00:01This black substance is a crude form of gunpowder.
00:07Explosions in firecracker factories like this, caused by sparks or friction,
00:12kill dozens of people every year.
00:15They are obviously not happy doing this.
00:18Nobody is happy doing this.
00:20They have breathing disorders.
00:22You're directly in touch with the metals which you're not supposed to even be near.
00:27Today, 90% of India's firecrackers come from Sivakasi.
00:32As many as 300,000 people here work in the industry.
00:39Lighting firecrackers is a highlight for families during holidays like Diwali,
00:44known as the Festival of Lights.
00:48But they are wreaking havoc on India's environment too,
00:53shrouding the air in a toxic smog.
00:56On the night of Diwali, levels of harmful fine particle pollution can nearly quadruple.
01:03So are these dazzling light shows worth the risk?
01:07And how are the workers at the heart of this $740 million business staying safe?
01:20Balamani lives in the town of Sivakasi in India's Tamil Nadu state with her husband and daughters.
01:27She works at a firecracker factory about nine miles away from her home.
01:33This is one of Tamil Nadu's driest regions, so jobs in farming or agriculture are hard to find.
01:40So people like Balamani rely on the firecracker industry to make ends meet.
01:58For the past 10 years, feeding her family has meant returning to the same factory day after day.
02:05Even if every day she runs the risk of not returning home at all.
02:11She and 60 others work at Tank Fireworks, one of the city's roughly 1,000 firecracker factories.
02:19Women make up about 75% of the workforce.
02:24Balamani has been working here since she was 22 years old.
02:29Tank Fireworks told us shifts are typically eight hours long,
02:33but employees said they can work as many as 15 hours during the peak season.
02:39Today she's filling firecracker casings with gunpowder,
02:44before compacting them with a wooden peg.
02:48They're making a firecracker called the watermelon.
02:51When lit, the tubes will create a shower of multicoloured sparks.
02:58Firecrackers contain different chemical mixtures depending on the desired display.
03:05Gunpowder is typically made from potassium nitrate,
03:08carbon and sulphur.
03:09When the fuse is lit, potassium nitrate supplies oxygen
03:13that helps the carbon and sulphur burn rapidly.
03:17Other chemicals can add colour to the display.
03:20Strontium makes red, copper makes blue,
03:22and aluminium makes silver.
03:26Balamani has to make sure the tubes are evenly packed,
03:29so each firecracker ignites in the same way.
03:34Another worker, Saktival, wears only a disposable face mask for protection.
03:40He's been making fireworks for almost three decades.
03:45He says workers like him aren't allowed to wear footwear of any kind,
03:49because debris from outside could increase the risk of fire.
03:56can cover the firecrackers' firecrackers' firecrackers' firecrackers' firecrackers' firecracks' firecrackers' firecrackers.
04:05Temperatures inside these workshops often exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit.
04:08But air conditioning and fans generally aren't allowed in these workshops.
04:15A single spark from a fan motor could cause a catastrophic explosion on contact with the gunpowder.
04:23Each stage of production takes place inside its own small shed
04:27to prevent an accidental explosion from spreading throughout the factory.
04:33Despite best efforts to contain risk, accidents still happen at factories throughout the region.
04:39In 2012, at least 33 factory workers were killed while mixing chemicals for firecrackers.
04:46The firecrackers were killed by the firecrackers.
04:50The firecrackers were killed by the firecrackers.
04:51The firecrackers were killed by the firecrackers.
04:53The firecrackers were killed by the firecrackers.
05:01In 2019 and 2023, factory explosions in Tamil Nadu killed 131 people
05:07and left 146 others with critical injuries.
05:14Explosions may be the most obvious threat here,
05:17but just breathing the air in these confined spaces can be a killer too.
05:23Exposure to substances like sulphur, potassium nitrate and aluminium powder
05:28can lead to long-term health problems including asthma, lung scarring and chronic bronchitis.
05:37Pressure to ramp up production can also increase the risk of accidents.
05:44Legally only four people are allowed to be in a work shed at any time,
05:48but that number can double in the weeks leading up to Diwali.
05:52Indian authorities also set maximum limits on chemical storage
05:57and strictly regulate how raw materials are transported.
06:02Firecracker making is still a very hands-on process.
06:06Once the firecrackers are filled, they are sealed with glue or clay.
06:12They're all laid out in the sun to dry for three to five hours.
06:17Trapped moisture inside the casing can ruin the gunpowder.
06:22The firecrackers are then individually wrapped, labelled and packed into colourful boxes.
06:32They'll be shipped to retail shops like Tank Crackers, which is about three miles away.
06:45At this store, Kathia and her brother can sell 20 to 30 boxes of firecrackers per day and about 80
06:52online.
06:54The cheapest ones, typically noisemakers, sell for about 30 rupees or 35 cents each.
07:02Novelty firecrackers are much more expensive.
07:051,200 to 5,000 rupees or 12 to 50 dollars a piece.
07:23Factories in Sivakasi make about 50,000 tons of firecrackers every year.
07:28In 2025, the industry brought in 740 million dollars.
07:33It's the backbone of the local economy.
07:48The story of Sivakasi's firecrack industry began with the arrival of Japanese migrants to India in the 1910s.
07:56But they weren't making firecrackers back then, they were making matches.
08:01A small number of factories started popping up in what was then Calcutta.
08:05By the 1920s, the industry had spread to Sivakasi, due to the pioneering efforts of two cousins.
08:12The cottage industry quickly grew, with workers learning about each stage of handmade match production.
08:18Then, during World War II, wartime restrictions curbed imports on firecrackers.
08:25Matches and firecrackers used similar materials, so matchstick makers were well placed to fill the void.
08:39In the days before Diwali, millions of people in Delhi swarm local shops to prepare for the holiday.
09:02Diwali symbolizes the victory of light over darkness.
09:08The holiday falls on the darkest night of the Hindu lunar calendar, usually between mid-October and mid-November.
09:15We celebrate together.
09:17Happy Diwali!
09:30These days, no Diwali celebration is complete without firecrackers and sparklers.
09:38We celebrate.
09:41We celebrate.
09:42We celebrate.
09:44We celebrate.
09:45We celebrate.
09:46We celebrate.
09:48We celebrate.
09:50We celebrate.
09:51But when the celebrations are over, another problem emerges.
09:56Trash and discarded firecrackers litter the streets, much of it ending up in already polluted waterways.
10:04And then there is this, a thick blanket of smog lingering over the city.
10:10By 2016, the apocalypse situation had begun in Delhi.
10:14So when you were waking up those mornings in November, you saw complete smog, which was not happening before that.
10:23The air quality in Delhi deteriorates sharply in the days following Diwali, often reaching hazardous levels.
10:31Around midnight after Diwali in 2025, harmful particle pollution in one part of the city hit 994 micrograms per cubic
10:40metre.
10:41That's over 65 times the World Health Organization's guideline for a 24-hour average.
10:48The smoke can aggravate asthma and other lung conditions, sending some people into respiratory distress.
10:55We've been sure that the night of Diwali, there is a 50-60% increase of respiratory admissions in the
11:03paediatric wards.
11:06Environmental activist Bavreen Khandari co-founded Warrior Mums, which advocates for clean air as a human right.
11:12It's heartbreaking to see how everybody is affected. The people have a phobia of Diwali now.
11:22Delhi is already one of the most polluted cities in the world.
11:27In 2016 India's Supreme Court temporarily barred stores in Delhi and nearby cities from selling firecrackers in an attempt to
11:35limit the pollution.
11:38But the restrictions were difficult to enforce, and threatened thousands of jobs in the firecracker industry.
11:45Two years later, the court instead told manufacturers to shift to green firecrackers, which reportedly cause 20-30% less
11:53air pollution than traditional firecrackers.
11:58So-called green firecrackers use fewer chemicals than traditional ones and contain additives like zeolite and iron oxide.
12:06The additives bind with fine soot and dust, creating heavier compounds that settle on the ground rather than linger in
12:13the air.
12:16Officials require green firecrackers to have a QR code that can be easily scanned to verify authenticity.
12:23But enforcing this law is hard.
12:27Everything is a joke when it comes to green crackers.
12:31So they will have to take a stand and not let this go on and on and on, you know,
12:36it's not going to work.
12:38Critics also say these green firecrackers do little to solve pollution.
12:43And Balamuni told us her salary hasn't changed since her factory pivoted.
12:48On average, firecracker makers in Sivakasi earn only a few thousand rupees per week, roughly $30.
12:56That's just enough to buy basic necessities like eggs and rice.
13:08While Balamuni's work is difficult and dangerous, there's at least one part she appreciates.
13:14At the end, she is a customer who is getting healthy enough to see a different person.
13:18In the end, she makes the parents happy to see their parents.
13:21So they don't have any color.
13:25There are surprises and signs that the parents want to see if she is happy to see if she is.
13:28It's a scene that we do not see anything nice.
13:29Of course, the parents are happy to see their parents with the child.
13:31It's a special moment for the food
13:32month to a day to a day to a week.
