Chennai, Oct 20 (PTI) As most cities in India, including Delhi, woke up to toxic air on Deepavali, with the city’s air quality index (AQI) slipping to “very poor", a handful of villages in Tamil Nadu are showing to the world how celebration of a festival can benefit from a mindful approach.

In Vettangudi village in Sivaganga District, for instance, this has been the case for nearly 50 years now.

“These villagers decided not to burst crackers to safeguard migratory birds," Supriya Sahu, Additional Chief Secretary, Environment, Climate Change and Forests, Tamil Nadu government, told PTI.

With the debate over “green" crackers reaching a fevered pitch in the days leading up to Deepavali, Sahu’s post on X, and the accompanying video made by the Forest Department documenting Vettangudi’s jour

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