There is plenty of smoke emanating from ears as the Supreme Court banned fireworks in Delhi and in the National Capital Region (NCR) ahead of Diwali on October 19. Even as the news came in on Monday, social media sites were peppered with comments. Many of these saw a design to deny Hindus of their rights.

The court said it wanted to test if banning fireworks would make a difference to Delhi's air quality, ranked among the worst in the world .The SC had issued a similar ban in the NCR region last year, but it did not have the opportunity to observe the impact on pollution levels, it said. Reports said that the apex court has ordered that an agency compute the impact of a noise-and-smoke-free festival this year.