dailyO
Life/Style

Kill Po Che: Kite-flying looks like fun but can be fatal. Like Delhi, all state govts should ban the killer manja today

Advertisement
Sakshi Rathi
Sakshi RathiAug 15, 2019 | 15:49

Kill Po Che: Kite-flying looks like fun but can be fatal. Like Delhi, all state govts should ban the killer manja today

Even with strict laws against glass or metal-coated manja, the failure to implement the ban claims innumerable lives across the country every year.

Kite-flying, once a leisure activity, has now become a matter of grave concern.

It is impossible to ignore the numerous casualties caused year after year due to the sharp manja that's used for flying kites. Manja — also known as Bareily ka manja — is the string that is sharpened by coating it with crushed glass, metal, iron or other such substances to cater to competitive kite-flyers who want to win by slicing away somebody else's kite.

Advertisement

Otherwise, kites are usually flown using plain cotton threads known as saddi. You must have noticed that serious kite-fliers (or cutters) tie bandages on their hands while using the manja.

Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan and Independence Day have no link whatsoever with kite-flying or kite-fighting.

However, on the said occasions, people engage in kite duels aggressively, especially in Delhi-NCR and Gujarat.

1_y4-8x223wot_caahdx_080219041253.jpeg
Flying disasters: The peaceful act of kite-flying has become fatal now. (Photo: Reuters)

The kite-flying season is about to start in Delhi and will peak this month. It has become routine that kite-flying season is followed by unfortunate stories in newspapers about humans and various species of birds being gravely injured, sometimes leading to death, by being entangled in manja strings that are left suspended on trees, poles, soil, in parks, between residences and other places — even weeks after the activity is over.

The fine, thin manja is nearly invisible — which is why it causes birds and human beings to fall prey to its sharpness.

The danger posed by it is so alarming that the Emergency Relief Network (ERN) of the Wildlife Trust of India considers kite-flying as a man-made disaster.

Advertisement

In April 2019, an 18-year old boy from North Delhi died after getting his wind-pipe slashed by a suspended manja string. More than 10,000 birds were injured during 2018’s Uttarayan in Gujarat and in January 2019, around 4,500 birds were injured within two days during the festival.

On Makar Sankranti in January 2019, a newly married engineer was killed while avoiding a manja in Mumbai. In 2018, a 26-year-old woman in Pune died from a severe neck injury when a manja got entangled around her neck and a two-year-old boy had to get twenty-five stitches just above his left eye. 

Aerial or land injuries aside, when these sharpened strings fall on water beds, our marine life, swimmers and scuba-divers are also not spared.

file70d2e6e00dd1h4oa_080219041544.jpg
Is that a manja? Instead of encouraging this, we should ban glass-coated manja strings. (Photo: Reuters)

Over the years, motorists have devised various methods for their safety — U-shaped aluminium frames fitted on the visor of their vehicle, a nylon neck belt with Velcro padding on one side or simply wearing cervical belts to protect the neck. In Ahmedabad, a man reportedly installed safety guards using copper wires over city bridges, while Kolkata traffic police proposed putting up nets on the Maa flyover to prevent injuries to motorists from sharp kite strings.

Advertisement

Adding to these woes, metal-coated manja strings also act as a good conductor of electricity and are known to cause blackouts when they slice through power lines — as well as electrocution if the kite-fliers’ string comes in contact with electrical units or power lines. According to BSES (Reliance Energy, formerly known as Bombay Suburban Electric Supply), a single such incident can affect up to 10,000 customers. Every year, before the kite-flying festivals, power companies issue advisories urging people not to fly kites in and around power lines.

In 2012, the Animal Welfare Board of India, an advisory body of the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC), now under the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, advised them to ban glass-coated manja. In 2013, the Board issued a letter to all states and union territories in the country, requesting that necessary steps be taken.

In 2014, the MoEFCC issued an advisory to the Chief Secretaries of all states and union territories on the same issue. Two years later, the National Green Tribunal levied an interim ban on all forms of manja, but then diluted their own order in the final judgment by striking off glass-coated ones from the ban.

Now, only Chinese, nylon or plastic threads remain banned across India.

bda12510d3bfa5f8717a_080219041912.jpg
Not fun, can be fatal: Using a synthetic manja is punishable with up to five years imprisonment and/or a fine upto Rs 1 lakh or both. (Photo: IANS)

In January 2017, the Delhi Government also issued a notification levying a complete ban on all forms of synthetic or sharpened manja, and allowed kite-flying to be done only with plain cotton thread. Ironically, Shri Digambar Jain Lal Mandir, a charity bird hospital in Chandni Chowk, reportedly treated more than 700 birds — injured in only three days around Independence Day the same year.

More than two years after the notification, lives continue to be at risk because the law is an effective tool only when imbibed in spirit.

The diktat authorises sub-inspectors and above to take action against sellers and buyers of the banned string. Any violation of these directions issued under The Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, is punishable with imprisonment of up to five years and/or a fine which may be extended to Rs 1 lakh or both.

The Indian Medical Association also urged all governments to ban the use of cotton threads coated with glass. As doctors who treat patients with injuries due to manja, they believe that cotton threads coated with glass, metal, or any other sharp material are equally dangerous and capable of causing injuries or death to humans.

Article 51 A (g) of the Indian Constitution states that “It shall be the duty of every citizen of India to protect and improve the natural environment, including forests, lakes, rivers and wildlife, and to have compassion for living creatures.’ Killing wildlife is illegal as per The Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and the Prevention to Cruelty Animals Act, 1960, prohibits causing unnecessary pain and suffering to animals. Not only the aforementioned Acts but using sharpened manja also violates provisions of the Indian Penal Code.

Article 48-A of the Constitution of India, 1950, expressly states that “The state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country.”

No entertainment sport is worth the untimely deaths of hundreds — a great loss to their families as well as the nation.

Kite-flying has to go back to being the leisurely activity that it traditionally was.

This will be possible only if the governments of all state and union territories follow the lead of the Delhi Government — by banning the killer manja.

Last updated: August 15, 2019 | 15:54
IN THIS STORY
Please log in
I agree with DailyO's privacy policy