear responsibility for the long-term, potentially disastrous consequences of pollution. Courts, too, cannot take a sanguine view that lawmakers and administrators will recognise their duty to uphold the right to life and live up to their responsibilities without any compulsion. Polluter pays and intergenerational equity are cardinal principles that governments must be compelled to uphold through a persuasive dialogue with communities. The argument made by idol makers in court, that pollution control affects the right to pursue a business, has no legal legs to stand on. Laudably, some citizens recycle even natural clay, a non-renewable mined material, retrieving it after immersion to produce new idols. Environmental leadership calls for such initiatives to become mainstream in the years ahead.
