Chinese Diwali?

Cheap Chinese imports, which seem to have permeated into all facets of our lives, may not cause ur sleepless nights or worse still, hurt our livelihood. But for the various ‘Diwali accessory makers’, the Chinese imports have made living to make two ends meet itself very difficult.

Lets first begin with the crackers. Even the Indian brands, shamefully have Chinese children on these made-in-India goods. Some Rs.600 crore worth of Chinese crackers have made into India, illegally and sold in markets with no compunction. The Sivakasi cracker makers are putting up a brave fight but they say that the proliferation of cheap Chinese crackers, which they say are dangerous, is  now so bold that Sivakasi cracker makers themselves are inundated with e-mails, pressing them to import instead. As per the Indian law, import of explosives is banned and the Govt issued no licence to any Chinese firm for crackers. But the already illegally entered Chinese crackers need to be destroyed as per law. Sivakasi’s makers have now offered to destroy imported crackers at their premises, under official supervision.

But the lights and other decoration makers have it really tough. Shop owners say that customers demand cheap Chinese lights only and shun Indian made lights. The scene for the light makers is so bad that almost all Indian strong light makers have shut shop. The ubiquitous earthen diya’s are probably the only thing which remain made in India. So when you go buying diya’s for Diwali, please try not to haggle for the prices; let them at least survive and keep this tradition alive.

Food for thought – the Chinese need not attack us with weapons as they are as such killing a lot just by supplying cheap made in China goods.